Rosa Barroso Bermejo- Professor
- University of Alcalá
Rosa Barroso Bermejo
- Professor
- University of Alcalá
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Introduction
My research focuses on the study of the prehistory in the inland Iberian Peninsula during the third and second millennia BC.
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Publications
Publications (122)
Full preprint is available at:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5214878
Resumen de la publicación
Aproximación al Dolmen de Soto desde una perspectiva divulgativa que pretende acercar a la ciudadanía el conocimiento científico de las investigaciones sobre el conjunto megalítico. El dolmen de Soto es uno de los mayores monumentos megalíticos de Europa. Su arquitectura es el resultado de las transformaciones de un centro...
El volumen recoge el conocimiento científico reunido por equipos portugueses y españoles, sobre las representaciones humanas de gran y pequeño tamaño del megalitismo del extremo suroccidental de Europa
cross-cutting interpretation is proposed of the use of red as a symbolic component
in mortuary sites, where cinnabar was the first choice of artificial colour in the exchange networks of prestige items. Its functional variability is also suggestive: as paint (stones,objects, cosmetics, etc.), to be sprinkled, to embalm corpses and as poison. Method...
Plant material culture can offer unique insights into the ways of life of prehistoric societies; however, its perishable nature has prevented a thorough understanding of its diverse and complex uses. Sites with exceptional preservation of organic materials provide a unique opportunity for further research. The burial site of Cueva de los Murciélago...
Engravings are the main decorations found on European megaliths, whilst pigments were known only on dolmens along the northern coast of Portugal. This paper collects data from a multidisciplinary archaeological programme aimed at searching for remnants of paint on ancient European megaliths. By developing protocols to detect these paintings on both...
The characterization and archaeological documentation of the artificial cave necrópolis of Valle de las Higueras, in Huecas, Toledo, has revealed an unprecedented panorama of hypogea in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. Their
organization and relationship with settlements and other burials in the same territory as well as their architecture, c...
La estela decorada del dolmen de Oles se presenta de manera divulgativa, como una evidencia más de las conectividades entre el Cantábrico y la fachada atlántica europea en el ámbito del megalitismo
Este volumen ofrece un recorrido por las intervenciones arqueológicas realizadas en dólmenes del término de Santiago de Alcántara, Cáceres, y por los descubrimientos de abrigos pintados, inéditos hasta ese momento, en el sector y rocas grabadas al aire libre.
Se aportan datos sobre las arquitecturas, los materiales, sus decoraciones, el territorio...
The study of Iberian megalithic art has long demonstrated not only the contemporaneity of its engravings and paintings but also that both types of art are equally ancient in the post-glacial context.
The iconography on the megaliths combines the largest amount of human images in hunting scenes, lineage and social aggregation of Iberian schematic ar...
O volume que agora sai a público reúne um conjunto de estudos e reflexões apresentado no Colóquio Internacional Romper Fronteiras, Atravessar Territórios. Identidades e Intercâmbios da Pré-história Recente no Interior Norte Peninsular, que se realizou nos dias 23 e 24 de setembro de 2021, e organizado pelo Centro de Investigação Transdisciplinar «C...
This project aimed to provide scientific knowledge about the earliest symbolic
representations on European megaliths. We were able to demonstrate the role of painted decorations
on the European Atlantic façade, providing some direct dates on pigments, as well
as characterising a large stone phase prior to the construction of ancient Iberian megalit...
Perforated stone plaques, known as bracers, are found across late prehistoric Europe and many of them have been recovered in Bell Beaker funerary contexts, usually associated with adult individuals. Experimental, technological, and use-wear studies have determined that the bracers were both utilitarian and symbolic objects. Very few are found in ch...
62
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Megalithic art: Funeral scenarios
in western Neolithic Europe
Primitiva BUENO RAMÍREZ, Rosa BARROSO BERMEJO,
Rodrigo de BALBÍN BEHRMANN
Abstract: New developments in the study of European megaliths focus on two aspects: the
extension of the decorated sites to continental, Northern European and Mediterranean areas;
and the documentation of p...
