Complutum

José Alfonso Moure Romanillo (1949-2023)

Federico Bernaldo de Quirós — 2023-12-20

The origin of caring behaviors: hygiene and social care in Homo neanderthalensis. A critical review

Andrea García-Basanta — 2023-12-20

Since the 20th century, Neanderthal pathologies have been studied by analysing their bones. However, healthcare in Middle Palaeolithic populations and its subsequent behavioural implications have not been studied until very recently. In the last decade, some authors began to consider this topic for a better understanding of Palaeolithic societies based on the Bioarchaeology of Care. This paper is the first critical review of data on Neanderthals. The study includes 16 sites located in Europe and Asia. It allows us to discuss health behaviours and their implications at the individual, population and social levels. This research shows that care behaviours were systematically attested in these populations and allows us to discuss technical and social aspects and to infer cognitive and emotional capacities. This research has important social implications and contributes to the creation of a direct link between the Middle Palaeolithic and the social aspects of healthcare that we have experienced in recent years, due to COVID-19, putting Palaeolithic Archaeology at the centre of a reflection on "what makes us human" and highlighting its role in proposing issues that have a significant impact on the most current debates in our contemporary world.

Musterian occupation at the southern sub-plateau: techno-typological study of El Sotillo (Ciudad Real)

Beatriz Ugarte Villalba — 2023-12-20

In recent years, research about Paleolithic in the province of Ciudad Real has provided new sites and data over the human groups of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene in the region. The paleolithic site of El Sotillo (Malagón, Ciudad Real) has been known for several decades, although superficially. This type of open-air deposits is very numerous in the province. In this paper we present the results of the techno-typological study of the lithic industry found on the Surface during the 2017 campaign, belonging to Middle Paleolithic chronologies and, in the first instance, to a discoid technological complex in which tools corresponding to the Mousterian charentiense quina type are found. The importance of the site consists in the fact that, after an intense trajectory of prospections and works in the region, we can study in depth this open-air deposit that has Acheulean and Mousterian levels in stratigraphy and whose study will be key to understanding the occupation and exploitation of the environment by hunter-gatherer groups during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene in the Guadiana basin.

Una revisión del Arte Rupestre Atlántico desde la arqueología de género

Xurxo Pereira-Martínez — 2023-12-20

The aim of this work is to highlight the need to link gender and feminist archaeology to research on rock art in the northwestern peninsula. To do this, we carried out a review of the history of the investigations of the Atlantic Rock Art (ARA), evidencing the androcentric discourse present in many of the works done so far; and, on the other hand, we expose the results of the analysis of naturalistic figures (anthropomorphs and animals) present on surfaces of the Galician southwest and Portuguese north. Thus, this study has served to illustrate that the over-representation of the male gender in research on ARA was not due to empirical reasons, and that indeterminacy prevails when representing this type of motif in the northwest Iberian.

Villavieja (Fuentes de Cesna-Algarinejo, Granada). New contributions to the Cooper Age walled sites in the Subbaetic Andalusia

Antonio Morgado-Rodríguez — 2023-12-20

Interpretation of the sociocultural dynamics of the communities from the III millennium B.C. in the mountainous region of the Subbaetic System in the southern Iberian Peninsula have agreed in the marginal perspective, belonging to a social and geographical geographic periphery whose center is in the Southeast and the valley of the Guadalquivir. The recent interventions in two new walled enclosures of the Copper Age culminate an investigation that had started on its link with the intensive use of lithic resources, allowing to approach this dynamic from new documentary bases. Starting from the analysis of Villavieja (Algarinejo, Granada), its genesis, development and collapse, we analyzed the knowledge involved in the erection of its exceptionally well-preserved stone wall in extension and height. This fact allows us to address the applied technology that, together with Pedriza de Cartuja (Montillana-Colomera, Granada) within the same mountainous region, allow us to begin to glimpse new perspectives that draw a more complex picture to traditional interpretations of megalithic populations from the Subbaetic mountainous region in the Southern Iberian Peninsula.

