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To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the megalithic necropolis of Petit-Chasseur in Sion (Valais, Switzerland), an international conference was organised from the 27th to the 29th of October 2011 in Sion. This book constitutes the conference proceedings. The necropolis of Petit-Chasseur still remains a key reference for the understanding of the Final Neolithic period, not only in the Alpine countries, but also throughout Europe. The scientific meeting therefore focused on the end of the Neolithic period in Valais and in the adjacent regions, on the Bell Beaker phenomenon in general, on the funerary rites of this period, and on the anthropology of megalithic societies. The conference was attended by nearly two hundred people, students, junior and senior scholars from many countries including Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The present publication includes twenty-five papers referring to the periods represented at the Petit-Chasseur necropolis, namely the end of the Neolithic, the Bell Beaker period and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age. In addition to a preface, a first group of papers – eight in total – deal directly with the Petit Chasseur Site in Sion and the end of the Neolithic in the Alps. A second group of articles constitute the section titled "The Final Neolithic and the Bell Beaker Culture in Europe and beyond". This section is composed of fifteen articles presenting the results of archaeological, anthropological, botanical, and zooarchaeological analyses of Europe and Northern Africa. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is invariably the same. It is only possible to back our explicative constructions if we establish a serious dialogue with the field of cultural anthropology and if we construct a real science of the human facts, which is far from being achieved currently, even by ethnologists. The third part of this publication, which consists of two papers and is titled "Societies and Megaliths", offers a discussion on megalith building societies that reflects on and develops this conclusion.

One of symbolic roles of Neolithic long houses in central Europe might have been burial of ancestors. There is no solid evidence for the funerary function of long houses, however, it is commonly assumed (Bradley 2001). Already during their dwelling function some houses were possibly used for primary deposition of remains of ancestors. The burials were later in the time of abandonment of the house removed elsewhere or remained resting inside the building. This is the process of transformation from the house of living to the house of dead. The main purpose of the second part of the paper is to discuss the question on missing evidence of barrows of the late Eneolithic Corded Ware and Bell Beaker period in Central Europe. Variety of problems of demographic representation of cemeteries, burial customs and spatial structure of funerary areas are connected to the missing barrows. I emphasise the variability of late Eneolithic funerary monuments, including the discussion on burial chambers and circular ditches, yet another type of funerary construction without an earthed mound that may be described as houses of dead. Un des rôles symboliques des maisons allongées néolithiques d’Europe centrale a pu être celui de tombe des ancêtres. Il n’existe pas de preuve formelle de la fonction funéraire des maisons danubiennes, toutefois, celle-ci est fréquemment considérée comme possible (Bradley 2001). Durant leur phase d’utilisation comme habitat, certaines maisons ont sans doute été utilisées comme lieu d’inhumation des restes des ancêtres. Lors de l’abandon de ces habitats, les sépultures ont été soit déplacées soit laissées à l’intérieur des constructions. Ceci est le processus de transformation des maisons des vivants en maison des morts. L’objectif de la seconde partie de cet article est de discuter de la question de l’absence de tertres funéraires en Europe centrale lors du Néolithique cordé et du Campaniforme. Différents problèmes, tels que la représentation démographique des nécropoles, les pratiques funéraires et la structure spatiale des espaces funéraires, sont liés à la question des tertres absents. Je me concentre ici sur la variabilité des monuments funéraires de la fin du Néolithique, en incluant une discussion sur les chambres funéraires et enceintes, un autre type de construction funéraire dépourvu de tertre et qui peut être décrit comme maison des morts.