The main aim of this paper is to analyze the chronological dates of the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. obtained in the funerary record of Las Mayores, province of Toledo. Simple pits and the absence of complex stratified deposits defined the settlement so that the burials are one of the few primary deposits including in the site. A Bell Beaker necropol...
In this study, total mercury (THg) was analyzed in archaeological human bone from 23 sites dating to between the Middle Neolithic and the Antiquity. A total of 370 individuals from individual or collective burials were sampled, mostly using cortical bone from the humerus. These individuals were recovered from over 50 different funerary structures r...
O conjunto de textos que constitui o presente número da revista Beira Alta resulta das comunicações dos respetivos autores ao "Encontro de Arqueologia do Megalitismo de Viseu Dão Lafões: Investigação, Conservação, Valorização", que teve lugar em Viseu entre 14 e 16 de outubro de 2021. Trata-se, assim, de registar para o futuro importantes contribui...
Reused stelae and menhirs confirm previous roles and reinforce the interest of analysing the monument’s
biography through each slab’s history. These sequences offer two very interesting options for interpretation
in Galicia. Firstly, the mentioned archaeological evidences, the pre-existing structures found beneath the
tumulus, are an indication of...
Découverte de nouvelles stèles du Néolithique final dans la ville de Sion (Valais, Suisse).
El amplio y variado registro de sitios decorados postglaciares en la Península Ibérica ha tenido su reflejo en la Declaración de Patrimonio de la Humanidad del Arte Rupestre del Arco Mediterráneo. Este texto reflexiona, a partir del caso de estudio levantino, sobre la potencialidad de otros ámbitos geográficos y contextuales del rico patrimonio grá...
Megalithism is currently understood in a wide sense that includes diverse structures of large stones as part of a shared way of understanding monumentality. In this way, megalithic art is found in funerary structures, as motifs on mobile objects and also as symbols on stones outside the tombs but marking their territory. Here, we shall focus on meg...
Contents
1. Introduction: depiction of weapons and tools in rock art as ambivalent symbols in time and space
Ana M.S. Bettencourt, Manuel Santos-Estévez, Hugo Aluai Sampaio
Part 1. The Iconographic Approach
2. The picturing of weapons, tools and other objects at Australian stencilled and painted rock art sites 9
Patricia Dobrez
3. Weapons, tools,...
The study of adornments found in the necropolis at Valle de las Higueras (Huecas, Toledo) has determined the morphotypology and mineral composition of one quadrangular pendant and 341 stone beads. Most of the beads are short (length ≤ 5 mm), but within this regularity series can be differentiated that might be the result of standardised fabrication...
Our research on Megalithic Art in the Iberian Peninsula covers questions related to the role of human figures in domestic
and funerary contexts of megalithism. In this paper we intend to analyse the graphic and ideological course manifested by the
representation of armed figures in northern Iberia. The emergence of metal weapons does not imply a dr...
Resumen La interpretación tradicional del Neolítico en las zonas interiores venía definida por su marginalidad demográ-fica y su relación exclusiva con grupos ganaderos muy poco sedentarios. Las especiales características de conservación de dos de los yacimientos más interiores en los que hemos inter-venido recientemente, el dolmen de Azután y el t...
El dolmen de Soto es uno de los mayores monumentos megalíticos de Europa. Fue publicado por H. Obermaier en 1924 y casi cien años después, este volumen presenta la primera documentación gráfica sobre sus soportes, incluyendo análisis de pigmentos y dataciones del contexto arqueológico interno y externo del sepulcro. Su arquitectura es el resultado...
Vestiges of prehistoric paintings in the Dolmen of Soto (Trigueros, Huelva, Spain) have been studied by Raman microscopy and SEM/EDX techniques. The pigment used have been identified. The presence of amorphous carbon have been used to date these decorations using plasma oxidation technique to achieve radiocarbon data.