Textile activities during the 3rd and 2nd millennium cal BC in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula: spinning instruments

Ricardo E. Basso Rial — 2023-12-20

This study analyses a set of artefacts from Chalcolithic and Early and Middle Bronze Age contexts in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula that may have been involved in textile activities, specifically spinning. These are clay spindle whorls and perforated stone discs whose morphometric, chronological and contextual data are compared with parallels from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as with existing information on textile activities such as weaving, basketry and representations of clothing in Megalithic art. The results indicate the use of clay spindle whorls for spinning vegetable fibres from the end of the Early Chalcolithic, although it is from the Late Chalcolithic/Bell Beaker period when they acquire greater prominence, perhaps linked to a greater intensification and technical improvement of textile production. During the Early and Middle Bronze Age, spindle whorls were absent, and the only ones present were perforated stone discs, although they could hardly have fulfilled this function. From the Late Bronze Age onwards, clay spindle whorls are again documented, but their morphology, completely different from the previous ones, allows us to relate them to a greater use of wool as a textile fibre.

The productions of Cogotas I tradition in the argaric territory: the case of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén)

Laura Vico Triguero — 2023-12-20

This paper show the results obtained from the archaeometric study of the decorated ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition from the Argaric settlement of Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén) are presented. The use of techniques from Earth Sciences (thin film petrography, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy) have allowed us to compare the typical Argaric productions of the site of Peñalosa with the ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition, which has allowed us to define different manufacturing groups in this site. The results obtained have allowed us to define a series of "Manufacturing Groups" that have shown characteristics in terms of manufacture and composition that show a similarity in the production of the ceramics of the Cogotas I tradition and those considered as typical Argaric. Therefore, we can affirm the existence of productions of the Cogotas I tradition in the Upper Guadalquivir at an early date (1700 BC), more closely related to those of the Meseta, which indicates an exchange of ideas, people, materials, etc. that favored the adoption of this type of production in Argaric contexts. This raises the possibility of a way of insertion of the Meseta peoples through the Tagus and Duero basins, where the exchange of minerals or metallic objects could have played an important role in this contact.

Valorisation of pre and protohistoric twin vessels found in the Portuguese territory.

Raquel Vilaça — 2023-12-20

This text examines twin pottery forms dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages found in the current Portuguese territory. The published data is gathered and explored further whilst presenting five unpublished specimens, as well as others nearly forgotten until now. This integrative approach allows for a thorough inventory of this pottery universe, accompanied by the elaboration of a typology proposal, although subject to the sample’s high level of fragmentation. The analysis of specimens and the valorisation of their contexts (mainly settlements, except a cave of ritual nature) is combined with the scenery of twin vessels in the remaining Iberian space and even beyond it, commenting on some of the interpretative challenges around these peculiar pottery forms, namely in the matter of function and semantics.

t the feet of the goddess. Context and analysis of the Greek marble sculpture documented in the courtyard of the tartessic site of Casas del Turuñuelo (Guareña, Badajoz, Spain)

Sebastián Celestino Pérez — 2023-12-20

In this paper we present the results of the archaeometric analyzes carried out on a fragment of marble sculpture documented in the courtyard of the Casas del Turuñuelo site (Guareña, Badajoz) during the 2017 works. These analyses have confirmed that the marble comes from the Pentelic quarries (Athens, Greece), which makes it the oldest Greek marble sculpture, to date, of peninsular archaeology. His study has also made it possible to recover the remains of polychromy and to characterize the pigments used. Finally, the archaeological and historical context of the piece under study is presented, as well as its possible parallels.

Where the sphinges of Haches sleeped. New data and considerations on the site of Los Cucos (Bogarra, Albacete)

Arturo García-López — 2023-12-20

The objectives of this succinct work orbit around two questions. The first, to carry out a critical analysis of the existing bibliography on the Sphinxes of Haches and the ashlar with nacelle molding exhumed in the middle of the s. XX in Los Cucos (Bogarra, Albacete) that refer to contextual and spatial matters. The second, to present our contribution to this problem and to propose perspectives for future work, in order to encourage the necessary archaeological revisions of the vast set of decontextualized sculptural elements in the pre-Roman area.