The paper analyzes the Bell Beaker graves with female burials from three sites located near one another in the region of Madrid. The study addresses the female presence within contexts that have traditionally been considered mainly male. The variability of their grave goods and burial rituals and their identification in primary and secondary, single or collective inhumations, is also analyzed. Their associations with male adult individuals and/ or children are reviewed, and the social role of women buried with daggers in significant graves is discussed. Although the sample is quantitatively insufficient, its variability at least allows us to refute previons claims about the numerical superiority of male graves that have been made without any empirical support. We conclude with a discussion of why there are fewer women in Bell Beaker tombs than in contemporaneous tombs without Bell Beakers., El trabajo analiza las tumbas campaniformes con inhumaciones femeninas de tres yacimientos próximos entre sí localizados en la región de Madrid, destacando su presencia en unos contextos que tradicionalmente se han considerado básicamente masculinos. Se registra también la variabilidad de estos contextos, en sus ajuares y en los rituales de inhumación, sean individuales o colectivos y en posiciones primarias o secundarias. Así mismo, se revisan sus asociaciones a individuos masculinos adultos y /o a infantiles, y se discute la asociación de mujeres en tumbas relevantes con puñales. Aunque la muestra es cuantitativamente insuficiente, la variedad del registro nos permite, al menos, desmontar ciertas afirmaciones que se han venido repitiendo sin ningún apoyo empírico sobre la rotunda superioridad numérica de tumbas campaniformes con inhumaciones masculinas. Pero más allá de la recopilación de estos datos es importante reflexionar sobre el porqué de la menor presencia de mujeres con respecto a los hombres en las manifestaciones funerarias de los grupos campaniformes cuando en las tumbas coetáneas no campaniformes es precisamente la mujer la que suele estar mejor representada.

In terms of funerary archaeology, the Bell Beaker period in Europe exhibits two main burial complexes: collective burials in the West and single graves in the East. This study focuses on the implication of stone wristguards, as well as other objects associated with archery, included in select single inhumation burials of the Eastern complex. Such stone wristguards are currently interpreted as a piece of protective equipment used by archers; however their fabrications in stone and the overall lack of evidence for usage raises the question of practicality. Were these wristguards used in the everyday lives of warriors or were they symbolic? And were the individuals interred with these wristguards archers themselves? Answering these questions could address a bigger question concerning the presence of a social class of archers and its implications towards the importance of warfare at a time of transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. In order to respond to these questions, this paper first examines the evidence and the archaeological perspective on archery and warfare throughout the Neolithic, culminating in the Bell Beaker period. This is followed by an anthropological approach attempting to identify specialized archery from the osteological remains of 27 Bell Beaker individuals from Bohemia (Czech Republic), 10 of whom were buried in the presence of stone wristguards thus classifying them as "suspected archers". Anthropological analyses involved integrating the human biomechanics of archery with classifications of entheseal changes in order to postulate on an individual’s likelihood of having been a specialized archer. While these analyses revealed minimal differences between specific points on the skeletons of the suspected and non-suspected archers, the suspected archers do share some common characteristics. This study validates the use of anthropological analyses in identifying specialized archers. These results also indicate that the individuals interred with stone wristguards were likely archers themselves. Identifying a specialized archer in the presence of artisanal archery goods provides additional evidence for a class of archers during the Bell Beaker period., Journal of Neolithic Archaeology, 2018 (Special Issue 4): Think global, act local! Bell Beakers in Europe