La présence de cinabre dans les sépultures collectives du centre de la péninsule Ibérique, montre un rôle symbolique identifiant des pratiques rituelles bien connues dans les mégalithes du sud de la péninsule. Les données obtenues sur la nécropole de Valle de las Higueras à Toledo, dans le contexte du Chalcolithique de l’intérieur péninsulaire (dès...
El descubrimiento y documentación arqueológica de la necrópolis de Valle de las Higueras, en el río Guadarrama y, por tanto, en la zona clásica de Ciempozuelos, abrió una lectura muy diferente de los datos clásicos del yacimiento epónimo. La descripción de Riaño (Riaño et al., 1894) aludía a esqueletos de distintos sexos y edades, además de a estru...
Few places in Europe concentrate as many stone
stelae as the area between the Tagus and the Douro. Archaeology
has shown the ample possibilities for metal mining,
the modern region of Castelo Branco being the epicentre in
the area. From the first discoveries of such unique objects
as the São Martinho stelae to the current record, the variety
and di...
The documentation of paint accompanying the engraved decorations in dolmens in the Iberian Peninsula has en-abled the development of a tested methodology. Its appli-cation to engraved dolmens in Brittany and to materials and architecture in the Orkney Islands has determined the range and variability in the depictions at megalithic sites in Atlantic...
El estudio de dos tumbas campaniformes de la provincia de Toledo se establece como punto de partida para valorar el conjunto de los enterramientos peninsulares de mujeres y la existencia de comportamientos identificativos de sexo. La mujer forma parte de los enterramientos campaniformes y toda la variedad de construcciones, asociaciones y rituales...
Ciempozuelos pottery forms the most representative and widespread group of incised ware in southern Europe. The styles accompanying it are variations of greater or lesser importance that developed at the same time as the graphic codes themselves, funerary sites and settlements. Its material definition, closely associated with funerary deposits, has...
Provenancing exotic raw materials and reconstructing the nature and routes of exchange is a major concern of prehistoric archaeology. Amber has long been recognised as a key commodity of prehistoric exchange networks in Europe. However, most science-based studies so far have been localised and based on few samples, hence making it difficult to obse...
Raw data of all samples analysed.
(XLSX)
Due to the effects of fire on bones, macroscopic observations of burned human remains are often insufficient to completely characterize an individual (age and sex determination). Herein we explore microstructure of bone fragments recovered in a funerary urn from the 1st millennium BC at Lagunita I archaeological site (Cáceres, Spain) in an attempt...
Gracias a los estudios realizados en los últimos afios en la zona interior de la Península Ibérica, especialmente en la cuenca del Tajo, se puede ir descartando la idea de una amplia área despoblada durante el neolítico. Se presentan aquí los resultados y conclusiones de un estudio complementario de las zonas de habitación y las funerarias en disti...
The study of the Menga and Viera megalithic orthostats has led to the discovery of reused steles and fragments. This has been achieved through specific protocols, focusing on analysing engravings and paintings. The new evidence about the study of the installation, re-installation and insertion of the stones at these two sites situate the Antequeran...
Resumen: En este trabajo presentamos los resultados del estudio preliminar del conjunto de 'arte megalítico' y plástica encontrados en el tholos de Montelirio. Por su conservación inusualmente buena, y por los originales elementos que lo integran, este conjunto conforma una colección única. En primer lugar se describen tales elementos, entre los qu...
Agriculture frst reached the Iberian Peninsula around 5700 BCE. However, little is known about the
genetic structure and changes of prehistoric populations in diferent geographic areas of Iberia. In our
study, we focus on the maternal genetic makeup of the Neolithic (~ 5500–3000 BCE), Chalcolithic (~
3000–2200 BCE) and Early Bronze Age (~ 2200–1500...
Resumen: En este trabajo presentamos los resultados del estudio preliminar del conjunto de 'arte megalítico' y plástica encontrados en el tholos de Montelirio. Por su conservación inusualmente buena, y por los originales elementos que lo integran, este conjunto conforma una colección única. En primer lugar se describen tales elementos, entre los qu...
