Ivory, Elites, and Lineages in Copper Age Iberia. Exploring the Wider Significance of the Montelirio Tomb

Abstract

During the last 10 years, research on the Valencina (Seville, Spain) Copper Age megasite has seen major advances. Of special relevance is the excavation and scientific study of the great megalithic tomb at Montelirio, which has provided new and accurate data about multiple aspects of the way of life during this period. The aim of our study is to explore the significance of Montelirio within the context of the processes of social hierarchisation that took place in southern Iberia at the beginning of the third millennium B. C. E., a problem that until very recently had been very difficult to examine due to the absence of information from the main reference sites (especially Zambujal and Los Millares). To this end, we carry out a detailed comparative analysis of the temporality, material culture, and bioarchaeology of some of the subjects buried at Montelirio and in Structure 10.042–10.049, another major megalithic tomb located just 200 m away in the southeast quadrant of Valencina. As a result we propose that during the first half of the third millennium cal B. C. E. these tombs were
used by the incipient elites of a social system based on a ranking of lineages, within which ivory played an important role as an element of prestige and ostentation.