Status symbols or an insight into the earliest middle bronze age in southwest iberia: The funerary structures of horta do pinheiro 5 (torrão do alentejo, southern portugal)

Abstract

The recent discovery and archaeological excavation of two funerary structures located at Horta do Pinheiro 5 (south of Portugal) shed new light on the early times of the Southwestern Middle Bronze Age. These structures, a pit and a hypogeum, both associated with another pit, deepen our knowledge about the funerary rituals practiced at that time. Grave goods recor-ded in both structures stand out for their opulent and luxurious character. Archaeometric analyses made possible to identify the raw materials with which the grave goods were manufac-tured. Two bracelets, one in each structure, are made of ivory, one from Asian elephant and the other from African elephant. The dagger recovered in the hypogeum has an arsenical copper blade with silver rivets. Its handle and the pommel are covered with silver and gold also forms part of the pommel. In the hy-pogeum chamber reddish spots adhering to both grave goods and bones are identified as cinnabar. The integration and inter-pretation of these imported prestige elements, their dating by radiocarbon, as well as the search for parallels for them, are the object of analysis and discussion.