En el presente trabajo reflexionamos sobre diferentes aspectos relacionados con la violencia intergrupal o interpersonal durante el Calcolítico peninsular a través de algunas evidencias arqueológicas, además de presentar otros registros antropológicos inéditos. Especial atención merecen una serie de lesiones en hueso causadas por actos violentos que han sido documentadas en dos yacimientos calcolíticos madrileños, como son Camino de las Yeseras y Humanejos y al que se le añade otro posible caso encontrado en la necrópolis de Ciempozuelos. Del primer yacimiento se valoran diferentes registros en una fosa con una inhumación múltiple que acoge a un posible grupo familiar asociado a numerosas puntas de flecha y cuya causa de muerte pudo estar en relación con un episodio violento. Mucho más evidentes son las lesiones que presentan otros dos varones campaniformes: un individuo madurosenil de Camino de las Yeseras con una fractura y acusada desviación de los nasales que podría ser un indicio de un enfrentamiento interpersonal, mientras que otro varón adulto de Humanejos fue víctima de un contundente golpe en el frontal ante mortem, posiblemente golpeado con una azuela o hachita de cobre. Estos casos permiten intuir la existencia de conflictos inter o intragrupales más o menos organizados. Por otra parte se justifica la construcción de defensas arquitectónicas en una serie de yacimientos peninsulares, las cuales están asociadas a un considerable número de puntas de proyectil localizadas en sus accesos, tramos de murallas y en talleres próximos a ellas. Durante el Calcolítico, la necesidad de garantizar la seguridad de estas comunidades prehistóricas hace que la producción de las puntas en sílex y posteriormente en metal (Palmela) sean un recurso armamentístico de primer rango, siendo secundario su empleo en las actividades cinegéticas, como quedan avalados por los estudios arqueofaunísticos. También se discute el empleo de útiles habituales recuperados en los horizontes habitacionales como testimonios de actos de violencia, muy probablemente, surgidos por las propias desavenencias cotidianas o intergrupales. Todos estos procesos desembocan en el surgimiento de panoplias armamentísticas en el horizonte campaniforme en el que, aunque con discutida funcionalidad, su exhibición y amortización en las tumbas se hace muy patente, This study focuses on aspects related to interpersonal or intergroup violence during the Iberian Chalcolithic by discussing some archaeological evidences which have not been thoroughly evaluated to date. Particular attention is given to a series of injuries observed in some burials, which in the light of recent anthropological and paleopathological studies are becoming more numerous and diverse. Besides reviewing some papers and proposals on bone injuries resulting from acts of violence, new documented evidences are offered from the study of two Chalcolithic burials in Madrid: Camino de las Yeseras and Humanejos and related to an old one from the cemetery of Ciempozuelos. In the first of these sites, a multiple inhumation in a pit has been documented. It contains a possible family group associated with flint arrow heads intermingled with the skeletons and they seem to be related to the violent death of the group in a short space of time. Far more striking are the injuries found on two Bell Beaker males, one of them from Camino de las Yeseras, a senile with broken and deviated nasal bones, probably due to an interpersonal conflict. The second example, from Humanejos, is a 30 year old male who was a victim of a major traumatic injury to the forehead ante mortem. It was possibly caused by a copper adze or small axe, due to a face-to-face conflict. Both cases seem to suggest that, interpersonal or intergroup violence during the Iberian Chalcolithic is not infrequent. Also the archaeological record is revealing the existence of defensive architectures in several sites, where a considerable amount of arrow heads have been recovered in entrances, walls and workshops. These circumstances and the increase of arrow heads also in some ditched enclosures could explain their productions as primary defensive and offensive artefacts and later on the emergence of the first copper Palmela arrow heads in Iberia. Otherwise, as the archaeozoological studies of some chalcolithic sites reveal, that the increasing frequency of the flint arrow heads productions are not necessarily related to the rise of hunting activities during the 3rd millennium. It is also discussed the use of some metal tools as weapons during the Bell Beaker horizon as they only appear in household contexts and the functionality of some of the Beaker “package” items from tombs as weapons

This paper offers an overview of the Bell Beaker metallurgy in Madrid. This is a renewed vision thanks to data provided by the recent excavations in Camino de las Yeseras, a big settlement whose funerary contexts do not match the known conventions in these graves, for example, weapons – absent in the grave goods – are replaced with gold ornaments and other items made in exotic raw materials., El trabajo ofrece una visión renovada de la metalurgia del Horizonte campaniforme en Madrid a partir de los datos que aportan las recientes intervenciones en el yacimiento de Camino de las Yeseras. Sus contextos funerarios no se ajustan a los convencionalismos conocidos para estas tumbas pues las armas ausentes en los ajuares singulares son sustituidas por ornatos de oro y otras piezas realizadas en materias exóticas.

