Montanissell Cave is a natural hidden karst cave located deep within the south face of Montanissell Mountain in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees mountains. Montanissell's interior gallery served as a family burial chamber during the Middle Bronze Age. Discovered in 2004 by a team of amateur cavers, the site was investigated in 2005 by the University of Lleida with the support of the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya.
The burial chamber lies deep within the cave, through a narrow 40 meters (130 feet) long passageway and descending into a pit some 28 m (92 ft) deep. At the bottom of the pit is vast gallery, a restricted corner of which was used as a burial space, set off from the remainder of the gallery by roof fall blocks. The skeletons were placed in a flexed position directly on the ground, and they were apparently not covered with earth, although a thin layer of calcite covers the remains closest to the cave wall. The difficulty of access to the graves is in marked contrast to other Catalan Bronze Age burials, which are often marked with dolmens or placed in collective burials in shallow caves, all with easy access.
Burials in Montanissell Cave
The eight individuals found in the cave are three adults (one male, two female) and five juveniles (three girls, one boy and one undetermined sex). Grave goods within the cave include two bronze spiral bracelets, a necklace of animal teeth and brass beads. Bones from four sheep/goats and fragments from four pottery vessels were also discovered near the human remains.
A bronze strip measuring 60 cm long by 4 cm wide was found placed in the middle of the chamber. One end of the plate was an embossed geometric design; it is interpreted as a diadem or decorative headband. Similar objects have been recovered from southern France, all dated to the Middle Bronze Age and associated with the Rhone and Polada cultures, with contacts with the Unetice culture. This object is also connected to the Blechkreis bronze metallurgy of eastern France, western Switzerland and northern Italy.
Superposition of the bones indicated to researchers that the burials were not simultaneous but occurred over a short period of time (not more than 100 years); radiocarbon dating of the bones clearly places the burials ~3200 BP. Osteoarthritis was identified in the two oldest individuals (both aged 30-45) The evidence of similar burial goods and locations suggests that the burials represented members of a nuclear family, however, ancient DNA studies indicate that the adult women could not be the mothers of any of the non-adults. The adult male and three of the younger people appear to be related; but the others are not. Further, the individuals in Montanissell Cave have a wide diversity of mtDNA haplogroups.
Nuclear Families in the Bronze Age
Despite the limited genetic relationship between the individuals buried at the site, researchers are inclined to argue that Montanissell Cave represents the burial place of a small group with a patrilocal mating system (i.e., the women had to be integrated into the group from elsewhere); or the pattern is a nuclear family, made up in part of people who are not necessarily biologically related to one another.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
López JB, Malgosa A, Gallart J, and Rafel N. 2005. Cova de Montanissell (Sallent - Coll de Nargó, Alt Urgell). Operació: «Senyora de les muntanyes». Cota Zero 20:27-36.
Simón M, Jordana X, Armentano N, Santos C, DÃaz N, Solórzano E, López JB, González-Ruiz M, and Malgosa A. 2011. The presence of nuclear families in prehistoric collective burials revisited: The bronze age burial of Montanissell Cave (Spain) in the light of aDNA. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 146(3):406-413.
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