José Antonio Linares-Catela
Lecturer of Prehistory at Complutense University of Madrid. Previously, research fellow at the University of Huelva: PI of the Project R+D+i "MEGA-LITHOS. Métodos de estudio geo-arqueológicos para la investigación de los megalitismos de Huelva" (UHU-1263153). My main line of research is focused to the study of megalithisms and monumentalities in the south of the Iberian Peninsula incorporating an interdisciplinary methodology: building archaeology, technological studies, geoarchaeology, Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dating, archaeometry, etc. Co-director of the General Research Project "MENHIGUA. Megalitos y menhires del Bajo Guadiana. El sitio de La Janera" (2021-2027). Phd from the Universities of Huelva and Rennes 1. Associate member of UMR6566, Archeosciences Laboratory, University of Rennes 1.
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Thesis
The architectural sequence of western Andalusia encompasses a temporality from the beginning of the 4th millennium to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. During this chronology several models of funerary monuments and rituals erected with a variety of constructive techniques, representing the existence of regional styles or local specializations according to the different social groups. By way of synthesis, the regional sequence evidences the following process:
The construction of the first dolmens at the beginning of the 4th millennium cal BC, as evidenced by the oval-elongated chamber monuments of Los Llanetes, built c. 3950-3750 cal BC. In the south of the peninsula c. 3800 cal BC burst the funerary collectivism as a ritual of death, developing burials in simple chamber dolmens, proto-megalithic tombs, necropolis-caves or sepulchral caves.
The formation of the elongated-chamber dolmens, c. 3750-3650 cal BC, through two ways: a) ex novo models; b) by processes of transformation of old monuments, case of Los Llanetes. The reiteration of similar architectural projects would condition the development of elongated monuments, as has been confirmed in the dolmen 4 of El Pozuelo, c. 3650-3200 cal BC. Characteristics and similar architectural formulas could be presented in the "covered gallery graves" of Andalusia, built during the central centuries and the second half of the 4th millennium BC.
The dual chamber dolmens of Los Llanetes were built on the previous monuments, c. 3650-3200 cal BC, parallel to the passage grave and elongated structures of other areas. The monuments of multiple chambers (El Pozuelo, Mesa de Las Huecas, Los Gabrieles, etc.) had to present equivalent transformation processes, being unique, particular and exclusive models of the area of Huelva and surrounding areas.
In the various orthostatic monuments were carry out the monumentalization projects and structures arranged in the atriums and external spaces according to the new ritual uses of the Copper Age, c. 3300-2600 cal BC, in addition to the integration of other funerary constructions (tholoi) in the tumular monuments, c. 2600-2250 cal BC, case of the dolmen 2 of Los Llanetes.
The implantation and consolidation of three models of funerary monuments in the Copper Age: hypogeums, mixed hypogeums and tholoi, as witnessed by the diachronic sequence of the collective graves of El Seminario, c. 3000-2400 cal BC. These tombs share common space elements and funerary practices.
The existence of other forms of monumentality of the Ancient Bronze Age, c. 2250-1950 cal BC, as a consequence of the reappropriation of the ancestral spaces: 1) the terrace enclosures of the Llanetes group; 2) the funerary monumentalism of El Seminario, integrating individual tombs (subterranean caves, pits and structures with tumular coverings) and collective graves (pits) in the chalcolithic tombs.
Reuse in various phases of the Bronze Age and in several historical periods.
