Monumentality, Visibility and Routes Control in Southeastern Iberian Megalithic Sites

Abstract

Between the end of the V Millennium B.C. and the end of III Millennium B.C., megalithic tombs expand over the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula but their positions, distributions, associations, sizes, shapes and contents are very different according not only their chronology but mainly their ideological function. A new interpretation about the Tabernas Corridor (Almeria) megalithic graves situation analysis is proposed here before discussing the differences among the Los Millares tombs (Santa Fe de Mondújar, Almería) in terms of their location and grave goods as known from the old excavations by L. Siret and A.Almagro-A.Arribas. Both subjects are included in a wider study of the Late Prehistoric funerary ritual phenomenology in the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula and its relation to the social organization through different methodological strategies.