Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the case of wooden coffins from Iron Age necropolises in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean) and the difficulties in defining their chronology
28 Sep 2020-Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (Springer Science and Business Media LLC)-Vol. 12, Iss: 10, pp 1-19
TL;DR: In this article, a chronology for the origin and abandonment of certain individualization practices, such as the use of wooden coffins in collective necropolises, was defined by applying a multi-proxy approach.
Abstract: Iron Age archaeology in Europe and the Mediterranean often faces significant difficulties to establish precise chronological frameworks by means of radiocarbon dating due to the so-called Hallstatt Plateau. This problem worsens in those archaeological sites excavated decades ago with a lack of stratigraphic control of the objects recovered. The archaeological studies carried out in Iron Age funerary contexts from Mallorca (Balearic Islands) are greatly affected by these two distorting factors. Therefore, it has been difficult to establish an accurate chronology for the origin and abandonment of certain individualization practices, such as the use of wooden coffins in collective necropolises. The goal of this paper is to overcome these limitations and to define the most reliable chronological framework for this funerary phenomenon by applying a multi-proxy approach. Thus, the chronological information provided by the detailed typological study of the material culture associated with the wooden coffins was connected to the results obtained from an extensive series of new radiocarbon dating of the wooden coffins. In addition, a wiggle-matching analysis (different 14C dates for the same wooden object corresponding to individual tree-rings) was also conducted in some wooden coffins in order to enhance the precision of the radiocarbon dates. Accordingly, the direct and indirect chronological information show that the use of wooden coffins in Mallorca started around 800–750 cal BC and was abandoned at c. 350–300 cal BC.
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TL;DR: The naveta dels Tudons of Menorca is one of the most famous navetas funerarias in Spain this paper, and it has been identified as a symbol of the fertility of the human body.
Abstract: Las navetas funerarias de Menorca son uno de los monumentos arqueologicos mas populares de Menorca, y forman parte de la cultura popular de la isla y sobre todo, de su paisaje. De hecho, la naveta dels Tudons es uno de los iconos identificativos de la isla. Sin embargo, esa popularidad no se ve compensada por un buen conocimiento de su devenir y significado historico. Si bien es cierto que las navetas funerarias fueron estudiadas ya en el siglo XVIII por los primeros ingenieros britanicos que llegaron a la isla, y que los estudios de numerosos eruditos y arqueologos se han centrado en ellas -mencionar a Joan Ramis i Ramis, Francesc Hernandez-Sanz, Margaret Murray, Maria Luisa Serra Belabre, Cristobal Veny o Lluis Plantalamor, por citar a algunos-, el conocimiento que tenemos sobre ellas es escaso y disperso. Esta tesis doctoral pretende recoger y ordenar la informacion disponible sobre las navetas funerarias y sus contextos materiales, desde la arquitectura hasta los ajuares que acompanaban a los difuntos, y contextualizarlos en su tiempo y en el espacio en que fueron ubicadas. Aplicando metodos de analisis estadisticos, presentamos una ordenacion de los tipos arquitectonicos de las navetas, donde se plantea que hay un concepto arquitectonico distinto entre navetas de planta alargada y las de planta circular. Esos dos modelos arquitectonicos quiza marquen diferencias sociales, que se observan mas en la arquitectura que en los ajuares depositados en su interior. De hecho, la poblacion enterrada en las navetas no se distingue por edad, sexo o calidad de vida, puesto que los parametros son semejantes entre navetas y otros tipos de tumbas. .La presencia de otros modelos de tumbas coetaneos a las navetas -como las cuevas naturales con muro de cierre ciclopeo- nos lleva a plantear la hipotesis de una diferenciacion social por linaje. El analisis de los ajuares metalicos, liticos, oseos y ceramicos ha puesto de relieve la uniformidad en cuanto a la materialidad que acompanaba a los difuntos. Las ollas de Tipo 4 y, mas tarde, los vasos troncoconicos de Tipo 1, son practicamente los unicos que participan de los rituales funerarios. Punzones y leznas, y brazaletes de bronce, nos senalan la parquedad de objetos depositados. Sin embargo, el analisis de las llamadas "cuentas biconicas" ha puesto de relieve el ingenio de las comunidades prehistoricas menorquinas, con la invencion de un artilugio de funcion todavia desconocida, pero que asociamos a algun tipo de ponderal o instrumento de uso mas practico que decorativo. La ordenacion y analisis diacronico de los ajuares, junto con la lectura de las dataciones de c-14 disponibles, nos situa el origen de las navetas en torno al c.1400 cal ane, y su perduracion a lo largo de varios siglos acaba hacia el 800 cal ane, coincidiendo con los grandes cambios sociales del Talayotico. Sin embargo, las navetas son testigo tambien del aumento de los contactos con el exterior, y de los cambios en los rituales funerarios detectados hacia el 1100 cal ane, con el agrupamiento de craneos y la introduccion de armas y objetos de adorno de procedencia foranea, lo que indica que Menorca participaba de las rutas de comercio e intercambio del Bronce Final, que enlazaban el norte de Europa con el Mediterraneo. La particular ubicacion de las navetas sobre el territorio insular, polarizadas en los dos extremos, Este y Oeste de la isla, indican una planificacion determinada a la hora de elegir la zona donde vaya a levantarse el monumento funerario, reivindicando posiblemente las tierras con mayor potencial agricola y ganadero por parte de determinadas comunidades.
