F. Javier López-Cachero

Como es bien sabido, en la investigación sobre este tipo de elementos ha primado la elaboración de estudios tipológicos, repertorios y mapas de dispersión a partir de los puntos de recuperación con el objetivo de sustentar secuencias cronológicas. También se ha procurado distinguir las producciones autóctonas de las alóctonas mediante la aplicación de criterios morfotécnicos, a los que con el tiempo se han sumado las aportaciones de la arqueometría con análisis de caracterización elemental y origen geológico de la materia prima a partir de su signatura isotópica. En paralelo, las interpretaciones crono-culturales vinculadas al uso del metal se han conectado tanto con la movilidad humana (individual o grupal) como con la existencia de redes de redistribución e intercambio por donde circularían los bienes (en forma de regalos para iniciar o consolidar vínculos sociales y políticos, de dote o como objetos puramente comerciales). También se toma en cuenta que el ciclo vital de los ornamentos metálicos comprende tres etapas fundamentales: la inicial de producción, la intermedia de uso o usos y la última de amortización. Por ello pueden pasar de la esfera cotidiana a la funeraria, adquiriendo nuevos significados. Es el caso de los complementos indumentarios procedentes de las tumbas de la necrópolis protohistórica de Can Piteu - Can Roqueta (Sabadell, Barcelona), nuestro objeto de reflexión en esta publicación.

Este trabajo se centra en las evidencias económicas documentadas en Cataluña entre el 2300 y el 600 aC y en su incidencia sobre los cambios sociales detectados durante la edad del Bronce y la primera edad del Hierro. Se ha partido de un conjunto amplio de datos sobre la actividad agropecuaria y metalúrgica de las poblaciones asentadas en el territorio. El enfoque que proponemos es doble: por un lado, temporal, para vislumbrar la evolución y los posibles cambios de estrategias económicas y sociales durante estos períodos y, por otro, geográfico, con la intención de profundizar en las diferencias territoriales y en cómo éstas se transformaron a lo largo del tiempo. En este último sentido, se observa la existencia de al menos dos realidades arqueológicas diferentes con sus propias especificidades, una en el litoral y prelitoral -sin embargo no del todo homogénea- y la otra en el interior.

Can Roqueta has provided a large number of equid and dog assemblages from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. An analysis of the stable isotopes δ13C and δ15N in 42 bone samples has made it possible to reconstruct the diet of domestic equids. The results and carpological remains show that the territory was managed for agricultural and pasture use. They indicate the cultivation of two types of highly nutritious and digestible millet, used in combination with other cereals to prepare fodder, as well as the use of natural pastures.

The analysis of stable isotopes in bone collagen allows us to infer the diet of the animals studied. This dataset con- sists of isotopic signatures ( δ13 C and δ15 N) obtained by iso- tope ratio mass spectrometry from the skeletal remains of 42 equines (horse, ass and their hybrids) from the Can Roqueta site (Sabadell, Northeast Iberian Peninsula). Their chronology spans from Late Bronze Age to Late Roman Period, with par- ticular emphasis on the Early Iron Age. These animals were found in storage silos and graves and were probably sac- rificed as ritual offerings. The isotopic values are accompa- nied by data to assess the quality of the collagen analyzed. This fills a gap in equine isotopic values for this region and chronology, which may be of use to archaeologists interested in the study of livestock management or palaeodiet.

We studied 36 dogs (Canis familiaris) from the Can Roqueta site in the Catalan pre-littoral depression (Barcelona), dated between the Late Bronze Age and the First Iron Age (1300 and 550 cal BC). We used a sample of 27 specimens to analyse the evolution of the dogs’ diet based on the carbon δ13C and nitrogen δ15N isotope composition. The results show a marked human influence in that these natural carnivores display a highly plant-based diet. The offset between canids and herbivorous ungulates does not reach the minimum established for a trophic level, which implies an input of C3 and C4 (millet) cultivated plants. Moreover, the homogeneity in the values indicates that humans prepared their dogs’ food.
J World Prehist 34, 75–119 (2021)

This paper presents archaeological layer XXV from Cova del Gegant (Sitges, Barcelona), ascribed to Bronze Age, and focuses on this period’s chronological issues. Cova del Gegant yielded Late Bell Beaker pottery featuring a decorative style akin to the “Northeastern Group” (generally ascribed to Early Bronze Age), human remains associated with a collective burial (radiocarbon dated to Middle Bronze Age), amber and/or resin ornaments, and two gold artifacts (very scarce in the NE of Iberian Peninsula). The archaeological artifacts and radiocarbon dating range provide important data concerning the exchange networks and movements along the Mediterranean coastline during Bronze Age.
Key words: Cova del Gegant; Late Bell Beaker pottery; Gold; Bronze Age

