La Maqbara de La Torrecilla, Arenas del Rey, Granada: revisión y sistematización de los rituales funerarios y su cronología

The Late Bronze Age is marked by an increasing homogenization of material culture and burial customs. The cemetery of Inzersdorf, situated in the Lower Traisen Valley, Lower Austria, serves as a case study to examine diachronic changes in burial practices. This paper interprets radiocarbon data from 49 calcined human bone samples and employs correspondence analysis of grave contexts. The carefully integrated dataset enables the precise delineation of the cemetery’s chronological structure in relation to the burial practices, which include body-sized graves, graves encircled by ditches and urn graves. Insights into rituals or ancestral veneration emerge from temporal discrepancies in graves with multiple occupation. The analysis indicates the cemetery’s early origin in around 1400 BC, at the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age, and identifies two peak phases of activity before burial practices decline in around 950 BC. The integration of typochronological markers, 14C data, and comparisons with nearby contemporary cemeteries reveals a complex temporal framework, emphasizing the fluidity and regional variability of burial practices. This challenges assumptions of a linear development in mortuary rites and establishes an absolute and a relative chronology of the Late Bronze Age for eastern Austria.

Two fragments of the rim of an iron vessel have been found in mound 2 of the Kyzylzhartas cemetery lo-cated in the Shet district of the Karaganda region. The mound, 34 m in diameter and 1.4–2 m high, represents a burial site of the elite of the Late Saka period. This status of the burial is also confirmed by the gold jewellery that survived the robbery of the mound in ancient times. Based on archaeological data and radiocarbon analysis, the mound is dated to the second half of the 4th–3rd centuries BC. Metallographic analysis of single rim has shown that the vessel was manufactured from an iron sheet, 0.8–1 mm thick, made from a bloom by forging. The edge of the rim is bent inwards, and two circular hoops made from the same sheet are placed on the outside to strengthen the neck of the vessel. The lower one is a narrow strip bent at an obtuse angle. A second hoop is positioned on top of it, folded along its length from ca. 10 mm wide strip, with a cross-section in the shape of a flattened “eight”. The rim of the vessel is decorated with an ornament of a strip of yellow paint. The analysis of the structure of the paint layer suggests that the pigment was obtained from the mineral brown iron ore, otherwise limonite, by the means of grinding. Vessels of the late Saka period, made of iron sheet, are unknown on the territory of Kazakh-stan. It was not possible to find any similarities in neighbouring regions as well. The results of the study are published for the first time.

The article is devoted to the preliminary results of the st udy of burial mounds № 4 –7, 9 on the burial ground of the Inskoy Dol, situated in the Krasnoshchekovskiy district of the Altai Territory (Western Altai). Investigated objects complement the information on the late Stone Age of souther n Siber ia. A nalysis of planig raphy, the burial rite and inventory provided the opportunity to distinguish two of the small groups of mounds on the Inskoy Dol burial site. The f irst group of barrows № 4–5, 9 has the characteristic features of Afanasyevo culture and pre-dated to 3rd Millennium BC. The characteristic signs of Afanasyevo culture include planographics of the particular location of the object and the tomb designs of a round shape, where along the perimeter one can find the ring plates, set vertically and the stones laid flat; ground graves where the dead were placed on the back with bent knees and feet oriented the head to the west; painting the dead with red ochre; the receptacles ovoid. The second microgroup of mounds № 6–7 refers to the so-called Kurtusk type of burials and dated to pre- mid-3rd Millennium BC. This type is characterized by the following features of the burial rite: round structure of tombs, the position of the dead in subterranean graves on the back with bent knees feet; the orientation of the dead head to the east, north-east; painting of the dead with ochre. In addition, as a rule, such burial do not contain any inventory or they contain mainly the vessels of the jar type. Further study of the monument, as well as carrying out radiocarbon analysis will allow providing new data for chronological attribution of the objects. DOI 10.14258/izvasu(2016)4-39

