Mortuary practices in Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal): Bio-anthropological approach to Tomb 2

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Ana Maria
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Garcia, Mariana, Leandro, Inês, Evangelista, Lucy Shaw, Rodrigues, Tatiana, Valera, António Carlos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/36898
• topic: Perdigões; Tholos-type Tomb; Chalcolithic; Mortuary practices; Human remains; Tholos; Calcolítico; Práticas funerárias; Restos ósseos humanos

Tomb 2 belongs to a tholos-type necropolis built in the eastern side of Perdigões enclosure during the Chalcolithic period. The exhaustive analysis of the human remains allowed to obtained various insights about the way this tomb was used during the third millennium BC and data about the individuals found here. In the present study, the samples exhumed from the Atrium and the Chamber of this tomb were considered separately. Both bone assemblages, were recovered commingled, very disturbed and with high levels of fragmentation. The bones were found sprinkled with red pigments, including ochre and cinnabar. A minimal number of, respectively, 26 and 30 individuals were identified in the Atrium and Chamber, including both sexes and all age groups, although an under-representation of non-adults younger than 5 years was identified. A good dental health is suggested by the low prevalence of oral pathologies. Tomb 2 corresponds to a deeply revolved and manipulated funerary context, with several evidences of the co-existence of different mortuary practices. Primary burials, secondary deposition of body parts, and removal of bones are all plausible funerary practices.