Three different types of archaeological sites related
to the production and consumption of salt in the
inland Tagus valley have been identified: sites
with the direct evidence of salt production, indirect
evidence
of its production through archaeological
surveying and sites where analyses have
identified the prehistoric consumption of salt in a
dom...
Los casos de paisajes antiguos cuya temporalidad está marcada en las rocas por medio de los símbolos que utilizaron quienes transitaron por ellos, son muchos en el Sur de Europa en general y en la Península Ibérica, en particular. Pero es precisamente Andalucía y en concreto las tierras de Antequera, uno de los ámbitos en los que se puede seguir bi...
Ditched enclosures, walled enclosures and megaliths are the three types of monumental structures derived from forms of social cohesion within European Neolithic societies, which is the most convincing hypothesis to explain the relationship between
these types of sites. This text proposes that the position of megalithic cemeteries is excellent evide...
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. © Tübingen Library Publishing und die Autoren Alle Rechte vorbehalten ISBN 978-3-946552-12-3
Remains of pictorial decorations in a series of six representativemegalithicmonuments of Brittany (France) and two French stelae have been studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy for the first time. Fungal colonies on the painted orthostats made it difficult to obtain in situ Raman spectra of the paint components. Nevertheless, paint micro-specimens st...
Resumen: En este trabajo presentamos los resultados del estudio preliminar del conjunto de 'arte megalítico' y plástica encontrados en el tholos de Montelirio. Por su conservación inusualmente buena, y por los originales elementos que lo integran, este conjunto conforma una colección única. En primer lugar se describen tales elementos, entre los qu...
El estilo Ciempozuelos ha venido considerándose uno de los más recientes del campaniforme europeo. Se extiende más que ningún otro de los estilos de la Península Ibérica, y si atendemos a las hipótesis de algunos autores, tendría evidente influjo en producciones de otros, especialmente Palmela. Su metalurgia (puñales y puntas Palmela , además de pu...
The decoration of megalithic monuments is one of the
ritual actions that define the spaces that were dedicated to
the ancestors. Consideration of the artistic programmes
employed during the construction of megalithic tombs
provides parameters for analysis that support the search for the
ideology and symbolic meaning of these monuments. Most
of the...
The presence of painted, carved or sculpted
decorations in European funerary contexts makes
megalithic art a basic reference in order to classify the use of
burial areas. Complex graphic programmes of paintings,
engravings and sculptures constituted an essential part
of funerary rites. The burial models provided by the
Iberian Peninsula are a great...
Balbín Behrmann (rodrigo.balbin@uah.es) A. González Martín (armando.gonzalez@uam.es) O. Cambra-Moo (oscar.cambra@uam.es) O. García Gil (orosia.garcia@predoc.uam.es) C. Odriozola-Lloret (codriozola@us.es) O. López (oscarlj@gipsia.com) S. Escalante (sescalanteg@gmail.com) M.ª A. Lancharro-Gutiérrez (marigel58@hotmail.com) José M.ª López-Fraile (kikoc...
Engraved and painted symbols in rock-shelters and on rock outcrops, dolmens, menhir, statues
and steles, are the most visible signs of human activity. In recent years, a large number of finds have
been made in Portugal, where some graphic expressions (Palaeolithic or painted schematic art) were
thought not to exist. The questions these latest disco...
De Newgrange en Irlande à Hal Saflieni à Malte ou Gavrinis en Bretagne, les tombeaux néolithiques sont connus pour leur caractère monumental. Loin d’être de simples “contenants” mortuaires, destinés uniquement à recueillir les restes corporels des défunts, ces tombes sont des architectures complexes et multiples, conçues pour accueillir des rites f...
This article presents the latest results of the excavations
at the site of Las Vegas in Huecas (Toledo). The
site is located in an open area, near a stream and at
the foot of the Valle de las Higueras necropolis. It is
buried by a considerable colluvial deposition and was
detected by geophysical survey. The site lacks structures
and is made up of a...