Books
Book chapters
The Huelva area stands out for the architectural variability and singularity of its funerary megalithic monuments. This work focuses on the study of the construction and transformation processes of the funerary monuments of the Los Llanetes group, El Pozuelo cemetery, one of the most outstanding megalithic complexes in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. It dates to the Recent Neolithic and Copper Age. This cluster is exceptional, both in its architectural diversity and its spatial complexity, and comprises various forms of funerary monuments: single chambers (dolmens 8, 9, 10 and 11), elongated chambers / covered galleries (dolmen 4), «bent» chamber (dolmen 9), dual chambers (dolmens 1, 2 and 3) and multiple chambers (dolmens 5, 6, 7 and 13). Each monument’s specific morphology results from its construction history throughout the 4th and 3rd millennium BC. The construction of megalithic monuments requires a set of building and technical operations subject to the conceptual approach that would be carried out in each architectural project. Each project therefore has its own construction process or «chaîne opératoire», which would be conditioned by the form or constructive model that was executed and by the technological knowledge of each social group. Generally speaking, however, there may have been a set of common skills necessary for the building of the megalithic architectures: • Field and site preparation. • Selection and exploitation of raw materials. • Transport. • Transformation and technical processing of materials. • Construction: placement and arrangement of materials. The Llanetes group is formed by four monuments distributed in pairs. Through the archaeological analysis of the monuments, it is possible to know the architectural sequence, rules, methods and techniques that determined each construction process and architectural project.Each architectural model must have had its own building process, carrying out the construction work in an order established by the precedent approaches to the conception of architectural project. We distinguish two distinct types of “chaînes opératoires”, in accordance with the theoretical premises of departure and the archaeological record. On the one hand, the “chaînes opératoires” of the primary construction of the monuments, which corresponds to the oval-elongated chamber dolmens, represent phases of initial appropriation of the space and the genesis of the necropolis. On the other hand, the “chaînes opératoires” of transformation of the previous funerary monuments are based on the reappropriation of architectural spaces in relation to the development of two models of funerary monuments: elongated chamber dolmens and dual chamber dolmens.
The preliminary digital analysis and treatment of this documentary background allows us to highlight the existence of very valuable documentation in several ways. First, this fund is of great interest for the study of the first works carried out on megalithic monuments in the province of Huelva, thanks to the documentation produced by Carlos Cerdán Márquez as Provincial Commissioner for Archaeological Excavations in the Province of Huelva. His works of inventorying, cataloging and excavating megalithic monuments during the 1940-1950s generated varied documentation, characterized by the presence of photographs, cartography, planimetry, reports, statements, among others, which are testimony to the investigation, the state of the knowledge and relationships with other archaeologists dedicated to the study of megalithic monuments in the Iberian Peninsula.
Second, the fund contains detailed information and documents related to the work carried out by the Leisner marriage regarding the study of the architecture and estate of the excavated sites in the province of Huelva. The archaeological and epistolary documentation produced between Cerdán Márquez and the German couple in the 1950s stands out particularly, which led to the publication of the monograph of the megalithic tombs of Huelva province, in 1952 and the inclusion of these monuments in two monographs of the Leisner: Megalithgräber of 1956 and 1959, which contain plans and photographs of the studied tombs. And thirdly, the documentation of this fund is essential for investigating the megalithism of the area of Huelva and for confronting current excavation and conservation work on the megalithic monuments of this area.
keywords: Megalithism. Huelva (Spain). Historiography. Decades 1940-1950. Archive. Huelva Museum.
These lithologies were obtained from the diverse supply areas and quarries located in the surrounding environment, at a distance that oscillates between 0-350 linear meters with respect to the monuments.
Keywords: Geoarchaeology; Dolmens; Quarries; Supply areas; Phillyte
and ritual elements (stelae, altars and hearths), built during different construction phases.
The graves are underground structures (pit tombs, rock-cut tombs or hypogeums) or semi-subterranean (corbelled vault tombs or tholoi with passages and circular chambers constructed with fine slabs) with similar features to the cemeteries associated to settlements and enclosures of the southwest Iberian Peninsula.
The tombs are in two burial grounds: northwest necropolis (2 pit tombs of the Last Neolithic and 1 hypogeum of the Copper Age) and southeast necropolis (2 pit tombs of the Last Neolithic and 4 tombs of the Copper Age distributed on a shaft 50 m NW-SE: 3 hypogeums and 1 tholos).
