Materializing gender in Iberian prehistory: sex, age and decubitus in Bronze age burials

Abstract

Research on gender in prehistoric Iberia has focused largely on cemeteries with rich grave goods, while regions with sparse, atypical mortuary records remain understudied. We address this gap for the Middle–Late Bronze Age Cogotas I group (circa 1850–1150 cal BC) by testing whether lateralized burial position (left/right decubitus) expresses gendered norms once sex and age are known. We analysed 29 primary inhumations (13 males/16 females) from 15 sites in the northern Iberian sub-Plateau (Duero basin). Biological sex was assessed osteologically, in 23 cases by enamel peptide proteomics (AMELX/AMELY) and also using the available aDNA; age-at-death followed standard osteological criteria. We evaluated associations among sex, age, decubitus, deposit type and geography using statistical tests appropriate for small samples, complemented by exploratory multivariate analyses to visualize overall structure. The primary hypothesis was not supported: in the sample, sex and lateral decubitus were not associated, and neither regional quadrants nor logistic models yielded significant results. Age, however, modulated practices. Very young children occurred only in individual burials, whereas older children and adolescents were more frequent in multiple deposits. Sub-regional tendencies were qualitative rather than confirmatory: FR/ML in Western and Eastern versus FL/MR around the middle Douro/Duero basin. Multivariate plots suggested that infants cluster with female and right decubitus, adolescents with male and left, and adults at the opposite axis end, trends to be treated cautiously given small cell counts. It can be concluded that Cogotas I mortuary behaviour lacked a single rigid, gender-coded rule. Instead, gendered performances, that intersected with age, varied according to the territorial context, with the youngest children and some aged women standing outside normal patterns. This integrated osteological–proteomic–statistical approach, to combine with the ‘gender effects’, it will allow to refine social inferences where grave goods are minimal.