We assembled genome-wide data from 271 ancient Iberians, of whom 176 are from the largely unsampled period after 2000 BCE, thereby providing a high-resolution time transect of the Iberian Peninsula. We document high genetic substructure between northwestern and southeastern hunter-gatherers before the spread of farming. We reveal sporadic contacts between Iberia and North Africa by~2500 BCE and, by~2000 BCE, the replacement of 40% of Iberia's ancestry and nearly 100% of its Y-chromosomes by people with Steppe ancestry. We show that, in the Iron Age, Steppe ancestry had spread not only into Indo-European-speaking regions but also into non-Indo-European-speaking ones, and we reveal that present-day Basques are best described as a typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iberia. Additionally, we document how, beginning at least in the Roman period, the ancestry of the peninsula was transformed by gene flow from North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.

En este trabajo presentamos los primeros restos de gallo doméstico (Gallus gallus) documentados en el yacimiento de Can Roqueta (Cataluña). En concreto, se trata de tres huesos de dos individuos
diferentes localizados en dos estructuras de la Primera Edad del Hierro procedentes del sector Can Roqueta-Can Revella. Estos restos constituyen hoy en día la evidencia radiocarbónica más antigua
de esta ave de origen asiático en el noreste peninsular. Por otro lado, su contexto de aparición nos lleva a valorar la adscripción de este animal con el comercio fenicio, el cual bien pudo actuar como
agente difusor, y nos permite reflexionar sobre los contactos y las relaciones que pudieron existir durante la Primera Edad del Hierro en la zona litoral y prelitoral del centro de Cataluña.

This article reports the results of a zooarchaeological study (including, mortality profiles, and anatomical and pathological descriptions) of the Early Iron Age (8th-6th c. BCE) equid remains at the Can Roqueta site (Sabadell, Barcelona), together with the first strontium isotope results to determine their geographical origin. The zooarchaeological study reveals a remarkable number of equid remains at the site, the bone pathologies of which suggest their use for riding, drafting and load carrying. The mortality and sex profiles point to the presence of adult animals, while the absence of neonatal and juvenile remains raises the question as to whether these individuals may have originated from other sites specialised in equid breeding. The strontium values obtained from six individuals suggest that some equids were reared in a geological area with a similar strontium signature to that of the Vallès area, where the site is located. However, three equids present a different strontium signature, pointing to a possibly different geographical origin.

The aim of this study is to present the main architectural characteristics of graves and associated structures, modalities of organization of burials sites and their insertion in the anthropogenic landscape, between the Ebro and the Rhône, from the 10th to 5th century BC while taking into
account the limits already defined cultural groups. These arrangements inform two phases of the funeral rites. The first one concerns the funeral, and particularly what concerned the closure and the signals of the grave, gestures corresponding to the commemoration of a deceased. The second time, documented by the structures parafunerary, illustrates other kinds of funeral ceremonies, most probably link to a cult
of the dead or death. The memory act is in these two cases, time-limited in some generations, those who use and maintain the burial site. It appears as well as these places dedicated to the dead, graves or necropolis, are sometimes respected several centuries after their abandonment, so giving evidence of a lasting memory. Although still difficult to understand, this attitude demonstrates the attraction for graves raised in the Late Bronze Age II and in the first Iron Age by
communities from Languedoc, Roussillon and Catalonia.

From the work of Pere Bosh Gimpera, the father of Catalan archeology, one of the key themes of the protohistoric debate in the north-east of Spain has been the study of the so-called "culture of the Urn Fields" characterized by the diffusion at European level of the custom of burning the deceased and depositing their remains in a ceramic funerary urn. This tradition spread quite rapidly throughout the late Bronze Age in a wide territory, ranging from the Carpathians and the Danube valley to the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. This process entailed that a part of the members of the local communities, who were characterized by the practice of burial in different spaces (silos, caves, last megaliths, hypogea, etc.) collectively, began to adopt the new funerary ritual, individual in essence.
This paper aims to analyze the process of transition from burial to cremation using an innovative methodology based on the statistical analysis of radiocarbon dating from incineration and burial tombs between 1800 BC. and 800 BC. in the northeast peninsular. In particular, the study of archaeological contexts has been integrated with radiocarbon dates (14C).
The objective of this work is not only to date this phenomenon of change of ritual but to go further and try to identify the aspects that are behind this process of cultural change and that are linked with the social organization of the protohistoric communities of the northeast of the Peninsula Iberian between the final stages of the Bronze Age and the First Iron Age.
Before proceeding to evaluate funerary change from the perspective of radiocarbon dates, it is appropriate to establish the basis of our current knowledge. In order to do this, we will analyze the funerary diversity that characterizes the middle Bronze and how it is progressively transformed into more stable practices based on the incineration, although not completely homogenous, from an advanced final Bronze (c. We will also evaluate the quality of the contexts dated, as well as the possible interpretative variants related mainly to the survival of the burial during the First Age of Iron (c.700-550 BC).