An Iberian signum equitum in Monteagudo, Murcia

Martín Almagro-Gorbea — 2023-12-20

Review of an Iberian Bronze Horseman documented in the Cabré Archive. This Iberian bronze is a horseman wearing a helmet with a highly developed crest and armed with a circular shield on a support formed by an openwork stem for its sleeve. This figure was a signum equitum or royal scepter that was part of the collections of the Museum of Antiquities of the Colegio de Santo Domingo de Orihuela (Murcia, Spain) at the beginning of the 20th century, according to the photographic documentation preserved in the Siret Archive of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Its provenance is unknown, although the photography has a label that seems to indicate its origin in somewhere related to Monteagudo (Murcia), which increases the interest of this piece.

The architecture of the Iron Age in the Cantabrian area. The case of La Peña del Castro (La Ercina, León)

Eduardo González Gómez de Agüero — 2023-12-20

The archaeological work carried out at La Peña del Castro has revealed a settlement occupied from the Early Iron Age until the change of the Era. The violent destruction of the settlement during the Roman conquest has provided an exceptional opportunity to document the final phase of occupation, dated between the 2^nd and 1^st centuries BC. The collapse of structures and the occurrence of a fire event have resulted in the exceptional preservation of charred wooden elements, as well as remains of the earthen architecture and the height of some constructions. In the present study, we proceed to analyze the construction techniques and materials used, along with their socio-economic implications. To achieve this, we have undertaken a multidisciplinary approach that integrates various materials, besides a comprehensive description of the different architectural units and their construction techniques.

Contributions to the study of the animal hide-shaped gold “amulet-pendants” from the castros culture

Oscar García-Vuelta — 2023-12-20

An updated review of an assemblage of five gold pieces with laminar structure, filigree and granular decoration supposedly coming from Asturias, with parallels in two specimens from the province of Palencia is presented. They have been interpreted as amulets, and due to their silhouette, they have received names such as “hourglass” or “animal hides”, among others. The lack of context information and up to date studies have limited their research, and questions such as their origin, chronology and possible meaning keep being discused. The study of the current available records together with the technological review of the objects, provide a new data base susceptible of being interpreted. According to these data, it may be suggested that the pendants are related to specific production areas, probably located in the Castros area, which show both the Mediterranean influence over this jewelry, as well as parallels with jewelry of the Celtiberian area.

The communication of Prehistory through social networks: The case of Twitter

David Vélaz Ciaurriz — 2023-12-20

The aim of this work is to investigate the treatment given to Prehistory in the social network Twitter. To do this, the messages that contain the hashtag #prehistory, together with its possible variants, have been analyzed during a period of one year. In this way, it has been possible to access their content, identify who are the most active and influential authors, analyze their centrality within the network and detect the implicit in it. It is evident, among other things, a scarce presence in the network of people and institutions with authority in the matter, the existence of chronicled myths in many of the discourses and an unequal treatment of the different cultural stages, in favor of the Bronze Age.

Alfredo González-Ruibal (2023): Tierra Arrasada. Un viaje por la violencia del Paleolítico al siglo XXI. Barcelona, Editorial Crítica (Col. Tiempo de Historia). ISBN: 978-84-9199-525-8. (512 págs. + numerosas fotografías y dibujos numerados por capítulos)

Alejandro Martín Sánchez — 2023-12-20

Jimeno Revilla, Blanca y Arlegui Sánchez, Marian (2023): Fragmentos de agua y cielo en las cerámicas de Numancia. Soria, Museo Numantino/Asociación de Amigos del Museo Numantino/Junta de Castilla y León. ISBN: 978-84-09-49538-2 (60 páginas + numerosas fotografías en color de Valentín Guisande y Alejandro Plaza y algunos dibujos, todos sin numerar).

Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero — 2023-12-20