This paper present a first approach to the Calcolithic settlement of “Camino de las Yeseras” in which a third millenium BC occupation has been documented. During the transition to the second millenium BC, Bell Beaker groups appear in the sequence. They exploit new lithic resources, adapt their domestic stock for increased mobility, and practice new diversified funerary rituals in the settlement. The temporal framework is supported by a sequence of many C14 and TL dates. El trabajo ofrece una primera aproximación al Yacimiento Calcolítico de Camino de Las Yeseras donde se ha documentado una ocupación a lo largo del III milenio que, en el tránsito al II milenio AC, acoge a grupos poseedores de cerámica campaniforme que renuevan los equipos materiales con la explotación de nuevos recursos líticos, adaptan su cabaña a una mejor movilidad y practican rituales funerarios diversificados dentro del poblado. El marco temporal se avala con una importante secuencia de dataciones de C14 y TL, plenamente coincidentes. &nbsp

In the summer of 1961 in Sion (Valais, Switzerland) the slabs of a prehistoric tomb appeared in a pipe trench at the Avenue du Petit-Chasseur. While uncovering them, someone exclaimed: “prehistoric engravings!”.The first funerary stela of the megalithic site had been discovered. The excavations, first conducted by Olivier-Jean Bocksberger, high school teacher at Aigle, then by Alain Gallay of the University of Geneva, lasted about ten years. Patiently reconstructed by the scientists, the eventful history of this necropolis made it possible for the rites, the beliefs and the social structure of these prehistoric communities in Valais to be studied in detail. Later, between 1987 and 2003, further investigations were carried out in the area and added to the discoveries. In order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the site, a scientific committee consisting of the representatives of the Archéologie cantonale and the Musées cantonaux du Valais, and of the University of Geneva and the Association valaisanne d'archéologie organised several events during autumn 2011. An international conference was held from 27 October to 29 October in Sion, at the François-Xavier Bagnoud hall. The necropolis of Sion still remains a key reference for the understanding of the Final Neolithic period, not only in the Alpine countries, but also throughout Europe. The scientific meeting therefore focused on the end of the Neolithic period in Valais and in the adjacent regions, on the Bell Beaker phenomenon (a European culture?) and on the funerary rites of this period whereas the doctoral course dealt with the end of the Neolithic period in Valais and with the anthropology of megalithic societies. The conference was attended by nearly 200 people, students, junior and senior scholars from many countries including Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Thirty-eight papers were grouped into five sessions each preceded by an introductory one-hour conference: Fifty Years of Discoveries at the site of Sion/ Petit-Chasseur; The Neolithic in Valais and its Neighbouring Regions presented by Alain Gallay; Is the Bell Beaker Culture a European? Economy, Culture and Society by Maxence Bailly; Funerary Rituals during the Final Neolithic and the Bell Beaker Period by Henri Duday; and Anthropology of the Megalithic Societies presented by Alain Testart. The present volume reports on these scientific presentations and the ensuing lively debates.

This paper endeavours to present an actualized view of prehistoric copper metallurgy development in Alicante Province from the middle of the third millennium to the early Iron Age, insisting on the appearance of the metallurgy even in pre-beaker times. Typology changes in the Early Bronze Age, showing implements still made in arsenical bronze. Binary bronzes appear during the Middle Bronze Age, becoming widespread during the Late Bronze Age., El trabajo intenta presentar una visión actualizada de la evolución de la metalurgia prehistórica del cobre en tierras alicantinas desde mediados del III milenio hasta los inicios de la Edad del Hierro, incidiendo en la existencia de una metalurgia ya desde momentos pre-campaniformes. En el Bronce Antiguo la tipología metálica cambia, aún con útiles fabricados de cobre arsenicado. Desde 1600 a.C. comienzan a aparecer objetos de bronce binario, generalizándose en el Bronce Final.