TOMBS FOR THE DEAD, MONUMENTS TO ETERNITY: THE DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF MEGALITHIC GRAVES BY FIRE IN THE INTERIOR HIGHLANDS OF IBERIA (SORIA PROVINCE, SPAIN)
Summary An interpretation of the features surrounding the complex and deliberate closure ritual in several collective Middle Neolithic tombs of the Ambrona Valley (Soria) is offered, where fire and quicklime played a major role in the rituals. The problems involved in the excavation and the understa...
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Published in | Oxford journal of archaeology Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 253 - 275 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.08.2010
Blackwell |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Summary
An interpretation of the features surrounding the complex and deliberate closure ritual in several collective Middle Neolithic tombs of the Ambrona Valley (Soria) is offered, where fire and quicklime played a major role in the rituals. The problems involved in the excavation and the understanding of this complex burial evidence are examined. The roles they might have played in the context of the important social and economic transformations of the local Neolithic groups around the end of the fourth millennium cal BC are also analysed. It is argued that the burial rituals tried to reinforce group solidarity at a time when the community was beginning to fragment, as the economic systems began to yield a surplus production whose management would have altered political structures. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-3JT718WB-Q ArticleID:OJOA348 istex:F16185EFB89CCE0F8D5821D5E4134F428824F603 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0262-5253 1468-0092 |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1468-0092.2010.00348.x |