Human bone manipulation in the Middle Bronze Age of the Iberian Meseta: the fronto-facial fragment found at La Huelga site (Dueñas, Palencia)

Abstract

Research on prehistoric human remains primarily focuses on tombs and burials with full-representation skeletons, relegating the study of secondary and isolated remains whose great importance for the knowledge of mortuary practices is gradually being revealed in the anthropological and bioarchaeological literature. In the case of the Bronze Age sites placed in the inland Iberian Peninsula, the increasing presence of loose bones demands similar consideration. To this end, this paper undertakes the analysis of a cranial fragment (frontal and facial skeleton) of a subadult individual. The radiocarbon analysis places the death of this individual between 1660 -1497 Cal BC, linked to the formative phase of Cogotas I archaeological culture. The fragment shows chop marks and fractures that reveal a perimortem treatment to separate the frontal and the facial bones from the rest of the skull. To try to understand its meaning, different possibilities are analyzed —e.g., destroyed tomb, facial mask or residue from the preparation of a neurocranial object— in relation to social behaviours involving the manipulation of human remains, including those of fragmentation and suppression of the individual. The advance in the knowledge of the society practicing this mortuary conducts requires paying attention to all its evidence, including the loose and apparently insignificant remains, even those without clear context as is the case of this fragment from La Huelga.