The documentation of paint accompanying the engraved
decorations in dolmens in the Iberian Peninsula has enabled
the development of a tested methodology. Its application
to engraved dolmens in Brittany and to materials
and architecture in the Orkney Islands has determined the
range and variability in the depictions at megalithic sites
in Atlantic E...
The choice of the southern Iberian Peninsula allows this text to focus on the transformation of our knowledge of postglacial
symbolism. Recently Andalucía has contributed information regarding the antiquity of food production in its rich valleys. The
evidence for its demographic and economical intensification are linked to the prominent growth of a...
Megalithic art is a well-known feature of the Neolithic chambered tombs of Atlantic Europe. The surviving evidence consists largely of carved motifs, and, until recently, painted megalithic art was thought to be restricted to western Iberia. Recent discoveries have expanded that distribution, assisted by new methods of detection, recording and anal...
The choice of the southern Iberian Peninsula allows this text to focus on the transformation of our knowledge of postglacial symbolism. Recently Andalucía has contributed information regarding the antiquity of food production in its rich valleys. The evidence for its demographic and economical intensification are linked to the prominent growth of a...
Castillejo del Bonete es un complejo tumular situado en el borde meridional de la Meseta Ibérica, ocupado en fechas calcolíticas y de la Edad del Bronce, vinculado a la Cultura de las Motillas. Materiales arqueológicos muy diversos han sido recuperados asociados a las arquitecturas del lugar (túmulos, corredores, potentes muros, etc.). Se presenta...
The results of the analyses of two tombs from the Sector 22 site in Toledo are presented in this article. The four buried individuals from this site
display some of the most unique aspects found in Cogotas burials from the Meseta, like the young age of the deceased, infants and juveniles, the
association of primary and secondary burials in the same...
The results of the analyses of two tombs from the Sector 22 site in Toledo are presented in this article. The four buried individuals from this site display some of the most unique aspects found in Cogotas burials from the Meseta, like the young age of the deceased, infants and juveniles, the association of primary and secondary burials in the same...
The documentation of graphic programs on the Antequera monuments has revealed the spectacular decoration of the Viera dolmen. Paintings, engravings and stelae make this sepulchre one of the most important monuments of Southern European megalithic art. This kind of documentation increases the knowledge about the “chaines operatoires” of the European...
The contributions of the Andalusian Megalithic Art to the Atlantic funeral group have increased significantly with the
development of specific plans. In these graphic programs are evaluated the technical, chronological and funeral aspects
like base for the analysis of the open-air engravings and paintings. In this respect, the schematic painting, h...
The transfer from the boundaries
of the Recent Prehistory to the graphical
expressions has had several applications that
complicate the analysis of the postglacial symbols.
We will focus on this paper in some of the
questions that have formulated the bases of these
boundaries and the possibilities of open readings
of a record, the Megalithic art, w...
Huecas demuestra que la aplicación de lecturas diacrónicas, o más propiamente, que la
aplicación de metodologías históricas, es fundamental para reflexionar sobre los episodios de intensificación económica y simbólica que se producen en todo el Sur de Europa en momentos contemporáneos al desarrollo de las cerámicas campaniformes.
Las analíticas de...
The use of technique is usually considered in European megalithic art as an indicator of the level of culture sophistication attained by a particular community. Traditionally, it was considered that only the Iberian Peninsula is home to painted dolmens. The analysis of chamber H of the Barnenez tumulus together with some information scattered over...
Prehistory of the inner areas of the Iberian Peninsula,
usually involving opposite assessments. Traces
of settlement were absent during the Neolithic and
Calcolithic, and the Bell-Beaker period were defined
just by the funerary remains. Thus, it was assumed
that a remarkable depopulation occurred during the
Neolithic and Calcolithic, and that the B...
Several projects on the megalithic sites in the basin of the river Tagus contribute evidences on the close relation between stelae with engraved weapons and chronologically advanced megalithic graves. The importance of human images in the development of Iberian megalithic art supports an evolution of these contents toward pieces with engraved weapo...
The increase in the number of known painted shelters identified through targeted surveys proves the validity of the latter and establishes a series of patterns that are extensive to other territories in which schematic painting is supposedly absent. The data from Sierra de San Pedro confirm the protagonism of painting at the sites of the western pe...
