1. The archaeological site of El Torrejón (Gátova, Valencia, Spain) belongs to the so-called Iberian culture and was developed between the 6th and 1st centuries BCE. (II Iron Age) in the east and south Iberian Peninsula, which reaches to...
more1. The archaeological site of El Torrejón (Gátova, Valencia, Spain) belongs to the so-called Iberian culture and was developed between the 6th and 1st centuries BCE. (II Iron Age) in the east and south Iberian Peninsula, which reaches to the southeast of France. El Torrejón is located in the center of this large territory, in a mountainous area that is just 20 km NW from the ancient city of Edeta. This location places the site in a strategic crossroad of the territory.
The site expands more than 3,000 m². The first archaeological intervention took place in 2015, during which a large rectangular tower was excavated. Since then, three other seasons have been carried out that show a long and complex stratigraphic sequence including diverse structures from the mid6th centuries until the 1st centuries BCE.
2. The monumental tower provides the name for the site and includes a funerary enclosure from the first phase which is culturally significant. Quadrangular and turriform in structure, the funerary enclosure includes a corridor and central room that houses eight cinerary urns. The excavated materials date the funerary structure construction to the mid-6th century BCE, which also marks the onset of the Iberian culture. The funerary enclosure is the foundational building that subsequently gave rise to the settlement and marked critical shifts in cultural, social and economic and identity.
In fact, both the urns and the objects in the funerary deposit show Phoenician and Tartessian influence, which exhibit the connections between elites and other powerful contemporary cultures. Similarly, although cremation is the predominant burial custom in Iberian culture, Torrejon’s method of ritual cremation shows distinctive and particular peculiarities different from the rest.
3. The monumentality of the tomb, evidenced by its dimensions (4m x 4m) and temenos (10 m x 10 m) respectively, is a clear symbol of acquired and inherited power. This tomb also represents the emergence of a new class, an aristocratic elite that controlled, administered and managed the wealth of the surrounding territory in which metallurgical resources were abound. This funerary structure evidences the socio-political power of a social group that practiced cremation and erected sacred monuments to ancestors and to preserve the memory of the founding dynasty of the settlement. Moreover, the symbolic objects burned together with the deceased’s remains, such as belt clasps, ivory combs, necklaces, etc. clearly and incontestably demonstrate the power of the elites and their social and cultural relations.
4. The cremations have been studied in a multidisciplinary approach that promotes an optimal analysis of all elements comprising the practice of cremation. This method has allowed essential biological data and the meaning of the objects in relation to the dead and the funerary rituals.
Following a micro-excavation of 5 centimetre artificial levels, all bones are identified, weighed, measured, and photographed. All data are recorded in a database that records the estimation of sex and age, the identification and weight of each individual bone, the anatomical regions from which the bone derive, and summaries of all cumulative data.
Anthropological parameters
It is common to find animal bones that were burned in the pyre, making it necessary to differentiate between the human bones. The team ArchaeChemis of the University of Valencia has developed a chemical analysis that differentiates miniscule burned human and animal bone that are not easily identifiable. The number of individuals in each urn is estimated by detecting duplication amongst the bones, determination of the anatomical region of the fragments and age and/or sex incompatibility. Finally, the average weight of the individual adult cremations at this site is 1,500 grams. However, some fragments from sub-adult individuals have been found in the same urn.
The temperature of cremation is crucial, but is also a fundamental issue the team must confront. Color is not homogenous across all fragments of the same individual, although white is predominant. Ongoing physio-chemical analyses indicate that the cremations reached 600ºC.
Quantifying the human remains
The representation of different parts of the body and the order in which they were deposited in the urn are analysed. The head is the anatomical region with the greatest representation. The analyses have detected that the introduction of the bones into the urn begins in the region of the head and ends with the feet.