Aquest treball pretén comparar les dinàmiques funeràries a l’àrea central del litoral i prelitoral català (comarques del
Vallès Occidental, Vallès Oriental, Maresme, Barcelonès i Baix Llobregat, totes elles a la província de Barcelona) entre el
bronze final i l’ibèric ple.
Realitzem una anàlisi diacrònica de les necròpolis d’incineració, tot centrant-nos en aspectes com els seus contextos
territorials, la seva organització interna, les característiques estructurals de les tombes i la natura dels dipòsits, amb l’objectiu
de reconèixer quins canvis i quines continuïtats varen experimentar aquestes societats al llarg del temps.

The aim of this research is to compare the funerary behavior dynamics in the central area of the Catalan littoral and
its surroundings (Vallès Occidental, Vallès Oriental, Maresme, Barcelonès and Baix Llobregat regions -all of them located
in the province of Barcelona-) between the Late Bronze Age and the Iberian period.
We practice a diachronic analysis of the incineration cemeteries, focusing our attention on some topics such as their
territorial contexts, inner organization and the burial structure characteristics. The object is to break through the changes
and continuities that were experienced by these societies over time.

Entre el Neolítico medio y el Neolítico final en el Nordeste
de la Península Ibérica se producen cambios destacados en las pautas funerarias y en la cultura material de los
grupos humanos, especialmente en los ajuares y lugares
de enterramiento. Durante el Neolítico medio-reciente son
típicas las inhumaciones primarias individuales en fosas con
ajuares de cuentas de variscita, sílex melado, vasos cerámicos
y puntualmente obsidiana. Por el contrario, durante el
Neolítico final se generalizan las inhumaciones colectivas y
sucesivas en cuevas y abrigos con ajuares que se caracterizan
por la gran disminución de la variscita, sustituida por una
gran variedad de colgantes y cuentas en piedra, concha y
hueso. Ahora también aparecen las grandes láminas y los puñales
de sílex, en ocasiones de procedencia extrapeninsular.
La Cova de l’Avi representa en la actualidad el yacimiento
cronológicamente más antiguo (c. 4700 BP) en el que se
documentan estos nuevos comportamientos funerarios.

Como es bien sabido, en la investigación sobre este tipo de elementos ha primado la elaboración de estudios tipológicos, repertorios y mapas de dispersión a partir de los puntos de recuperación con el objetivo de sustentar secuencias cronológicas. También se ha procurado distinguir las producciones autóctonas de las alóctonas mediante la aplicación de criterios morfotécnicos, a los que con el tiempo se han sumado las aportaciones de la arqueometría con análisis de caracterización elemental y origen geológico de la materia prima a partir de su signatura isotópica. En paralelo, las interpretaciones crono-culturales vinculadas al uso del metal se han conectado tanto con la movilidad humana (individual o grupal) como con la existencia de redes de redistribución e intercambio por donde circularían los bienes (en forma de regalos para iniciar o consolidar vínculos sociales y políticos, de dote o como objetos puramente comerciales). También se toma en cuenta que el ciclo vital de los ornamentos metálicos comprende tres etapas fundamentales: la inicial de producción, la intermedia de uso o usos y la última de amortización. Por ello pueden pasar de la esfera cotidiana a la funeraria, adquiriendo nuevos significados. Es el caso de los complementos indumentarios procedentes de las tumbas de la necrópolis protohistórica de Can Piteu - Can Roqueta (Sabadell, Barcelona), nuestro objeto de reflexión en esta publicación.

Cet ouvrage s'adresse à tous ceux qui s'intéressent aux nécropoles à incinération de la première moitié du premier millénaire en Méditerranée nord-occidentale. Les nouvelles découvertes et l'analyse réactualisée de trouvailles antérieures en catalogne, Midi de la France et Italie du nord -ouest, offrent un nouveau contexte de réflexion