The excavation with microspatial methodology and the study of funerary contexts of three tombs of the El Seminario (hipogeums 1336, 7016 and tholos 7055) allows us to achieve two objectives: 1) Analysis of the building characteristics and structural elements; 2) Analysis of the stratigraphy and funerary contexts, individual depositions with anthropological identification and grave goods, in order to know the funerary practices.
The three tombs have complexes funerary contexts, as a result of repeated depositions and continuous constructive transformations along the III millennium. Thus, the archaeological contexts of the chambers have funerary floors with removed bones and grave goods by using own and cleaning. Even, in the tombs 7016 and 7055 we can’t determine the positioning of individuals (skeletons) and their correlation with the grave goods. This limits the interpretation of funerary contexts and practices developed. However, we can establish a set of generic considerations:
-The graves are for collective use. The chambers have a shared space for burial depositions. Despite the long life of these structures has recovered a small number of individuals (11 individuals in the tomb 1336, 11 individuals in the tomb 7016 and 18 individuals in the tomb 7055). Therefore, the social access to these graves could be reserved for certain members of a specific social or family group.
-In the tomb 1336, which preserved the primary burials, it has been determined that the funerary practices and behaviors could be characterized by a strong "cultural identity". Thus, in the funerary episodes in the middle of the III millennium, all individuals have placed supine lateral legs and bent arms, occupying the central space of the chamber, with his head against the walls. Their grave goods are mostly located near the heads, stuck to the walls of the chamber, being composed of two ceramic objects (pot, bowl or cup, and pot or vessel), and one or more lithic stone tools (flint or rhyolite knives and arrowheads).
-In the late III millennium BC these collective tombs were reused, building graves for individual burials inside the chambers were built. In the tombs 7016 and 7055 have been documented small caves with individual burials who are associated "bell-beaker grave goods".
A partir del traspaso de competencias en materia de cultura a la Junta de Andalucía, se diseñaron sendos Proyectos de Investigación Sistemática con base territorial –“Tierra Llana” y “Odiel”- cuyas actividades de prospección, si bien no dirigidas específicamente al análisis de las ocupaciones meso-neolíticas, hicieron aumentar el número de estaciones conocidas en la Costa y el Andévalo. Otras aportaciones vinieron de la mano de intervenciones de urgencia y de prospecciones de ámbito municipal que básicamente se redujeron a dar noticia de nuevos hallazgos de manera descriptiva. Por lo tanto, hasta el reciente diseño del Proyecto de Investigación en el que se integra la excavación del yacimiento de La Dehesa, la provincia no ha contado con un programa diseñado específicamente para la investigación del holoceno temprano, aunque sí se realizaron determinados avances respecto a la evolución geomorfológica y ambiental del sector litoral.
Actualmente se conocen estaciones que cuentan con un elevado potencial para la investigación entre las que destacamos el conchero de Cañada Honda (Aljaraque), con una posible fase transicional epipaleolítico-neolítico, el yacimiento de La Melera (Valverde del Camino) –entre otros- para la fase inicial de la economía productora o el relleno estratigráfico que aún se conserva en la propia Cueva de la Mora. El análisis espacial de las diversas localizaciones, dadas a conocer de manera bibliográficamente dispersa, permite avanzar una red de poblamiento ligado a las cuencas de los ríos Tinto y Odiel y sus tributarios, a la orla litoral desde el Guadiana a Doñana, con novedosas aportaciones en el Andévalo y la Sierra relacionadas con la detección de un megalitismo prefunerario, claramente anterior a las evidencias tardoneolíticas y calcolíticas.
