Ritual practices and collective consumption of animal products at the Iron Age rural settlement of Mas Castellar de Pontós (Girona, Spain) (5th–4th centuries BC)

Abstract

Animals have played an important role in certain ceremonies or rites in the past. During such activities, animals may have been alive, dead or been used as raw material. The disposal of detritus from these practices can lead to the formation of faunal assemblages with a particular taxonomic and anatomic composition. At the Iron Age ‘Mas Castellar de Pontós’ site (Girona, Spain), associations of archaeological materials excavated from Pit feature FS362 were suggestive of deposits arising from collective ceremonial consumption. Analysis of the 1309 mammal remains recovered from this feature is used to determine the nature and dynamics of the ceremony. At the same time, the relationship of these faunal remains with the other archaeological materials recovered in the pit will allow light to be shed on the significance and importance of these ceremonies in the framework of the social and political relations that governed the life of the inhabitants of this settlement.

Keywords:

• Ceremony collective
• Pit
• Animal remains
• Rural settlement
• Iron age
• Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula

Acknowledgements

The publication of this paper in this journal arises from the prize to best poster presentation: ‘Lídia Colominas, Enriqueta Pons, Maria Saña: Ritual practices and collective consumption of animal products at the Iron Age rural settlement of Mas Castellar de Pontós (Girona, Spain) (5th–2nd centuries BC). Food and Drink in Archaeology 2009. Third annual Food and Drink in Archaeology Conference’ organised by Nottingham's Department of Archaeology, 17 and 18 April 2009, University of Nottingham. We are grateful for all the comments from anonymous reviewers to help improve our manuscript. Many thanks go to P. Finley for the first stage of translation of the manuscript and to the editorial board of this journal for their final stage. Funding for this research has been partially provided within the framework of the projects HA2010-0293-Programa Nacional de Movilidad de Recursos Humanos del Plan Nacional de I + D + i 2008-2011 and “Els centres de producció econòmica i Mas Castellar com a centre econòmic de la zona emporitana (2009–2015)”, Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya.