A Community in Life and Death: The Late Neolithic Megalithic Tomb at Alto de Reinoso (Burgos, Spain)
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Prehistoria y ArqueologíaPublisher
Public Library of ScienceDate
2016Citation
10.1371/journal.pone.0146176
PloS one 11 (2016): 1-32
ISSN
1932-6203DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0146176Subjects
Burgos (España); Neolítico; Arte megalítico; ArqueologíaAbstract
The analysis of the human remains from the megalithic tomb at Alto de Reinoso represents
the widest integrative study of a Neolithic collective burial in Spain. Combining archaeology,
osteology, molecular genetics and stable isotope analysis (87Sr/86Sr, δ15N, δ13C) it provides
a wealth of information on the minimum number of individuals, age, sex, body height,
pathologies, mitochondrial DNA profiles, kinship relations, mobility, and diet. The grave was
in use for approximately one hundred years around 3700 cal BC, thus dating from the Late
Neolithic of the Iberian chronology. At the bottom of the collective tomb, six complete and
six partial skeletons lay in anatomically correct positions. Above them, further bodies represented
a subsequent and different use of the tomb, with almost all of the skeletons exhibiting
signs of manipulation such as missing skeletal parts, especially skulls. The megalithic
monument comprised at least 47 individuals, including males, females, and subadults,
although children aged 0–6 years were underrepresented. The skeletal remains exhibited a
moderate number of pathologies, such as degenerative joint diseases, healed fractures,
cranial trauma, and a low intensity of caries. The mitochondrial DNA profiles revealed a pattern
pointing to a closely related local community with matrilineal kinship patterns. In some
cases adjacent individuals in the bottom layer showed familial relationships. According to
their strontium isotope ratios, only a few individuals were likely to have spent their early
childhood in a different geological environment, whilst the majority of individuals grew up locally. Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, which was undertaken to reconstruct the dietary
habits, indicated that this was a homogeneous group with egalitarian access to food.
Cereals and small ruminants were the principal sources of nutrition. These data fit in well
with a lifestyle typical of sedentary farming populations in the Spanish Meseta during this
period of the Neolithic
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Kurt, W. Alt
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Zesch, Stephanie
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Garrido Pena, Rafael
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Knipper, Corina
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Szécsényi Nagy, Anna
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Roth, Christina
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Tejedor Rodríguez, Cristina
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Held, Petra
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García Martínez de Lagrán, Íñigo
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Navitainuck, Denise
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Arcusa Magallón, Héctor
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Rojo Guerra, Manuel A.
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