Becerra Fuello Paula, Aranda Jiménez Gonzalo, Vílchez Suárez Miriam, Robles Carrasco Sonia, Milesi García Lara, Bonilla Marta Díaz-Zorita, Snoeck Christophe, Stamataki Elisavet, Lescure Javier, Sánchez Romero Margarita
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Department of Historical Sciences, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 3;20(9):e0330771. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0330771. eCollection 2025.
The archaeological excavations undertaken at the Chalcolithic necropolis of Los Milanes have revealed a previously unknown variability in funerary practices in the south-eastern Iberia. For the first time, a megalithic tomb housed a large funerary deposit (28,740 bone fragments) of exclusively cremated human bone remains. For a comprehensive characterization of the funerary ritual, a cutting-edge multi-proxy approach has been undertaken including the osteological study of cremated bone remains, radiocarbon chronology, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy in Attenuated Total Reflectance mode (FTIR-ATR), and carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope analyses. As a result, the cremation ritual consisted of multi-depositional events of at least 21 individuals chronologically concentrated in the first quarter of the third millennium, principally in the 28th century cal BC. The absence of charcoal/ashes in the funerary chamber and the underrepresentation of anatomical regions such as lower limb and trunk suggest that the cremation took place elsewhere and the bone remains were carefully collected and placed as secondary burial depositions. Different proxies including colour patterns, heat-induced fractures, the presence of cyanamide in calcined bones would also suggest the cremation of principally complete corpses, burnt soon after death. The ritual of cremation coexisted with inhumations during the third millennium cal BC, suggesting a variability in the body manipulation that previously went unnoticed. Unlike inhumations, through cremation, bodies would have been reduced until being indistinguishable, transforming radically the nature of human beings and their ontological status.
在洛斯米拉内斯铜石并用时代墓地进行的考古发掘揭示了伊比利亚东南部此前未知的丧葬习俗差异。首次发现一座巨石墓中存放着大量仅由火化后的人类骨骼遗骸组成的丧葬沉积物（28740块骨头碎片）。为了全面描述丧葬仪式，采用了前沿的多指标方法，包括对火化骨骼遗骸的骨学研究、放射性碳年代测定、衰减全反射模式下的傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR-ATR）以及碳、氧和锶同位素分析。结果表明，火化仪式由至少21人的多次沉积事件组成，时间上集中在公元前第三个千年的第一季度，主要是公元前28世纪。墓室中没有木炭/灰烬以及下肢和躯干等解剖部位的代表性不足表明，火化是在其他地方进行的，骨骼遗骸被仔细收集并作为二次埋葬沉积物放置。包括颜色模式、热致骨折、煅烧骨骼中氰胺的存在等不同指标也表明，火化的主要是完整的尸体，死后不久就被焚烧。在公元前第三个千年，火化仪式与土葬并存，这表明此前未被注意到的尸体处理方式存在差异。与土葬不同，通过火化，尸体将被分解到无法辨认的程度，从根本上改变了人类的本质及其本体地位。
