- Research Group Atlas, Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Sevilla, Spain
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- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Prehistory, Mediterranean prehistory, European Prehistory (Archaeology), and 20 moreArchaeometry, Groundwater Hydrology, Hydraulic systems and structures, Historical Hydrology, Megalithic Monuments, Megaliths (Archaeology), Chemistry, Water Chemistry, Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain), Antequera (Archaeology), Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Megaliths, Megalithic Art, Megalithism, Neolithic Water Wells, Water Wells, Neolithic lithic technology birch pitch wooden wells water management gunflints fire-making, History of Hydraulics, History of Water Supply, and History of Water Managementedit
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The technical and intellectual capabilities of past societies are reflected in the monuments they were able to build. Tracking the provenance of the stones utilised to build prehistoric megalithic monuments, through geological studies, is... more
The technical and intellectual capabilities of past societies are reflected in the monuments they were able to build. Tracking the provenance of the stones utilised to build prehistoric megalithic monuments, through geological studies, is of the utmost interest for interpreting ancient architectures as well as to contribute to their protection. According to the scarce information available, most stones used in European prehistoric megaliths originate from locations near the construction sites, which would have made transport easier. The Menga dolmen (Antequera, Malaga, Spain), listed in UNESCO World Heritage since July 2016, was designed and built with stones weighting up to nearly 150 tons, thus becoming the most colossal stone monument built in its time in Europe (c. 3800-3600 BC). Our study (based on high-resolution geological mapping as well as petrographic and stratigraphic analyses) reveals key geological and archaeological evidence to establish the precise provenance of the massive stones used in the construction of this monument. These stones are mostly calcarenites, a poorly cemented detrital sedimentary rock comparable to those known as 'soft stones' in modern civil engineering. They were quarried from a rocky outcrop located at a distance of approximately 1 km. In this study, it can be inferred the use of soft stone in Menga reveals the human application of new wood and stone technologies enabling the construction of a monument of unprecedented magnitude and complexity.
Publication Date: 2023
Publication Name: Scientific Reports
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geology, Anthropology, Architecture, and 11 moreGeoarchaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Megalithic Monuments, Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Megaliths (Archaeology), Neolithic Europe, History of architecture, Megalithic Art, Geoarchaeology and Lithic Studies, and Quaternary Geoarchaeology
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Antequera in southern Spain is widely recognised as an outstanding example of the European megalithic phenomenon. One of its most remarkable features is the evident relationship between conspicuous natural formations and human-built... more
Antequera in southern Spain is widely recognised as an outstanding example of the European megalithic phenomenon. One of its most remarkable features is the evident relationship between conspicuous natural formations and human-built monuments. Here, the authors report the results of their investigation of a tomb newly discovered at the site of Piedras Blancas at the foot of La Peña de los Enamorados, a limestone massif that dominates the Antequera plain. Excavation and multidisciplinary study, including geological, architectural and archaeoastronomical investigations, have revealed a complex funerary monument that is part natural, part built, part hypogeum, part megalith. The results emphasise the centrality of La Peña in the Neolithic worldview and encourage wider investigation of prehistoric place-making.
Publication Date: 2023
Publication Name: Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Geoarchaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Funerary Archaeology, and 13 moreNeolithic Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, Archaeoastronomy, Megalithic Monuments, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Human Remains (Anthropology), Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Burial Practices (Archaeology), Megaliths (Archaeology), Neolithic Europe, Prehistory, Geoarchaeology and Lithic Studies, and Anthropology of Religion
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Publication Date: 2022
Publication Name: Lara Galicia, A. (ed.): El Sentido del Agua. Un Viaje Desde la Prehistoria. 37-41.
Research Interests:
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"The discovery of the Menga dolmen water well in 2005 raised a number of scientific challenges. The obvious connection of this great megalithic monument with water demands an entirely new approach to its geographical and historical... more
"The discovery of the Menga dolmen water well in 2005 raised a number of scientific challenges. The obvious connection of this great megalithic monument with water demands an entirely new approach to its geographical and historical context. To achieve this, a complete analysis of the geochemical characteristics of the well’s water is undertaken and the hydrological context of the surrounding region is examined. The results of this study are discussed within the context of the complex economic, social and cultural history of water resources in Lands of Antequera, which are reviewed on the basis of archaeological, historical and geographic data. Altogether, this approach reveals a completely new dimension of this great megalithic monument, in which ecology, water resources, economy, architecture and beliefs are interwoven into one of the most complex and persistent monumental landscapes of European Prehistory."