Sungir (Russia) is a key Mid-Upper Palaeolithic site in Eurasia, containing several spectacular burials that disclose early evidence for complex burial rites in the form of a range of grave goods deposited along with the dead. Dating has been particularly challenging, with multiple radiocarbon dates ranging from 19,160±270 to 28,800±240 BP for burials that are believed to be closely similar in age. There are disparities in the radiocarbon dates of human bones, faunal remains and charcoal found on the floor of burials [1], [2], [3]. Our approach has been to develop compound-specific methods using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to separate single amino acids, such as hydroxyproline, and thereby avoid the known human contamination on the bones themselves. Previously, we applied this technique to obtain radiocarbon dates of ∼30,000 BP for Sungir 2, Sungir 3 and a mammoth bone from the occupation levels of the site [4]. The single amino acid radiocarbon dates were in good agreement with each other compared to all the dates previously reported, supporting their reliability. Here we report new hydroxyproline dates for two more human burials from the same site, Sungir 1 and Sungir 4. All five hydroxyproline dates reported are statistically indistinguishable and support an identical age for the group. The results suggest that compound-specific radiocarbon analysis should be considered seriously as the method of choice when precious archaeological remains are to be dated because they give a demonstrably contaminant-free radiocarbon age. The new ages are, together with the previously dated ‘Red Lady of Paviland’ human in the British Isles, the earliest for Mid Upper Palaeolithic burial behaviour in Eurasia, and point to the precocious appearance of this form of rite in Europe Russia.

The vertebrate fauna from the cave deposits in Imanai Cave in the Southern Urals (53°02' N, 56°26'E) has been studied. It contains 715 bones that belonged to at least 11 individuals of fossil lion (Panthera (Leo) ex gr. fossilis-spelaea). It has been established that this is one of the largest Eurasian burial sites of fossil lions. The bones were accumulated due to the natural death of animals inside the cave. The age and sex estimations have shown that at least six adult males and five adult females died there. According to the accompanying fauna, radiocarbon, geochemical, and mineralogical analyses and archaeological finds, the interval of the lion bone accumulation is determined as the first half to middle of Late Pleistocene (OIS 5-3).

In 1968, excavations in the Climente II cave in the Iron Gates gorge of the River Danube in southwest Romania unearthed the skeleton of an adult male. The burial was assumed to be of Late Pleistocene age because of the presence of Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) artefacts in the cave. However, there was no strong supporting stratigraphic evidence, and the body position is reminiscent of Early Neolithic burial practice in the region. Here, we report the results of radiocarbon and stable isotope analyses of the Climente II skeleton, which show that the skeleton dates to the Bølling-Allerød Interstadial ~14,500cal BP. This is several millennia older than any previously dated human remains from the Iron Gates region and confirms its status as the oldest known burial from Romania. The stable isotope results indicate a diet with an emphasis on aquatic resources, contrary to the commonly held view that the LUP inhabitants of the Iron Gates subsisted mainly by hunting large land mammals.

En el presente artículo ofrecemos la edición crítica y anotada, y el estudio lingüístico de un tratado andalusí de métrica y rima del siglo XIII, propiedad originalmente de la Universidad de Granada y de su Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, que encontramos durante nuestra estancia de investigación en el Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), en el año 2012. Asimismo, indagamos la procedencia de este manuscrito y corregimos los datos referentes a su autor. Se trata de uno de los tratados sobre métrica y rima más importantes y más complejos, en el que se describe la métrica, los pies y las sílabas. Es una obra ininteligible por lo que fue objeto de cerca de cuarenta comentarios.

