A burial in alto de brinches, 3, Serpa, Beja: Reflections on the interaction man-animal in the chalcolithic of southwest of Portugal

Authors

  • Joana Rita Inocêncio
  • Eduardo Porfirío
Keywords: Human burial, Canid burial, Human-Animal interaction, Chalcolithic, Alentejo, South-West of Portugal

Abstract

This paper aims to make known a Calcolithic funerary context associated with a burial of a canid found in the archaeological site of Alto de Brinches 3 in Serpa, Beja, (SW of Alentejo, Portugal), and makes some preliminary interpretations about this occurrence.

The human burial, performed inside a pit dug in the geological substrate, corresponded to a primary individual burial. The corpse was oriented from West to East and buried in the fetal position. In association with this burial, in the same stratigraphic unit, was found the complete skeleton of a canid. By the characteristics of the ceramic materials recovered from stratigraphic units that involved and covered the skeletons it was possible to consider them of the Calcolithic.

The human-animal association, rare in Portuguese archaeological contexts, mainly to the Chalcolithic ones, seems to show that the canids have been of great real and symbolic importance to the Chalcolithic communities, also revealing traces of the existence of some word conception that gives importance to parity between man and animal.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Published
22-06-2015
How to Cite
Rita Inocêncio J., & Porfirío E. (2015). A burial in alto de brinches, 3, Serpa, Beja: Reflections on the interaction man-animal in the chalcolithic of southwest of Portugal. Annals of Prehistory and Archaeology, 30, 45–53. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/apa/article/view/230431
Issue
Section
Artículos