Papers
Este estudio tiene por objeto determinar la cronología de la necrópolis de La Orden-Seminario. La investigación ha combinado el análisis estratigráfico con el modelo estadístico bayesiano de 17 dataciones radiocarbónicas efectuadas sobre restos antropológicos de tres tumbas. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto: a) la biografía funeraria de cada tumba; b) las etapas de uso de las sepulturas; c) dos fases de actividad en la necrópolis. La primera fase, ca. 3000-2400/2300 cal BC, es de sepulturas colectivas. Su mayor intensidad de uso se registra entre las centurias 27 y 25 cal BC, concentrándose los enterramientos de una sola generación o de cuatro o cinco en cada nivel funerario. La segunda fase, ca. 2300-1900 cal BC, es de tumbas individuales implantadas en los viejos sepulcros colectivos. Se corresponde con un peculiar monumentalismo sustentado en la reapropiación de los espacios ancestrales y en la articulación de rituales desiguales. Esta secuencia diacrónica refleja procesos afines a las diversas dinámicas temporales del megalitismo del sur de la península ibérica en el III milenio cal BC.
The architectural sequence of western Andalusia encompasses a temporality from the beginning of the 4th millennium to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. During this chronology several models of funerary monuments and rituals erected with a variety of constructive techniques, representing the existence of regional styles or local specializations according to the different social groups. By way of synthesis, the regional sequence evidences the following process:
The construction of the first dolmens at the beginning of the 4th millennium cal BC, as evidenced by the oval-elongated chamber monuments of Los Llanetes, built c. 3950-3750 cal BC. In the south of the peninsula c. 3800 cal BC burst the funerary collectivism as a ritual of death, developing burials in simple chamber dolmens, proto-megalithic tombs, necropolis-caves or sepulchral caves.
The formation of the elongated-chamber dolmens, c. 3750-3650 cal BC, through two ways: a) ex novo models; b) by processes of transformation of old monuments, case of Los Llanetes. The reiteration of similar architectural projects would condition the development of elongated monuments, as has been confirmed in the dolmen 4 of El Pozuelo, c. 3650-3200 cal BC. Characteristics and similar architectural formulas could be presented in the "covered gallery graves" of Andalusia, built during the central centuries and the second half of the 4th millennium BC.
The dual chamber dolmens of Los Llanetes were built on the previous monuments, c. 3650-3200 cal BC, parallel to the passage grave and elongated structures of other areas. The monuments of multiple chambers (El Pozuelo, Mesa de Las Huecas, Los Gabrieles, etc.) had to present equivalent transformation processes, being unique, particular and exclusive models of the area of Huelva and surrounding areas.
In the various orthostatic monuments were carry out the monumentalization projects and structures arranged in the atriums and external spaces according to the new ritual uses of the Copper Age, c. 3300-2600 cal BC, in addition to the integration of other funerary constructions (tholoi) in the tumular monuments, c. 2600-2250 cal BC, case of the dolmen 2 of Los Llanetes.
The implantation and consolidation of three models of funerary monuments in the Copper Age: hypogeums, mixed hypogeums and tholoi, as witnessed by the diachronic sequence of the collective graves of El Seminario, c. 3000-2400 cal BC. These tombs share common space elements and funerary practices.
The existence of other forms of monumentality of the Ancient Bronze Age, c. 2250-1950 cal BC, as a consequence of the reappropriation of the ancestral spaces: 1) the terrace enclosures of the Llanetes group; 2) the funerary monumentalism of El Seminario, integrating individual tombs (subterranean caves, pits and structures with tumular coverings) and collective graves (pits) in the chalcolithic tombs.
Reuse in various phases of the Bronze Age and in several historical periods.