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References
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Queen's University Belfast1, Collège de France2, English Heritage3, University of Arizona4, University of Sheffield5, University of Oxford6, University of Minnesota7, University of Hohenheim8, University of Kiel9, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory10, University of Bergen11, ETH Zurich12, University of Waikato13, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution14, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research15, Cornell University16, University of Bristol17, University of Glasgow18, University of California, Irvine19, University of New South Wales20
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Abstract: Additional co-authors: TJ Heaton, AG Hogg, KA Hughen, KF Kaiser, B Kromer, SW Manning, RW Reimer, DA Richards, JR Southon, S Talamo, CSM Turney, J van der Plicht, CE Weyhenmeyer
13,605 citations
"Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the..." refers methods in this paper
...Calibrations of 14C dates were performed using OxCal v 3.10 and the IntCal13 calibration curve data (Bronk Ramsey 1995, 2001; Reimer et al. 2013)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the OxCal program informatique OxCal permet d'effectuer de nombreuses analyses sur les dates radiocarbones, de la simple calibration a l'analyse de tous les sites archeologiques en donnant des informations sur la stratigraphie and les autres methodes de datation.
Abstract: L'utilisation du programme informatique OxCal permet d'effectuer de nombreuses analyses sur les dates radiocarbones, de la simple calibration a l'analyse de tous les sites archeologiques en donnant des informations sur la stratigraphie et les autres methodes de datation
2,044 citations
"Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the..." refers methods in this paper
...Calibrations of 14C dates were performed using OxCal v 3.10 and the IntCal13 calibration curve data (Bronk Ramsey 1995, 2001; Reimer et al. 2013)....
[...]
TL;DR: This paper highlights some of the main developments to the radiocarbon calibration program, OxCal, including changes to the sampling algorithms used which improve the convergence of the Bayesian analysis.
Abstract: This paper highlights some of the main developments to the radiocarbon calibration program, OxCal In addition to many cosmetic changes, the latest version of OxCal uses some different algorithms for the treatment of multiple phases The theoretical framework behind these is discussed and some model calculations demonstrated Significant changes have also been made to the sampling algorithms used which improve the convergence of the Bayesian analysis The convergence itself is also reported in a more comprehensive way so that problems can be traced to specific parts of the model The use of convergence data, and other techniques for testing the implications of particular models, are described
1,905 citations
"Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the..." refers methods in this paper
...Calibrations of 14C dates were performed using OxCal v 3.10 and the IntCal13 calibration curve data (Bronk Ramsey 1995, 2001; Reimer et al. 2013)....
[...]
Book•
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TL;DR: This book is intended as an aid to the identification of many of the woody plants of Europe, and to furnish a basis for comparative anatomical/ecological studies.
Abstract: This book is intended as an aid to the identification of many of the woody plants of Europe, and to furnish a basis for comparative anatomical/ecological studies. About half (602 of 1,150) of the species are described by means of photographs of transverse, longitudinal, and radial sections of stems, roots, and branches. The species include trees, shrubs, and dwarf shrubs. Brief descriptions of the wood sections, key characteristics for the identification of the wood, and the distribution of each species in Europe are given in English and German (on opposite sides of the page). A key for the identification of species is included. -- AATA
171 citations
"Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the..." refers background in this paper
...…2530 25 800–540 BC 3.2 − 18.5 12.6 Bone (human, adult) KIA-35558 2400 30 760–400 BC 3.2 − 19.2 9.7 Bone (human) KIA-36260 2450 25 740–390 BC 3.2 − 19 11.4 atlases (Schweingruber 1990; Vernet et al. 2001) and reference materials (reference collection of the University of the Balearic Islands)....
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...atlases (Schweingruber 1990; Vernet et al. 2001) and reference materials (reference collection of the University of the Balearic Islands)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors used radiometric dates and the current state of research to understand the role of human societies and climate in the transformation of vegetation cover during the Late Holocene in this Western Mediterranean archipelago.
49 citations
"Dying in the Hallstatt Plateau: the..." refers background in this paper
...The two species identified in the samples considered correspond to thermo-/messo-Mediterranean trees, which have been very common in the landscape of the Balearic Islands since the mid-Holocene (Burjachs et al. 2017)....
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