The results of the first excavations at Pasym were presented in summary form. No site documentation survives, and the exact location of the excavated trenches cannot be determined. Plans, records and site logbooks from the 1960s excavations are held at the Museum of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Analysis of these materials has enabled us to trace the course of this work and to ascertain the stratigraphy of the area examined. Most of the data we have comes from excavations carried out in 2016–18 and 2021. To date a total area of 2290 m2 has been excavated (Figs. 4.1, 4.2). In 1961 the archaeological heritage protection authorities in Olsztyn launched an excavation at the site on Okrągła Góra. Initially, a 5×15 m trench was marked out on the east slope of the stronghold. The remains of three ditches were recorded. This trench was subsequently extended a further 20 m east. There a group of pits and postholes was uncovered. The excavated area was also extended westwards. Excavation was resumed in 1962, and work on the east slope was completed. Another ditch was discovered (the one nearest the top of the stronghold), as were the remains of a palisade. Excavations also took place on the plateau, where a number of refuse pits and numerous postholes were found. In 1963 work continued at the east end of the stronghold’s central space. As had been the case on its west side, most of the features found there were small refuse pits and postholes. The discovery of an inhumation burial on the south side was of particular interest. Radiocarbon analysis dated this burial to 5921–5732 BC. In 1964 efforts were focused on examining the north and south slopes. A ditch discovered on the north slope was part of the main ditch encircling the stronghold. The remains of ditches unearthed on the south slope were analogous to those found on the east side of Okrągła Góra. A dozen or so pits recorded at the south end of the trench were attributable to the settlement. In 2016 work was carried out at the edge of the central space (trench 1/16), on the east slope (trench 2/16), and on the plateau to the north-east of the stronghold (trench 3/16). Several features came to light in trench 1/16: two dwellings that had been partially excavated in the 1960s (features 3 and 5), and refuse pits and postholes. Elements of the stronghold’s defences were discovered in trench 2/16 (a rampart and four ditches). At the east end of this trench storage pits and a series of postholes were found spread out across an area of 200 m2. No manmade features were discovered in the final trench (3/16). In 2017 a further three trenches were opened: trench 1/17 at the edge of the stronghold; trench 2/17 on the east slope; and trench 3/17 at the foot of the stronghold, on its south-east side. On the periphery of the stronghold’s central space, some small refuse pits, two dwellings (features 7 and 9) and the remains of a palisade were uncovered. The continuation of ditch 1 and a platform with a cobbled surface were discovered in trench 2/17 at the edge of the plateau. Thick deposits associated with early Iron Age and early medieval settlement were uncovered in trench 3/17. Excavations in 2018 concentrated on examining further stretches of the western edge of the plateau (trenches 1 and 2/18), and the foot of the stronghold overlooking the lake (trench 3/18). Trenches 1 and 2/18 revealed the remains of another two dwellings (features 4 and 13), in addition to some small refuse pits, posthole patterns and the remnants of a palisade. A thin runoff deposit was identified in trench 3/18. The 2021 excavations on the east slope aimed to uncover the fill of ditches 1 and 2 in order to carry out geomorphological and geochemical analyses. Further sections of ditches 1 and 2 were recorded in the excavated area.

Research on the beginning of the growth of Toraja culture needs to track when this unique culture began to develop. The Toraja cultural remains are generally made of stone such as menhirs and stone, and wood graves such as erong grave containers and various daily living equipment. Erong cemetery made of wood is noted as a cultural heritage that is quite old, and generally stored safely in caves, so it is very representative to know its age through the radiocarbon method (C14). A research through selectively taking samples of 22 erong burial sites in Tana Toraja and North Toraja Regency can be a media of tracking the range of the development period of the culture, which is noted around 780 - 1960 AD. Thus the date of the erong burial culture in Tana Toraja can provide a perspective on the initial period and development of the culture.