The Huelva area stands out for the architectural variability and singularity of its funerary megalithic monuments. This work focuses on the study of the construction and transformation processes of the funerary monuments of the Los Llanetes group, El Pozuelo cemetery, one of the most outstanding megalithic complexes in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. It dates to the Recent Neolithic and Copper Age. This cluster is exceptional, both in its architectural diversity and its spatial complexity, and comprises various forms of funerary monuments: single chambers (dolmens 8, 9, 10 and 11), elongated chambers / covered galleries (dolmen 4), «bent» chamber (dolmen 9), dual chambers (dolmens 1, 2 and 3) and multiple chambers (dolmens 5, 6, 7 and 13). Each monument’s specific morphology results from its construction history throughout the 4th and 3rd millennium BC. The construction of megalithic monuments requires a set of building and technical operations subject to the conceptual approach that would be carried out in each architectural project. Each project therefore has its own construction process or «chaîne opératoire», which would be conditioned by the form or constructive model that was executed and by the technological knowledge of each social group. Generally speaking, however, there may have been a set of common skills necessary for the building of the megalithic architectures: • Field and site preparation. • Selection and exploitation of raw materials. • Transport. • Transformation and technical processing of materials. • Construction: placement and arrangement of materials. The Llanetes group is formed by four monuments distributed in pairs. Through the archaeological analysis of the monuments, it is possible to know the architectural sequence, rules, methods and techniques that determined each construction process and architectural project.Each architectural model must have had its own building process, carrying out the construction work in an order established by the precedent approaches to the conception of architectural project. We distinguish two distinct types of “chaînes opératoires”, in accordance with the theoretical premises of departure and the archaeological record. On the one hand, the “chaînes opératoires” of the primary construction of the monuments, which corresponds to the oval-elongated chamber dolmens, represent phases of initial appropriation of the space and the genesis of the necropolis. On the other hand, the “chaînes opératoires” of transformation of the previous funerary monuments are based on the reappropriation of architectural spaces in relation to the development of two models of funerary monuments: elongated chamber dolmens and dual chamber dolmens.
The preliminary digital analysis and treatment of this documentary background allows us to highlight the existence of very valuable documentation in several ways. First, this fund is of great interest for the study of the first works carried out on megalithic monuments in the province of Huelva, thanks to the documentation produced by Carlos Cerdán Márquez as Provincial Commissioner for Archaeological Excavations in the Province of Huelva. His works of inventorying, cataloging and excavating megalithic monuments during the 1940-1950s generated varied documentation, characterized by the presence of photographs, cartography, planimetry, reports, statements, among others, which are testimony to the investigation, the state of the knowledge and relationships with other archaeologists dedicated to the study of megalithic monuments in the Iberian Peninsula.
Second, the fund contains detailed information and documents related to the work carried out by the Leisner marriage regarding the study of the architecture and estate of the excavated sites in the province of Huelva. The archaeological and epistolary documentation produced between Cerdán Márquez and the German couple in the 1950s stands out particularly, which led to the publication of the monograph of the megalithic tombs of Huelva province, in 1952 and the inclusion of these monuments in two monographs of the Leisner: Megalithgräber of 1956 and 1959, which contain plans and photographs of the studied tombs. And thirdly, the documentation of this fund is essential for investigating the megalithism of the area of Huelva and for confronting current excavation and conservation work on the megalithic monuments of this area.
keywords: Megalithism. Huelva (Spain). Historiography. Decades 1940-1950. Archive. Huelva Museum.
These lithologies were obtained from the diverse supply areas and quarries located in the surrounding environment, at a distance that oscillates between 0-350 linear meters with respect to the monuments.
Keywords: Geoarchaeology; Dolmens; Quarries; Supply areas; Phillyte
and ritual elements (stelae, altars and hearths), built during different construction phases.
The graves are underground structures (pit tombs, rock-cut tombs or hypogeums) or semi-subterranean (corbelled vault tombs or tholoi with passages and circular chambers constructed with fine slabs) with similar features to the cemeteries associated to settlements and enclosures of the southwest Iberian Peninsula.
The tombs are in two burial grounds: northwest necropolis (2 pit tombs of the Last Neolithic and 1 hypogeum of the Copper Age) and southeast necropolis (2 pit tombs of the Last Neolithic and 4 tombs of the Copper Age distributed on a shaft 50 m NW-SE: 3 hypogeums and 1 tholos).
