Overview

Since the dawn of archaeology, the study of funerary contexts has provided invaluable insights into past societies, a trend that persists in contemporary research. Ongoing discoveries, site reevaluations, and advancements in techniques like DNA analysis continually reshape our understanding of the past. In the specific contexts we are addressing – the emergence of the first farming and herding communities in the Western Mediterranean – few regions in Europe display such systematic funerary practices. A notable example is the “Pit Burial” horizon in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Approximately 6,500 years ago in this area, there was a significant increase in the number of found inhumations, with some clustering in cemeteries containing several dozen individuals. Despite sporadic mentions in international publications, the details of the “Pit Burials” horizon funerary practices – such as burial locations, characteristics and performed analysis – are generally not well known, primarily because most of the publications have been presented in Catalan or Spanish. This limits awareness of one of the best-documented archaeological records shedding light on Neolithic communities in the Western Mediterranean. Over a century, the northeastern Iberian Peninsula has yielded numerous Neolithic burials, totaling over 650 graves, predominantly featuring single inhumations. Many of these graves, excavated in ground pits, remain remarkably intact, facilitating interpretations of burial treatments and grave goods, indicative of time and effort invested in acquisition and production. Furthermore, this was also a period of well-established social networks, facilitating the distribution of materials such as flint, obsidian, or jadeite for crafting lithic tools, and variscite for producing ornaments across extensive territories spanning hundreds of kilometers. These networks had an impact on the social, economic, and ideological organization of these communities, as well as their interactions with other European populations. This interconnected world left archaeological traces, evident in the early stages of subsequent megalithic developments. AUTHORS: Berta Morell-Rovira is a researcher in archaeology at the Milà i Fontanals Institution – Spanish National Research Council. She completed her PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2019. Her research focuses on studying Neolithic funerary contexts in the Western Mediterranean and Central Europe using 14C dating, as well as 87Sr/86Sr, d18O, d15N & d13C isotopic analysis. F. Xavier Oms held his PhD in 2014, and he is currently a lecturer at the Section of Prehistory and Archaeology of the University of Barcelona. His research focuses primarily on the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition and the study of early Neolithic colonisations in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula through chronology and ceramics. He has directed and is currently directing numerous field archaeology projects. Gerard Remolins is an archaeologist at the company ReGiraRocs. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Geostatistics and Spatial Archeology with the study of spatial patterns of intra-site organization in prehistoric sites in the central and western Mediterranean. Juan F. Gibaja received his PhD in prehistory from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2002. He is currently a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He specialises in use-wear analysis, and his research has focused on the Mesolithic to Neolithic societies in the Mediterranean. In recent years he has directed several projects on the funerary contexts of northeast Iberia. 180 b/w and color illustrations

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Berta Morell-Rovira is a researcher in archaeology at the Milà i Fontanals Institution – Spanish National Research Council. She completed her PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2019. Her research focuses on studying Neolithic funerary contexts in the Western Mediterranean and Central Europe using 14C dating, as well as 87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ15N & δ13C isotopic analysis. F. Xavier Oms held his PhD in 2014, and he is currently a lecturer at the Section of Prehistory and Archaeology of the University of Barcelona. His research focuses primarily on the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition and the study of early Neolithic colonisations in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula through chronology and ceramics. He has directed and is currently directing numerous field archaeology projects. Gerard Remolins is an archaeologist at the company ReGiraRocs. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Geostatistics and Spatial Archeology with the study of spatial patterns of intra-site organization in prehistoric sites in the central and western Mediterranean. Juan F. Gibaja received his PhD in prehistory from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2002. He is currently a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). He specialises in use-wear analysis, and his research has focused on the Mesolithic to Neolithic societies in the Mediterranean. In recent years he has directed several projects on the funerary contexts of northeast Iberia.

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