"Bad death" at the Ibero-Oretani site of Cerro de las Cabezas (Valdepeñas, Spain): an anthropological and multi-isotopic (δ13C, δ15N, δ18O) study

This study presents archaeological, anthropological and isotopic analysis of an exceptional and, to our knowledge, unique deposit from the Iberian oppidum of Cerro de las Cabezas (Ciudad Real, Spain), dated to the late 3rd–early 2nd century BCE. In a cultural context in which human remains are predominantly documented as cremations in necropolises, the skeletal remains of two uncremated adult males were discovered outside the southern defensive wall, in anatomical articulation, with six large red deer antlers and without a burial cut or funerary architecture. Anthropological analysis revealed extreme violence: Individual A had sustained a healed cranial injury several weeks prior to death and was fatally wounded by a sharp-force cut to the right femur, while Individual B had been decapitated, with his head placed separately at the top of the deposit. Stable isotope data from collagen, bone apatite and enamel provided complementary information on diet and mobility. Individual A’s δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values indicate a diet rich in animal protein, with little change from adolescence to adulthood. Differences in δ¹⁸O values between the two individuals (1.9‰) suggest distinct water isotope sources, although both fall within the range of isotopic variability documented in the surrounding region and cannot be confirmed as non-local. This unique association of articulated adult bodies, perimortem violence, decapitation, red deer antlers and wall-side deposition fits within the broader framework of “bad death” practices documented in Iberian society, where violent deaths and atypical burials may reflect ritualised exclusion, punishment or symbolic acts of social control.