Introduction. Goals. The article introduces some investigation findings and publishes new materials from the ‘mustached’ kurgans of Northern Saryarka obtained during three field seasons (2022–2024) at the Baubek Batyr-2 and Abakai burial sites. Materials and methods. The paper focuses on archaeological excavation materials from a total of three seasons at the designated sites. The work employs an interdisciplinary approach that comprises tools of remote sensing, morphometric analysis, and those of traditional archaeological research. Results. All the three investigated complexes have been identified as Type Ia according to the Grudochko typology. Particular attention is paid to the application of contemporary methods and techniques, including high-precision geodetic survey, multi-altitude UAV aerial photography, and advanced geoinformation analysis. Data processing in Agisoft Metashape Professional has made it possible to create highly detailed digital elevation models (DEM) and orthophotomaps. The use of the Openness topographic index in SAGA GIS to identify and analyze stone ridges (‘mustaches’) has become a key research element. This has secured the objective identification and mapping of these ritual constructions that are not always discernible during ground surveys. The dating materials for kurgans at Baubek Batyr-2 consisted of ceramic vessels ― a ribbed pot and an imported jug ― as well as results of a radiocarbon analysis into osteal remains conducted at the University in Poznań. Typological analogies and the obtained radiocarbon age (1575 ± 30) make it possible to date the two kurgans to the 5th century AD. The ‘mustached’ kurgan at Abakai with absent material finds is tentatively dated to the 5th–7th centuries AD. The applied interdisciplinary approach has not only refined the dating and cultural attribution of the sites but also demonstrated somewhat high effectiveness of the involved techniques for documenting and interpreting complex ritual sites.

MUCH evidence suggests that man was present in the Western Hemisphere before 12,000 yr ago, but the case has remained less than conclusive1. In some situations, the geological age of the site is reasonably well established but the association or nature of the artefacts is questionable2,3. In other cases, museum specimens of human bones dated by radiocarbon analysis of collagen lack desirable information concerning site location, geology, and stratigraphy even though the accuracy of their absolute ages seems valid4–6. We report here the results of radiometric dates of the Yuha burial site from Imperial County, California, for which the geology and stratigraphy have been documented and reported in detail7.

The article deals with the materials of the study of ancient religious buildings of the Bronze Age at the Kyzyltobe burial ground. The architecture of buildings, the funeral rite, and the accompanying inventory are described, the technological methods used in the extraction of materials used in construction are considered. As a result of the work carried out, four fences were excavated at the burial ground: No. 9, 13, 29, 50. The burial, located in enclosure No. 9, was made in a dirt pit with a dromos designed in the form of a tambour, which obliquely enters the eastern wall of the grave pit under the stone ring of the tomb enclosure. The ashes of a cremated person were located on a flat wooden dish, located in a stone box in fence No. 13. Inside enclosure No. 29, two burials were found, made according to the rite of inhumation: an adult — in the main enclosure, a children's — in an extension. In enclosure number 50, a monumental stone box without a burial was fixed and examined, in the center of which a granite stone lay at the bottom. The box is covered with large slabs, in the center of which there is a round opening. A petroglyph of a deer was found on one of the side walls of the box. Soil burial pits, stone cists, burials according to the rite of cremation and accompanying inventory in the form of ornamented ceramic vessels, located in fenced areas, studied at the Kyzyltobe burial ground, find analogies in the burial grounds of Borovoye, Buyrekkol and Obali. These monuments are located in the vicinity of Burabay and belong to the Fedorov archaeological culture. The new fixed elements of the burial structures are the dromos and the stone box with an opening in the ceiling. The image of a deer on the wall of the box is a remarkable fact in itself; the image of a deer is one of the motifs of animal-style art. Perhaps this is an echo of totemism. According to radiocarbon analysis of bone material from fence No. 29, the Kyzyltobe burial site dates back to the 18th–17th centuries BC.

The Bob Turbeville site (41WD382) is an Early to Middle Caddoan period occupation on the upper Sabine River, likely a small farmstead or hamlet containing a trash midden and possible house areas. Previous work at the site had identified a human burial with associated grave goods. Radiocarbon analysis suggests that the occupation of the site dates to around A.D. 1165 to 1290. Work at the Turbeville site was conducted in October 1995 by Paul Price Associates, Inc. under the auspices of the Antiquities Code of Texas in association with a proposed expansion of the existing wastewater treatment facilities at Mineola, Texas. The site is located just south of Mineola, along the slope and valley margin of a dissected landform that projects out above extensive Pleistocene terrace deposits of the Sabine River. Two unnamed tributaries bisect the terrace deposits to the east and west of the site.

A cautionary tale from down under: Dating the BlackCreek Swamp megafauna site on Kangaroo Island, South Australia