View of the Marmoles cavern entrance from within. New research study from the University of Bern and Universidad de Córdoba exposes that historical caves on the Iberian Peninsula were burial websites where human remains were intentionally modified for useful and possibly symbolic purposes. Credit: J.C. Vera Rodríguez, CC-BY 4.0
Findings add to a pattern of human burial and modification in the Iberian Peninsula.
Caves worked as sites for burial and later adjustment of human remains for thousands of years in the Iberian Peninsula, according to a research study published on September 20, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Zita Laffranchi and Marco Milella of the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Rafael Martinez Sanchez, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain, and associates.
Burial Practices and Bone Alterations
Typical in the historical sites of this area is proof of manipulation of buried human remains, although the cultural significance behind this is mostly uncertain. In this study, scientists analyze altered human remains from a cavern, Cueva de los Marmoles, in southern Spain.
View of the Marmoles cavern entryway from within. New research from the University of Bern and Universidad de Córdoba reveals that historical caverns on the Iberian Peninsula were burial websites where human remains were purposefully modified for perhaps symbolic and practical functions. The usage of caverns as burial sites is a cultural phenomenon with a broad circulation in both area and time. Common in the historical sites of this region is evidence of manipulation of buried human remains, although the cultural meaning behind this is largely unclear. In this research study, researchers examine altered human remains from a cave, Cueva de los Marmoles, in southern Spain.
Human bone on surface area, inside the cave. Credit: J.C. Vera Rodríguez, CC-BY 4.0
The scientists examined various skeletal remains coming from at least 12 people. Radiocarbon dating determined burials dating from the 5th to the 2nd millennium BCE. The team likewise documented intentional post-mortem adjustments to the bones, consisting of fractures and scrapes that may have arised from efforts to draw out marrow and other tissues. Consisted of amongst these remains were one tibia that appears to have been modified for use as a tool, and one cranium “skull cup” that might have likewise been customized for some dietary or useful use.
Analyses and Future Insights
These outcomes follow other cavern sites in the southern Iberian Peninsula, representing a prevalent practice of buried human remains being later on modified and used for food and tools. The authors suggest there might also be further symbolic functions of these modifications which might end up being more clear with additional research study.
The authors include: “Neolithic human remains from Marmoles Cave recommend complicated funerary behaviors in Andalusia during Prehistory.”
For more on this research study, see Neolithic Bone Modifications Indicate the Ritual Use of Human Remains.
Reference: “As above, so listed below: Deposition, modification, and reutilization of human remains at Marmoles cavern (Cueva de los Marmoles: Southern Spain, 4000– 1000 cal. BCE)” by Zita Laffranchi, Marco Milella, Juan Carlos Vera Rodríguez, María José Martínez Fernández, María Dolores Bretones García, Sylvia Alejandra Jiménez Brobeil, Julia Brünig, Inmaculada López Flores, Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano and Rafael M. Martínez Sánchez, 20 September 2023, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0291152.
Funding: RMMS and JACS received the monetary assistance of the Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación de la Junta de Andalucía en el marco del Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020. JACS got the financial assistance of the Consejería de Universidad, Investigación e Innovación de la Junta de Andalucía. Title of the job: Dinámicas de continuidad y transformación entre el Neolítico y el Calcolítico en el Alto Guadalquivir (DINAGUA).