Butchering Patterns and Spatial Distribution of Faunal Animal Remains Consumed at the Los Millares Chalcolithic Settlement (Santa Fe De Mondújar, Almería, Spain)

Bibliographic Data

ID11446570
AuthorsELENA NAVAS (Universidad de Granada), José Antonio Esquivel (0000-0002-4525-7489, Universidad de Granada, corresponding author), Fernando Ricardo Molina González (0000-0002-9189-4198, Universidad de Granada), Fernando Molina
Year2008
Volume27
Issue4
Pages325-339
Publication date2008-11-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOxford Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0262-5253 • E-ISSN: 1468-0092
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-0092.2008.00311.x
OpenAlexW2146058550
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited6

The archaeological settlement of Los Millares (Santa Fe de Mondújar, Almería) is located in the Mediterranean coastal area of southern Spain. This archaeological site constitutes one of the most important settlements belonging to the Copper Age in the Iberian Peninsula and has given its name to the ‘millariense’ culture. The settlement has been completely excavated, yielding major archaeological faunal remains, with 27,426 bone fragments classified by researchers from Munich University (Germany). In this paper, we apply different statistical methods (mainly χ 2 analysis) to study the spatial distribution of bones from domestic and wild animals, reconstructing the patterns of appearance within specific functional spaces. These functions can be associated with meat consumption (sites to cut the animals into small pieces, areas where the meat was eaten, garbage sites, etc.) and the production of handmade objects (bone tools, stone tools, etc.). The results show different spatial distributions of faunal remains within the areas of the settlement, according to the animal species and particular parts of the animal skeleton, as well as the age and the sex of individuals. The findings reflect social behaviour that relates the consumption of certain species to a specific sector of population, and such behaviour can be discerned in the animal remains. Moreover, there is evidence regarding economic matters, such as meat production and the exchange of animals, which require further research

Archaeology · Bay · Biology · Chalcolithic · Geography · Human settlement · Mediterranean climate · Peninsula · Population · Settlement (finance · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology

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