The chalcolithic “pit field” of Fuente Celada (Burgos): preliminary data and perspectives

Abstract

The results are presented of the archaeological excavation of a ‘Pit Field’ site in the Northern Spanish Plateau. While a small part of the site was occupied during the Neolithic, most of the pits belong chronologically and culturally to the “Pre-Bell Beaker” Chalcolitith period. A few human graves were recovered inside the pits, together with indications of a settlement area (mud fragments used in the huts and stone mortars) whose remains have disappeared due to postdepositional disturbance. The evidence seems to support recent hypothesis claiming a sedentary exploitation of the milieu, with long-term economic investment on the nearby landscape, in opposition to traditional interpretations describing the prehistoric economy of the area as fundamentally mobile.