El mundo funerario tardorromano en Baelo Claudia. Novedades de las intervenciones arqueológicas del 2005 en la muralla oriental

Abstract

The first results of an archaeological excavation carried out in the Baelo Claudia city wall are shown. The area is the one between the so called “Puerta de Carteia” ant the 4th tower. Six stratigraphic soundings have been developed, five of them outside the wall and only one inside. A late roman cementery has been discovered in the upper part of the sequence, dating back to the V-VII c. AD. An archaeological, paleoanthropologic, paleopathologic study of the skeletals, and the funeral ritual has been carried out. Eight tombs have been digged up, three double and four single, containing seven adults and four children. Two tombs show an interesting disposition of skeletal remains, some of them reusing the graves, and a newly born with an anomalous position. Also, animals phalanges could have been placed in the children tombs as amulets, as well as a marine shell probably as a symbol of a fisherman. All of adults present skeletal stress work and nutritional indicators.