Findings of early Neolithic human remains in the cave Cova Bonica in Vallirana
The excavations carried out by the Seminar on Prehistoric Studies and Research (SERP) of the University of Barcelona in the cave Cova Bonica (Vallirana, Baix Llobregat) resulted in the findings of bone remains of people from the Neolithic period -specifically from 7.500 years ago- near domestic objects and animals. “The singularity of these findings lies in the fact that the Iberian Peninsula does not have many findings of human remains of that period found during an excavation and dated with detail”, says the main researcher of the study, UB professor Xavier Oms.
The excavations carried out by the Seminar on Prehistoric Studies and Research (SERP) of the University of Barcelona in the cave Cova Bonica (Vallirana, Baix Llobregat) resulted in the findings of bone remains of people from the Neolithic period -specifically from 7.500 years ago- near domestic objects and animals. “The singularity of these findings lies in the fact that the Iberian Peninsula does not have many findings of human remains of that period found during an excavation and dated with detail”, says the main researcher of the study, UB professor Xavier Oms.
These findings, in which the Complutense University of Madrid takes part too, includes animals and ceramics apart from the human remains. This work was carried out between 2008 and 2015 and its results have been published in the Journal of Field Archaeology. So far, the archaeologists have identified a total of 98 human bones, corresponding to a minimum of six individuals - aged from three to thirty-five- and two women at least.
The study and the excavations in Cova Bonica have been led by Xavier Oms, Montserrat Sanz (researcher from the Complutense University of Madrid and member of SERP), Joan Daura (UNIARQ - University of Lisbon, SERP-UB), Mireia Pedro (University of Barcelona) and Pablo Martínez (Collective for Research on Prehistory and Archaeology in Garraf-Ordal, CIPAG). The anthropologist Susana Mendiela (University of Murcia) has been in charge of the study of the human remains.
The found human remains belong to at least two adults (aged 25-35), a teenager (12-13) and three kids (aged nine, five and one younger than three years old). Next to the remains, there were animal remains too (mostly goats and sheep), as well as ornaments, stone tools (flint stone and quartz) and pieces of ceramics.
These findings bring new data to the scientific community about the funerary rituals and it is the first evidence of collective burials. “We can see that the funerary practices are very heterogeneous, although it seems that the most common thing is to find non articulated remains near their domestic objects, so they might have put the bodies in the caves without burying them or they would have put the bodies already disarticulated”, says Montserrat Sanz.
These findings took place within the framework of the excavation and research programs of the Generalitat de Catalunya launched by SERP, a research group led by the UB professor Josep Maria Fullola.