The excavation of the tomb of El Castillejo, at Huecas, has provided bone remains of at least nine individuals. The arrangement of the corpses, the visibility of the tomb and its proximity to an important village and to artificial caves, raises numerous problems about the traditional interpretation of the Neolithic funerary world and the Chalcolith...
El equipo de la UAH viene desarrollando sucesivos proyectos de valoración patrimonial en el Tajo Internacional centrados en la cultura megalítica.
Nuestras prospecciones a partir de la exposición teórica de un modelo predictivo que considera la presencia de pinturas al aire libre, hacen de la Sierra de San Pedro uno de los más importantes conjuntos...
La continuación de los trabajos de excavación y conso-lidación en los dólmenes del término de Alcántara, permi-te matizar y enriquecer los datos de la primera campaña. El grupo de Alcántara se confirma como de alto interés. De resultar completamente inédito por lo que se refiere a sus materiales y a la presencia de grafías megalíticas, se dibu-ja a...
RESUMEN Se dan a conocer los primeros resultados de la excava-ción de dólmenes en el término de Alcántara (Cáceres), con el objeto de su consolidación y restauración. Se trata de arquitecturas en pizarra con el interés de poseer graba-dos megalíticos y materiales que indican la existencia de redes de intercambio en este sector del Tajo, tradicional...
The UAH team is developing successive projects of heritage evaluation in the International Tagus, focused on the megalithic culture.
Our surveys, based on the theoretical statement of a predictive model that considers the presence of outdoor paintings, make the Sierra de San Pedro one of the most important schematic painting groups of the Iberian...
Los estudios arqueológicos desarrollados por la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares en Huecas (Toledo) han proporcionado interesantes conclusiones acerca de la secuencia del poblamiento y de las transformaciones socioeconómicas en el interior de la Península Ibérica durante el Neolítico y el Calcolítico. Túmulos, cuevas artificiales y espectaculares m...
The presence of Atlantic themes in the most Mediterranean area of the North of the Iberian Peninsula serves as an invitation to reflect on the validity of the traditional boundaries which defined the Pyrenees as the border between the megalithic worlds of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Indeed, the territorial extension of the Iberian megalithi...
ANY COMPREHENSIVE PROJECT ON THE LANDSCAPE OF THE MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANTEQUERA DEPRESSION COULD NOT LEAVE ASIDE AN ANALYSIS OF MEGALITHIC ART. THIS PAPER EXPLORES THE THEORETICAL
AND METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSALS THAT CONNECT THE ETCHED AND PAINTED SYMBOLS INSIDE THE GRAVES WITH THOSE OUTSIDE. THE MONUMENTALITY OF THE ANTEQUERA DOLMENS INSP...
Las transformaciones económicas y sociales de comienzos del Holoceno tienen en la progresiva implantación de las figuras humanas en los registros gráficos uno de los más nítidos parámetros de cambio entre las grafías de los cazadores del Paleolítico Superior y las de los agricultores neolíticos. Establecer argumentos acerca del significado de estas...
In this paper we compare the indicators of daily activity and paleodiet of the only complete Late Bronze Age- Iron Age burial known in Asturias, with the anthropological information of the nearby populations and the botanic records obtained in the surrounding contemporary hill-forts. As in the woman of Fuentengroso, the signs of recurrent physical...
From the beginning of our investigation we found the necessity of locating the Megalithic Iberian art in the chronology that came off of the well-known data in the peninsula at the end of the 1980s and of those that manifested the Atlantic long sequences. Then, we argue the dates obtained in the deposits of decorated dolmens to endorse the chronolo...
Fuentenegroso es un enterramiento en cueva del Bronce Final-Hierro en Asturias. Exponemos su hallazgo, con sus circunstancias particulares, los resultados generales de la investigación y las analíticas en él realizadas. En primer lugar, analizamos la documentación funeraria contemporánea de su región. Después, abordamos el registro funerario de las...
