FITXA PEÇA

                            CRANI 
Cova Beneito (Muro d'Alcoi)

Ossos humans
h: 17.6 cm; a: 10 cm; e: 13.5 cm
Upper Palaeolithic
Solutriogravetià, 17.000 BP

Partially reconstructed skull belonging to a young adult female (20-25 years old). It has a broad front, a medium-sized skull, smooth and with muscle insertion relieves, generally not very marked. Close to the right ull there is a small scarred trauma. The orbital support shows signs of cribra orbitalia (small holes in the eye) which are related to anaemia, fever or infectious processes. He underwent an operation on his skull when he showed incisions in the bone made with a flint instrument. This has been interpreted as certain ritual practices, as described for other known specimens from the rest of Western Europe.
At the same levels, a fragment of cranial skull belonging to a younger individual was found. Both skulls have been interpreted as secondary burials.

CS: 1600
ITURBE POLO, G. et alii, 1994.