%0 Journal Article
%A Barroso Bermejo, Rosa
%A Bueno-Ramírez, Primitiva
%A Cerrillo Cuenca, Enrique
%A Martínez-Sevilla, Francisco
%A Sáez Martínez, Marcos
%A Cambra-Moo, Óscar
%A Rojas Rodríguez-Malo, Juan Manuel
%A Castañeda Clemente, Nuria
%A Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, Marta
%A Moraga Vaz, Patricia
%A Vicente Navarro, Alejandro
%A Altamirano García, Manuel
%A Alvarez-Fernández, Esteban
%T New Dates for the Emergence of the Megalithic Phenomenon on the Iberian Plateau: The Funerary Practices of Valdelasilla, Toledo (Spain)
%D 2026
%@ 0959-7743
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/136701
%X This study presents an analysis of funerary practices at the site of Valdelasilla (Illescas, Toledo, Spain). The methodology integratesthe morphological study of burial structures, anthropological analyses, a consideration of grave goods and the radiocarbon datingof human bone. The chronological data indicate funerary activity at the site from the Late Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period.Bayesian modelling confirms the establishment of a planned cemetery by the end of the fifth millennium cal. BC, featuring smallburial chambers organized around a larger tomb enclosed by a ditch. The burial chambers, which were constructed from wood,clay and small stones, created distinct spaces for the deceased. This embryonic form of monumentalization, the funerary practicesobserved and the early chronology link Valdelasilla to other peninsular cemeteries associated with the emergence of megalithism,now identified for the first time on the plateau. The location of the necropolis offers new insights into the role of inland regions inthe emergence of Iberian and European megalithism.
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