The excavation with microspatial methodology and the study of funerary contexts of three tombs of the El Seminario (hipogeums 1336, 7016 and tholos 7055) allows us to achieve two objectives: 1) Analysis of the building characteristics and structural elements; 2) Analysis of the stratigraphy and funerary contexts, individual depositions with anthropological identification and grave goods, in order to know the funerary practices.
The three tombs have complexes funerary contexts, as a result of repeated depositions and continuous constructive transformations along the III millennium. Thus, the archaeological contexts of the chambers have funerary floors with removed bones and grave goods by using own and cleaning. Even, in the tombs 7016 and 7055 we can’t determine the positioning of individuals (skeletons) and their correlation with the grave goods. This limits the interpretation of funerary contexts and practices developed. However, we can establish a set of generic considerations:
-The graves are for collective use. The chambers have a shared space for burial depositions. Despite the long life of these structures has recovered a small number of individuals (11 individuals in the tomb 1336, 11 individuals in the tomb 7016 and 18 individuals in the tomb 7055). Therefore, the social access to these graves could be reserved for certain members of a specific social or family group.
-In the tomb 1336, which preserved the primary burials, it has been determined that the funerary practices and behaviors could be characterized by a strong "cultural identity". Thus, in the funerary episodes in the middle of the III millennium, all individuals have placed supine lateral legs and bent arms, occupying the central space of the chamber, with his head against the walls. Their grave goods are mostly located near the heads, stuck to the walls of the chamber, being composed of two ceramic objects (pot, bowl or cup, and pot or vessel), and one or more lithic stone tools (flint or rhyolite knives and arrowheads).
-In the late III millennium BC these collective tombs were reused, building graves for individual burials inside the chambers were built. In the tombs 7016 and 7055 have been documented small caves with individual burials who are associated "bell-beaker grave goods".
A partir del traspaso de competencias en materia de cultura a la Junta de Andalucía, se diseñaron sendos Proyectos de Investigación Sistemática con base territorial –“Tierra Llana” y “Odiel”- cuyas actividades de prospección, si bien no dirigidas específicamente al análisis de las ocupaciones meso-neolíticas, hicieron aumentar el número de estaciones conocidas en la Costa y el Andévalo. Otras aportaciones vinieron de la mano de intervenciones de urgencia y de prospecciones de ámbito municipal que básicamente se redujeron a dar noticia de nuevos hallazgos de manera descriptiva. Por lo tanto, hasta el reciente diseño del Proyecto de Investigación en el que se integra la excavación del yacimiento de La Dehesa, la provincia no ha contado con un programa diseñado específicamente para la investigación del holoceno temprano, aunque sí se realizaron determinados avances respecto a la evolución geomorfológica y ambiental del sector litoral.
Actualmente se conocen estaciones que cuentan con un elevado potencial para la investigación entre las que destacamos el conchero de Cañada Honda (Aljaraque), con una posible fase transicional epipaleolítico-neolítico, el yacimiento de La Melera (Valverde del Camino) –entre otros- para la fase inicial de la economía productora o el relleno estratigráfico que aún se conserva en la propia Cueva de la Mora. El análisis espacial de las diversas localizaciones, dadas a conocer de manera bibliográficamente dispersa, permite avanzar una red de poblamiento ligado a las cuencas de los ríos Tinto y Odiel y sus tributarios, a la orla litoral desde el Guadiana a Doñana, con novedosas aportaciones en el Andévalo y la Sierra relacionadas con la detección de un megalitismo prefunerario, claramente anterior a las evidencias tardoneolíticas y calcolíticas.
