Island bioarchaeology and ritual knowledge transfer at the Biniadrís cave (Menorca, Spain): a longue durée perspective

Marta Díaz Zorita Bonilla^1,2*Monice Timm^1,2Mauricio Marciales Daza^1,2Auxiliadora Moreno Onorato³Eva Alarcón García³Alexandros Fotios Karakostis^1,4Javier Escudero Carrillo¹Luis Arboledas Martínez³Sonia Robles Carrasco³Berta Morell⁵Derek Hamilton⁶Helen Dawson¹Francisco Contreras Cortés³Martin Bartelheim^1,2Jörg Baten^1,2

• ¹University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
• ²SFB 1070 RessourceCultures, Tübingen, Germany
• ³University of Granada, Granada, Spain
• ⁴Senckenberg Research Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• ⁵Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
• ⁶Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

The Biniadrís cave is located oin the southern part of the island of Menorca (Spain). It is the fourth funerary cave of its type with preserved materials discovered in Menorca up to now, along with Es Càrritx, Es Mussol, and Es Pas. However, the chronology of Biniadrís is more extensive, covering more than seven centuries, allowing for a study of human practices over the "longue durée". What makes Biniadrís unique is its large number of bioarchaeological remains, mainly human remains and other organic and inorganic material, in an extraordinary state of preservation. The main goal of this .paper is to reconstruct the burial ritual by means of applyingusing comprehensive detailed bioarchaeological methods, including 14 C radiocarbon dating, to understand the modality and temporality of use of the Biniadrís cave during the Ppre-and pProtohistory of the Balearic Islands. Regarding theThe palaeodemographic data derived from our ongoing excavation are described here in detail and point to interesting patterns, such as the , there seems to be an equal representation of female and male individuals across all ages, including very young and older individuals. The fact that all individuals are equally represented and integrated into the community in the funerary settings also provides insights into the group ideology, which are discussed further. These burial practices are interpreted as a strong n expression of the local community identity at Biniadrís linked to its island setting, as seen from the preservation of the funerary memory over such a long period, which is unique for this cave. However, we are testing whether differences among individuals and burial practices are related to specific chronological sequences including different use of the space by other human communities.Therefore, theThe multi-proxy approach employed here to the study the bioarchaeological and organic remains will contributes to a better understanding of the "longue durée" of the funerary ritual and the reconstruction of human behaviour during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages of an island community in the western Mediterranean.