Publication Date: 2021
Publication Name: Bartelheim, M.; García Sanjuán, L. and Hardenberg, R. (eds.): Human-Made Environments: The Development of Landscapes as Resource Assemblages, 89-116. RessourcenKulturen 15, Tübingen University Press, Tübingen
Research Interests: History of Religion, Landscape Archaeology, Mediterranean prehistory, Water resources, Neolithic Archaeology, and 15 moreNeolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Religion and ritual in prehistory, Landscapes in prehistory, Megalithic Monuments, Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Megaliths (Archaeology), Bronze Age (Archaeology), European Prehistory (Archaeology), Prehistory, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Water Supply, Monumentality, Monuments, and Megalithic Culture
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Publication Date: 2018
Publication Name: García Sanjuán, L. & Mora Molina, C. (Eds.) (2018): La Intervención de 2005 en el Dolmen de Menga. Temporalidad, Biografía y Cultura Material en un Monumento del Patrimonio Mundial, 325-353. Sevilla. Junta de Andalucía y Universidad de Sevilla, 2018
Research Interests: History, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology, Mediterranean prehistory, and 15 moreNeolithic Archaeology, Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Water History, Megalithic Monuments, Iberian Prehistory (Archaeology), Water Resources Management, Megaliths (Archaeology), Neolithic Europe, Hydraulic systems and structures, Hydraulic and Hydrology, European Prehistory (Archaeology), Prehistory, Neolithic, Water Supply, and Megaliths
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Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not... more
Today, mercury is a matter of concern for health and environmental authorities across western countries, and legislation has been passed and programs have been implemented for its total elimination from human activity. But this was not always the case: mercury and its compounds have been highly appreciated and used since remote times all over the world with very diverse purposes ranging from decorative, medicinal, metallurgical and symbolic. In particular, cinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide), a mineral of an intense red color, has been considered in many cultures as an exotic raw material, highly valued and associated with the elites and sacred practice. In this paper, we examine one such case, set almost 5000 years ago, in Copper Age Iberia, by investigating mercury exposure through human bone. The study presented here includes a total of 170 samples from 70 different human individuals and 22 animals (plus one soil sample) from the Copper Age mega-site of Valencina, southwestern Spain. It is the largest ever single-site study of exposure to mercury based on human bone in combination with cinnabar use. Abnormally high values are recorded in some individuals dating between 2900 and 2650 BC, especially in those buried in remarkable tombs belonging to the social elite of this period, but high levels of mercury are also recorded in the rest of the population. Three lines of interpretation are used to explain these results, including the manipulation of cinnabar (grinding it into powder, mixing it with other substances, using it for the decoration of objects, buildings and the human body), its direct consumption through ingestion or inhalation by a 'special' social group and the contribution of environmental factors. Based on the currently available evidence, which is carefully reviewed, Valencina represents the most intense and prolonged case of exposure to mercury recorded in human history, which makes it an important site to assess the long and complex history of use of this substance.
Publication Date: 2023
Publication Name: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory
Research Interests: History, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Geochemistry, Anthropology, and 15 moreMedical Anthropology, Art History, Bioarchaeology, Geoarchaeology, History of Religion, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Neolithic Archaeology, Physical Anthropology, History of Art, Megalithic Monuments, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Symbolism (Art History), Neolithic Europe, Mercury, and Cinnabar
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Given the absence of written records, the main source of information available to analyze gender inequalities in early complex societies is the human body itself. And yet, for decades, archaeologists have struggled with the sex estimation... more
Given the absence of written records, the main source of information available to analyze gender inequalities in early complex societies is the human body itself. And yet, for decades, archaeologists have struggled with the sex estimation of poorly preserved human remains. Here we present an exceptional case study that shows how groundbreaking new scientific methods may address this problem. Through the analysis of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel, we establish that the most socially prominent person of the Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 BC) was not male, as previously thought, but female. The analysis of this woman, discovered in 2008 at Valencina, Spain, reveals that she was a leading social figure at a time where no male attained a remotely comparable social position. Only other women buried a short time after in the Montelirio tholos, part of the same burial area, appear to have enjoyed a similarly high social position. Our results invite to reconsider established interpretations about the political role of women at the onset of early social complexity, and question traditionally held views of the past. Furthermore, this study anticipates the changes that newly developed scientific methods may bring to prehistoric archaeology and the study of human social evolution.
Publication Date: 2023
Publication Name: Scientific Reports
Research Interests: History, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Social Sciences, and 15 morePolitical Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Spanish History, Funerary Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, Social History, Megalithic Monuments, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Social Evolution, Burial Practices (Archaeology), Megaliths (Archaeology), Neolithic Europe, Historia Social, Historia, and Megalithism
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In this study, total mercury (THg) was analyzed in archaeological human bone from 23 sites dating to between the Middle Neolithic and the Antiquity. A total of 370 individuals from individual or collective burials were sampled, mostly... more
In this study, total mercury (THg) was analyzed in archaeological human bone from 23 sites dating to between the Middle Neolithic and the Antiquity. A total of 370 individuals from individual or collective burials were sampled, mostly using cortical bone from the humerus. These individuals were recovered from over 50 different funerary structures ranging from tholoi, pits, caves and hypogea. Although cinnabar (HgS) is a likely cause of mercury poisoning and toxicity for people exposed to this mineral from mining or use as a paint or pigment, not all sites investigated here had cinnabar associated with the burials or other excavated areas. We found unusual levels of THg in many of the sampled individuals that we assume were caused by exposure to cinnabar in life, and not by diagenetic processes or other exposures to mercury such as through diet which would only cause negligible accumulation of THg in bone. Our data, based on the largest sampling ever undertaken on contamination of human bone through archaeological evidence, provide a baseline for additional research on cinnabar and its use in Prehistory. Moderate to high levels of THg in human bone are mainly associated with societies dating from the second half of the 4th to late 3rd millennia B.C. (Late Neolithic to Middle Chalcolithic) in southern Iberia. By the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age the use of cinnabar decreased significantly and became minimal or absent. The use and abuse of cinnabar appears to have been pervasive throughout the above-mentioned period, and particularly between c. 2900-2300 B.C. This occurred in connection with the high symbolic and probably sacred value of the substance, which was sought after, traded and extensively used in a variety of rituals and social practices.