An approach towards the effects of Muslim burial rite on skull preservation. Two cases from Hispanic-Muslim cemeteries.

D'ANGELO DEL CAMPO, M. D.; AUDIJE GIL J, S.; MORENO ESTEFANELL, L.; NACARINO MENESES, C.; GARCÍA GIL, O.; ZAPATA OSORIO, S.; CAMBRA-MOO, O.; GONZÁLEZ MARTÍN, A.

L4ANTHROPOLOGIE

Moravian Museum

Lugar: Brno; Año: 2017 vol. LV p. 285 - 296

For many years, researchers have been examining the multiple factors that influence the stage of bone preservation. In this sense, many studies have faced this complex challenge by reviewing the stage of bone preservation from different archaeological sites. The present study approaches the possible effect of the burial rites in postdepositional body transformations through the analysis of the final stages of preservation. To accomplish this, we have analysed the stages of preservation of adult skull bones (frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital) from two samples that come from two Hispanic-Muslim cemeteries from different locations on the Iberian Peninsula and belongs to different periods.Our results show that skull bones present a significant side dependence in their preservation stage, in which the occipital bone seems to be less preserved than the other three skull bones which are usually in contact with the tomb soil.Therefore, in this case, it could be asserted that a concrete extrinsic factor, skeletal position in Muslim burial rites, isrelated to the signal described in bone completeness and in this stage of preservation.