Resting in Peace or in Pieces? Tomb I and Death Management in the 3rd Millennium BC at the Perdigões Enclosure (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal): Understanding mortuary practices and collective burials in Chalcolithic Portugal

Resting in Peace or in Pieces? studies Tomb I, a tholos type structure found in the Perdigões Archaeological Complex (Évora, Portugal) from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. The human bone sample (61926 bone fragments and 1579 teeth) found in Tomb I was highly fragmented and skeletonised elements were found completely disarticulated. This book takes a twofold approach to the study of the skeletal sample from Tomb I. The monument is studied according to the archaeological phases defined during field work, which explains the possible differentiated uses of the tomb through time. The skeletal sample is then studied as a whole, regardless of phases of use. Lucy Shaw Evangelista uses the data obtained to paleodemographically reconstruct the individuals buried in the tomb, comparing them with other funerary structures inside and outside the Perdigões ditched enclosures. This research broadens our understanding of mortuary practices and collective burials in Chalcolithic Portugal, situating it within the wider European Copper Age context.