Wednesday, December 10, 2014

0276 - Published



Contents

The times and timings of enclosures
Alasdair Whittle

Enclosures &burial in Middle &Late Neolithic Britain
Alex Gibson

The place of human remains anf Funerary practices in Recent Neolithic ditched and
walled enclosures in the West of France (IV-III Mill. BC)
Audrey Blanchard, Jean-Noël Guyodo, Ludovic Soler

Funerary practices and body manipulation at Neolithic and Chalcolithic Perdigões ditched
enclosures (South Portugal)
António Carlos Valera, Ana Maria Silva, Claudia Cunha, Lucy Shaw Evangelista

Skeletons in the ditch: funerary activity in ditched enclosures of Porto Torrão (Ferreira do
Alentejo, Beja)
Filipa Rodrigues

Enclosures and funerary practices: about an archaeology in search for the symbolic
dimension of social relations.
Susana Oliveira Jorge

Human Bones from Chalcolithic Walled Enclosures of Portuguese Estremadura:
The Examples of Zambujal and Leceia
Michael Kunst, João Luís Cardoso, Anna Waterman

Human sacrifices with cannibalistic practices in a pit enclosure? The extraordinary early
Neolithic site of Herxheim (Palatinate, Germany)
Andrea Zeeb-Lanz

Gendered burials at an henge-like enclosure near Magdeburg, central Germany: a tale of
revenge and ritual killing?
André Spatzier Marcus Stecher, Kurt W. Alt. François Bertemes

The Copper age ditched settlement at Conelle de Arcevia (Central Italy)
Alberto Cazzella, Giulia Recchia

Funerary practices in the ditched enclosures of Camino de las Yeseras: Ritual, Temporal
and Spatial Diversity
Patrícia Rios, Corina Liesau, Concepción Blasco

Recent Prehistory enclosures & funerary practices
José Enrique Márquez Romero, Vítor Jímenez Jaímez

Thursday, December 4, 2014

0275 - Back to V.N. de São Pedro



Today I was in a conference where a new project on the mythical Portuguese site of Vila Nova de São Pedro (VNSP) was presented. As known, VNSP is a walled enclosure that, with Los Millares, gave name to an archaeological culture in the times of archaeological cultures.

The project, to be developed by the Portuguese Archaeologists Association, was presented today and aims to revalue the site in scientific terms and promote its public assessment.
One interesting aspect of the project is that it seems to incorporate some of the new theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches that have been responsible for a revolution in South Portugal regarding the enclosures phenomena.

In my own words, I would say that this was urgently needed in the approaches to enclosures in Portuguese Estremadura. Based in the new data and new theoretical approaches that have been developed in south Portugal, new insights may be developed regarding walled enclosures in the region and in the re-reading of old texts about old excavations.

In this path, it seems that, in old reports, descriptions of previous ditches to the walled architectures, possibly opened to be rapidly filled with symbolic depositions, are now “emerging” due to the new awareness. The possibility of ditched structures previous to stone walls in VNSP is now on the table, just by reading old texts with “new eyes”.

The approach to Estremadura walled enclosures was needing a refreshment in the scientific enquiries. That was obvious for some time now. So I sincerely hope that this new project develops the adequate inquiry, builds a solid theoretical background and manage to obtain the adequate resources to bring VNSP back to the stage, to actually contribute to the debate on the passionate phenomena of recent prehistory enclosures.