LA ALMOLOYA
THE FUNERARY
SYSTEM
The people of the Argaric era used to bury their dead in vessels (funeral urns), stone “coffins” (cists), pits or small artificial caves (“covachas”), after the 72 hours needed to overcome rigor mortis.
Tomb AY26. Disarticulated bones belonging to a man buried in the first place (right), and then replaced above the body of a woman (left).
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Among all kinds of tombs, the urns are usually the most frequent in the eastern regions of the Argaric territory. On the other hand, La Almoloya has provided a fairly similar proportion between funeral urns (39) and cists (32). Another interesting fact is that urns placed inside stone cists have been documented and, on one occasion, we have been able to detect a wooden coffin inside a cist. Likewise, their unusually large size and the high proportion
