Four Copper Age pit burials from Cerro de la Cabeza (Ávila)

Abstract

This paper presents a thorough description of four pit burials dated to the Copper Age and recovered during the rescueexcavation of a pit site. The lot consists of a multiple pit burial containing six individuals with clear proofs of violenceplus three other single pit burials. The inhumation was the funerary treatment followed in all cases and proofs of secondaryburial have been also documented. Data on material culture, physical anthropology, paleopathology, palaeodiet,archaeopalinology and radiocarbon dating of the human remains are included for each burial pit. The paper proposesan overall archaeological interpretation of these funerary testimonies in their cultural context. Their probable extraordinarycharacter is highlighted, as relegated burial cases at the margins of the everyday normative mortuary rules.