Among the dead. Late Neolithic engraved slate plaques from the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Engraved slate plaques from the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula are embedded into the funerary context of the Late Neolithic–Chalcolithic farming societies. They appear in the funerary structures, mainly megalithic, within archaeological deposits dated between 3500-2750 BC (calibrated age). Beyond its mere presence in these tombs, the symbolic and social role of this material culture is a historic dilemma widely discussed by archaeologists. Indeed, interpretations over these objects are numerous and diverse, but rarely have used methodological tools to test the hypotheses. This paper applies phylogenetic methods to check empirically one of the most recent hypotheses, that the plaques are ancient mnemonic devices that record genealogies of different lineages or clans. The results reported here come from four different samples representing the overall set of known and published plaques today, and they demonstrate that this hypothesis cannot be maintained. Finally, a discussion on the most plausible interpretative lines that should be tested in future studies is made.