Francesc Marginedas

IPHES Catalan Institute for Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution | IPHES · Taphonomy

The presence of skull cups (bowls made from human calvaria) is considered evidence of the ritualistic treatment of human bodies. These artefacts are characterised by careful manufacturing which can be taphonomically observed in bone surface modifications (BSM) as cut marks and percussion marks. These BSM show morphological similarities across Upper...

Human cannibalism is a behavior documented as far back as the Lower Paleolithic, but during the Neolithic the number of cases increased throughout prehistoric Europe. Taphonomic studies help identify bodies that were processed for consumption. However, the presence of symbolic or ritual components can be more ambiguous and difficult to identify. At...

Rodents gnaw bones to wear down their upper and lower incisors, which grow continuously. These gnawing marks are conspicuous and have long been identified in the fossil record. Archaeological taphonomy studies link modifications made by rodents to weathered and dried bones, while forensic taphonomy indicate that rodents also act on fresh corpses, c...

Part of the human remains found at the Cova Foradada site are burned. In this poster, we present the interpretation of their pre-burning condition (fresh or dry) through the fire-induced modifications, as an example of the information that can be obtained through the taphonomic analysis of the sepulchral assemblages. These bones were burned fresh (...

Archaeological records of the treatment of human skulls for ceremonial or cult purposes appear at the end of Palaeolithic and are shown in different ways, being able to identify through the taphonomic modifications. According to this, the presence of skull cups (bowls from human calvaria) is currently considered evidence of ritualistic treatment of...