Reconstructing the biography of children's stone bracers in the Iberian Peninsula

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 utilitar...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Barroso Bermejo, Rosa, Martínez-Sevilla, Francisco, Rodríguez Barbero, Miguel Ángel, Bueno Ramírez, Primitiva, Rodríguez-Malo, Juan Manuel Rojas, Cambra Moo, Óscar
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/715627
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/715627
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2022.39
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bell Beaker
bracers
children's burials
Iberia
object biography
Biología y Biomedicina / Biología
Descripción
Sumario: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 children's graves, but examples are known in the Iberian Peninsula, two of which are presented here. The analyses conducted on the two bracers, including archaeological contextualization, raw material identification, and technological and use-wear studies, allow the authors to reconstruct their respective biographies. Although these pieces were associated with young children, they had long lives before their final deposition in the graves. Use-wear marks on one of the bracers suggest that it was used in archery, despite its small size