Gone with the fire. The role of charred plant remains in inhumation and cremation rituals in the Phoenician necropolis of Puig des Molins (Ibiza, Balearic Islands)

Abstract

The presence of plants in funerary rituals is a topic that has not been sufficiently investigated. The necropolis of Puig des Molins (Ibiza) dated to the 1st millennium BC, offers the opportunity to approach the role of plant remains involved in cremation and inhumation rituals, either as part of the pyre and other ritual fires or indirectly, as offerings or feasting activities, but also taphonomic and chronological questions. The origin of plant remains may sometimes be uncertain or not contemporary with the tomb in which they are found. In cremations, along with the charred wood (mostly pines, Olea europaea and Pistacia), presumably the fuel used in the pyres, different remains of cereals (barley and naked wheat), legumes (lentil and vetch) and fruits (grape, almond and pine nuts) were documented, probably as offerings introduced into the fire at some point in the ritual. The inhumation features are filled with sediment that may contain heterogeneous remains from the entire area of the necropolis and from the activities that took place in it. Charred bread fragments have also been documented, which indicates the specific production, consumption and/or offering of this product.