Reuse of the collective burials in the South-East of the Iberian Peninsula: the Siret collection

Abstract

A detailed review of the archaeological items and original documents from the Siret Collection at the National Archaeological Museum allows us to evaluate the use of megalithic tombs during the Late Bronze Age until the Late Roman Period in the SE of the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of diagnostic grave goods of these periods and the dating of the human bones confirm that this funerary practice occurred with greater frequency than had hitherto been thought, not only in dolmens but also in other collective burials. The ritual of cremation is discussed and the absen ce of evidence for it in the Chalcolithic, given the frequent re-use of the tombs. Radiocarbon dating of human bones is essential to raise the anthropological research of these collective burials in the future.