Approach to the megalithic phenomenon in the province of Albacete, the case of Amarejo 01 (Bonete)

On January 21, we had the opportunity to enjoy the conference at the Provincial Museum of Albacete ”Tumuli, Caves and Villages: Old Questions and New Answers About the Recent Prehistory of Albacete”, given by Dr. Gabriel García Atiénzar, professor of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Alicante, within the framework of the cycle “Archaeology in Albacete. New perspectives and advances in research”, organized by the Association of Friends of the Museum of Albacete. There we were able to talk, among other things, about Amarejo 1 (Caudete). But let's get in order.

Tumuli, Caves and Villages: Questions and Answers about the Recent Prehistory of Albacete

The presentation began with a reflection by García Atiénzar about the importance of context in any archaeological discovery or site, through its similarity to the pages of a book. Every archaeological object loses the information contained in the pages of that book when it is separated from its context, thus irretrievably losing a large amount of information.

There are times when the materials studied are completely decontextualized, and provide us with partial information; at other times, the destruction or decontextualization is not so pronounced, and they provide us with limited, but equally valuable information; only rarely do we have the opportunity to contemplate that “literary” context almost intact in the deposits, and on one of those occasions we had the privilege of participating. We are referring to one of the sites discussed at the conference, which in this way was presented in society, although we already anticipated something in a previous blog post: the Amarejo Funerary Monument 1 in Bonete (Albacete).

Amarejo 01 in Bonete, the first funerary monument in the province of Albacete

The monument was excavated by the Environmental Ideas team at the request of Elawan Energy in 2021, as a measure to the installation in its immediate vicinity of a support for a high-voltage overhead line, and the surprises appeared immediately (as we told you in the previous post). Given the importance of the discovery, with the willingness on the part of ELAWAN, and the collaboration with the University of Alicante in the person of Dr. García Atiénzar and his team, in addition to the much needed financial support from the City Council of Bonete And the Regional Government of Castilla La Mancha.

In this case, the imaginary pages we were talking about have been captured in reality, in the form of an article in the prestigious magazine RADIOCARBON, published by Cambridge University Press. No time to die: Radiocarbon chronology of the funerary monument of El Amarejo 1 and burial practices during the Bronze Age in the Southern Meseta, Spain | Radiocarbon | Cambridge Core It is a magnificent example of the possibilities offered for the advancement of research, both by modern analytical techniques and by collaboration between public and private entities, between academic archeology and management archeology.

The funerary monument: structure and chronology

The article analyzes the megalithic monument of El Amarejo 1, revealing that it was used as a funerary site between approximately 1900 and 1200 BC. The structure of the monument consists of an ellipsoidal structure surrounded by a stone wall, including a short corridor and two burial chambers.

The radiocarbon dating of the human remains found at the site, and the analysis of the objects deposited there as grave goods, show a link with the fortified Bronze Age settlements in the region. Using Bayesian models, it has been estimated that funerary activity extended over a long period, with the practice of burials every 2.2 generations.

A key site in the Manchego Bronze exchange networks

The monument of El Amarejo 1 is inserted in a wider context of social and funerary dynamics in La Mancha during the Bronze Age, characterized by a network of fortified settlements. Although the region shows great diversity in funerary practices, El Amarejo 1 stands out for its more complex grave goods, indicating participation in wider exchange networks. The presence of a gold account related to the distribution center that was Cabezo Redondo de Villena, or of a vitreous paste account from northern Italy, and also the presence of metallic objects probably coming from the southeastern peninsular, indicate this. This contrasts with other local sites with simpler funeral practices.

Continuity of ritual practices in El Amarejo 1

Despite social changes and the reorganization of many settlements starting from 1700-1600 BC, El Amarejo 1 continued to be an active funerary site, reflecting the continuity of ritual practices and their connection with neighboring cultures, such as that of El Argar.

The relevance of this site lies in the fact that it evidences a megalithic tradition in an area of the Iberian Peninsula that was not traditionally associated with this type of construction, while this research highlights the complexity of funerary traditions and sociocultural transformations in La Mancha during this period, in addition to participation in large supraregional exchange networks.

But this project still has many pages to write, as do others in which we also have the privilege of participating, and you can discover them in future posts on our blog.

If you were unable to attend Dr. Gabriel García Atiénzar's presentation, you can view it hither.

Bibliography:

• Garcia Atienzar G, Salazar-Garcia DC, Castillo Vizcaino L, and Rodriguez Cano JV. No time to die: Radiocarbon chronology of the funerary monument of El Amarejo 1 and burial practices during the Bronze Age in the Southern Meseta, Spain. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2024.136.
• Castillo Vizcaíno, L., Serna López, J.L., Ruiz Salazar, F., and Rodríguez Cano, J.V.: Technical Report on Archaeological Works related to the carrying out of a manual excavation to document heritage elements in relation to the project “Derramador Wind Farm, 132/30 kV Transformer Substation and Aerial Evacuation Line”. Unpublished.

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