Cova de l’Arbonès (Pradell de la Teixeta, Tarragona). New data from a Copper Age tomb
La Cova de l'Arbonès (Pradell de la Teixeta, Tarragona). Nuevos datos de un sepulcro calcolítico
Résumé
The Chalcolithic funerary site of the Cova de l’Arbonès site (Pradell de la Teixeta, Tarragona) was excavated more than 50 years ago. This paper offers an updated review of the archaeological finds, which include some remarkable artefacts — three flanged and globules alabaster beads, two buttons with wing-shaped appendices and one copper tanged dagger — using current methodologies: C-14 dating; lithic use-wear analysis and raw materials; typological and contextual analysis; archaeometallurgy (elemental composition and lead isotopes). The results demonstrate that the site was used during three distinct periods: the Early Copper Age (Calcolítico Antiguo, c. 2900 cal BC), the Late Copper Age (Calcolítico Reciente or Bell Beaker) and at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age (Bronce Final, c. 1200 cal BC). The material culture testifies to long-distance exchange networks. On the one hand, imported manufactured artefacts are made from an exogeneous raw material, like the lacustrine flint blades originating from the French Mediterranean coastline and the Ebro depression. On the other hand, some artefacts seem to have been produced locally, but their shape is based on exogeneous typological models. This category includes the tanged dagger, most likely made of copper from the local Linda Mariquita mine (south of Priorat), and possibly the buttons with wing-shaped appendices —made from bone, in contrast to ivory typically used in its area of origin, the Tagus estuary in Portugal—as well as the flanged and globules alabaster beads, that are commonly found in southern France. These networks take part in a process of social hierarchization linked to the Bell Beaker phenomenon. The elites are buried in single graves within communities with collective burials where social dissymmetry is not observed. Several reasons may explain the absence of Bell Beaker ceramics in the artefact collection from the Cova de l’Arbonès. First, the excavations took place at a time when thorough archaeological investigations were not common. Second, the initial grave good assemblage may have been altered during the subsequent use of the cave, as attested at other collective burials from the North-eastern Iberian Peninsula
Se realiza una revisión de la Cova de l’Arbonès (Pradell de la Teixeta, Tarragona), una cavidad funeraria calcolítica excavada hace más de 50 años. Se reestudian mediante metodologías actuales los artefactos arqueológicos recuperados, algunos de gran interés (cuentas de alabastro de aletas y glóbulos, botones óseos de apéndices laterales, puñal de lengüeta de cobre). Las técnicas empleadas son la datación C14; la traceología y estudio de materias primas líticas; el análisis tipológico y contextual; y la arqueometalurgia (análisis de isótopos de plomo). Los resultados atestiguan la participación del yacimiento en redes de intercambio a larga distancia, a través de la llegada de productos manufacturados y de la fabricación con materia prima local de modelos tipológicos externos. Ello se inserta en un proceso de jerarquización social vinculado con el fenómeno Campaniforme, donde ciertas élites se enterrarían siguiendo rituales de tipo individualizador dentro de comunidades con enterramientos colectivos.
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