Este estudio tiene por objeto determinar la cronología de la necrópolis de La Orden-Seminario. La investigación ha combinado el análisis estratigráfico con el modelo estadístico bayesiano de 17 dataciones radiocarbónicas efectuadas sobre restos antropológicos de tres tumbas. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto: a) la biografía funeraria de cada tumba; b) las etapas de uso de las sepulturas; c) dos fases de actividad en la necrópolis. La primera fase, ca. 3000-2400/2300 cal BC, es de sepulturas colectivas. Su mayor intensidad de uso se registra entre las centurias 27 y 25 cal BC, concentrándose los enterramientos de una sola generación o de cuatro o cinco en cada nivel funerario. La segunda fase, ca. 2300-1900 cal BC, es de tumbas individuales implantadas en los viejos sepulcros colectivos. Se corresponde con un peculiar monumentalismo sustentado en la reapropiación de los espacios ancestrales y en la articulación de rituales desiguales. Esta secuencia diacrónica refleja procesos afines a las diversas dinámicas temporales del megalitismo del sur de la península ibérica en el III milenio cal BC.
Resumen: La permanencia del megalitismo durante la Edad del Bronce en la península ibérica es uno de los elementos destacados en las investigaciones recientes, interpretándose la continuidad de las arquitecturas y de las prácticas funerarias pretéritas de diversas formas. La excavación microespacial, el análisis arquitectónico de las tumbas, el estudio antropológico y el establecimiento de la cronología de la actividad funeraria de las necrópolis de La Orden-Seminario ha posibilitado ca-racterizar la existencia de un monumentalismo funerario de-sarrollado durante la Edad del Bronce Antiguo, c 2300-1900 cal BC. Esta monumentalidad funeraria se sustentó en la rea-propiación de las necrópolis calcolíticas para la implantación de tumbas individuales en las cámaras de las sepulturas colec-tivas. Estas tumbas (covachas, fosas, cámaras con suelos ni-velados y "cistas" con cubriciones tumulares) se caracterizan por la perpetuación de esquemas conceptuales de la tradición megalítica, presentando elementos arquitectónicos, técnicas constructivas y materiales que propiciaron la perceptibilidad visual, la perdurabilidad y la recreación de una memoria en torno a los espacios mortuorios ancestrales. En su interior se enterraron individuos de diferente sexo y edad, acompañados de diversos ajuares muebles que representan las diferencias sociales introducidas en la esfera de la muerte por la nueva concepción de las sociedades desigualitarias.
Las recientes actuaciones patrimoniales promovidas por la Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía han contribuido a un mayor conocimiento científico del monumento megalítico y al establecimiento de determinadas directrices para su conservación y puesta en valor. El objetivo principal ha sido convertirlo en el sitio central del itinerario cultural conocido como la ruta dolménica de Huelva, dotando de contenidos a su centro de visitantes, desde el que se recepciona y aporta material divulgativo a los ciudadanos. Sin embargo, a pesar de los grandes esfuerzos realizados hasta el presente, no se ha conseguido una gestión integral del sitio, que aúne una investigación arqueológica continuada, una conservación preventiva del yacimiento, un mantenimiento periódico del monumento y una adecuada difusión, que garanticen su conocimiento, preservación y valoración social. Este es el gran reto para el futuro, que posicionaría a este monumento megalítico en el lugar que le corresponde, como uno de los bienes patrimoniales referentes de los paisajes culturales de la Prehistoria de Andalucía.
del Camino), El Gallego–Hornueco (Berrocal–El Madroño) y las Huecas (Niebla). El megalitismo funerario en este ámbito existe al menos desde la segunda mitad del IV milenio a.n.e., produciéndose en el III milenio un proceso de expansión territorial y monumentalización de las construcciones articuladas en compactos conjuntos
dolménicos, como consecuencia de la consolidación de una “ideología funeraria” fundamentada en el culto a los ancestros, a través de los cuales se justifica la apropiación física y simbólica de estos espacios sagrados, que perduró hasta el tránsito del III al II milenios a.n.e.
