This research project has the main aim of contributing to the knowledge about a set of social and funerary practices which were specific to the island of Minorca.
Location:Alaior (Menorca)
Project managers:
Team:
Eva Alarcón García y Mª Auxiliadora Moreno Onorato
- The team is composed of a wide range of national and international researchers, some of whom are:
Margarita Orfila Pons (U. de Granada)
Francisco Contreras Cortés (U. de Granada)
Francisco Javier Melero (U. de Granada)
Adrián Mora González (CSIC-U. de Granada)
Marta Díaz-Zorita (U. Tubinguen, Germany)
Javier Escudero (U. Tubingüen, Germany)
Luis Arboledas Martínez (CSIC-U. de Granada)
Agüeda Lozano (U. de Granada)
Biel Servera (U. Islas Baleares)
Antoni Obrador (U. Autónoma de Barcelona)
Paul Godberg (Boston University)
Amalia Pérez-Juez (Boston University)
Lluis Plantalamor (Museum of Maó’s former director)
Montserrat Anglada (professional restorer)
Scientific objectives:Some of the project’s main aims are:
1. To reconstruct the social and funerary practices that took place in Biniadris cave.
2. To analyse the traditions of the interred population of Biniadris cave.
3. To define the social and individual identities of this population.
4. To find out if the funerary rituals of Biniadris cave matched the same criteria identified in other Minorcan caves.
5. To disseminate and transfer the project’s outcomes to shed light on the unknown aspects of this cave.
Results obtained:We are currently studying and analysing the materials recovered during the first excavation campaign, which took place in summer 2015. The preliminary results are based on the study of the human remains, which have shown that a whole population was buried in Biniadris cave. Men and women of all ages were buried inside the cave along with their personal objects, which marked their identity, both at an individual and communal level. These individuals might have been related by blood, as their non-metric traits seem to indicate (vastus notch, septal aperture, shovel incisors, double-holed vertebrae, etc.). Also, the members of this population were robust. The average male height ranged between 170 and 172 cm, whereas female height ranged between 168 and 169 cm. They were quite healthy, although we have documented pathologies related to physical activities, which is frequent in this type of societies. Some of these pathologies are degenerative diseases (osteoarthritis, Schmorl’s nodes), enthesopathies and traumatic injuries, as well as other types of conditions such as infectious processes and metabolic imbalances, dental calculus, caries and abscesses.
The rest of the materials found during the excavation are under analysis.
Supporting entities:Rubió Tudurí Foundation