Resumen: El propósito de este trabajo es aportar nuevos datos a la base empírica disponible para el establecimiento de la cronología absoluta del megalitismo en Andalucía. Para ello se dan a conocer seis dataciones radiocarbónicas nuevas obtenidas de tres sitios megalíticos recientemente excavados en la comarca del Andévalo oriental. Estos análisis forman parte de un estudio más amplio que ha incluido la realización de otras dataciones en el sitio de La Orden-El Seminario hasta completar un total de 23 nuevas fechas. Como parte de la discusión se valora la relevancia de estas nuevas dataciones para la comprensión del fenómeno megalítico en la provincia de Huelva dentro del contexto del marco cronológico absoluto actualmente disponible para la Prehistoria Reciente de Andalucía.
the Mediterranean World as from the last third of second millennia BC. Faced to obsolete paradigm still in force,
Mediterranean visitors are identified although it doesn’t mean any dependence of recent Western Prehistory from
the named Phoenician Colonization of the West.
Presentamos los contextos estructurales, estratigráficos y materiales de dos depósitos primarios de ídolos calcolíticos (III milenio a.n.e.) excavados con sistemas de registro micro–espacial en el asentamiento de La Orden–Seminario de Huelva. A partir de un determinado momento de la vida social del poblado, dos estructuras y su contenido formaron parte de un espacio funcionalmente especializado y específicamente diseñado para la práctica ceremonial y ritual, sin vinculación contextual inmediata a usos estrictamente domésticos ni funerarios.
Este trabajo presenta los resultados de una campaña de inspección de imágenes digitales de los ortostatos de la estructura megalítica conocida como Dolmen 3 de El Pozuelo (Zalamea la Real, Huelva), de los que se sospechaba que hubieran podido estar pintados durante la prehistoria. Los resultados confirman que el análisis digital de imágenes constituye un conjunto de técnicas de gran utilidad para la actividad arqueológica, en particular para la detección de elementos pictóricos ocultos por los procesos postdeposicionales soportados por los paneles rupestres.
valor patrimonial, distribuido casi por la práctica totalidad
de la geografía andaluza. La riqueza y variedad formal de las
arquitecturas, la presencia de construcciones monumentales,
su fuerte impronta en los paisajes y los complejos signifi cados
simbólicos, rituales, funerarios, culturales o ceremoniales
que le otorgaron las sociedades de la prehistoria reciente ha
supuesto que el megalitismo de nuestra región sea uno de los
más destacados de la Península Ibérica y de Europa occidental.
círculos de piedras, dólmenes, sepulcros de falsa cúpula, etc., que se distribuyen prácticamente porntodas las unidades geográficas. Por tanto, sin ningún género de dudas, las arquitecturas megalíticas
son uno de los patrimonios más singulares de la provincia de Huelva, destacando sitios como el
dolmen de Soto y el conjunto dolménico de El Pozuelo, ambos de reconocido renombre nacional e
internacional, formando parte de los estudios de síntesis del megalitismo de la península Ibérica y de Europa occidental. La creación de la Ruta Dolménica de Huelva ha puesto en valor este bien
patrimonial con el doble objetivo de facilitar el conocimiento de estas arquitecturas y hacerlo accesible a los visitantes. Sin embargo, el autor de esta columna plantea en estas líneas si estas actuaciones son realmente las más idóneas para la investigación,
protección, conservación, difusión y gestión de estos bienes patrimoniales andaluces.
La provincia de Huelva es una de las áreas de mayor concentración y diversidad de tipologías constructiva del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica, registrándose en la actualidad en torno a 250 sitios y/o monumentos megalíticos de distintas tipologías, cronologías y funcionalidades.
Este cuadernillo se ha concebido como un recurso de difusión dirigido a un gran público interesado en la Ruta Dolménica de Huelva, un itinerario patrimonial promovido por la Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía en torno a la valorización del megalitismo de la provincia.