From bone chemistry to human demography: Uncovering copper age society at Valencina (c. 2900–2650 BC)

• First-ever multi-method approach to Iberian Copper Age society, including standard bioarchaeological approach, amelogenin peptide analysis, stable strontium analysis, aDNA and total mercury analysis. • Based on a sample of 126 well-dated and well-contextualized individuals from the Valencina Copper Age mega-site. • Discussion of results included burial rites and gestures, sex and age demographics, pathologies, mobility, biological kinship, ancestry and lifestyles (particularly with regards to the use of cinnabar, a key substance in this period). • The resulting picture suggest a fluid and diverse society based of a high degree of mobility and far-reaching connectivity, with limited social hierarchization and a striking prevalence of female leaders. • We conclude that further high-resolution multi-method approaches need to be taken in order to understand early complex societies world-wide, as analogues from the ethnographic record may not necessarily provide the correct epistemological framework to understand them. Until recently, the study of Iberian Copper Age society was severely hampered by the limited availability of anthropological and demographic data. This was largely caused by the fact that the main reference sites for this period offered limited collections of human bone. With the turn of the 21st century this situation has gradually changed. In this paper we present a multi-disciplinary approach to a well-dated and well-contextualised collection of 126 individuals, retrieved from the Valencina Copper Age megasite (Sevilla, Spain). A host of methods are applied , including standard bioarchaeology, amelogenin peptides, stable strontium isotopes, aDNA and total mercury. The results offer the first methodologically complex view of Iberian Early Copper Age society, including themes such as burial rites, sex and age demographics, pathologies, mobility, biological kinship, ancestry and lifestyles. This reveals a fluid and diverse society based of a high degree of mobility and far-reaching connectivity, with limited social hierarchization and a striking prevalence of female leaders. This evidence suggests that further highresolution multi-method approaches need to be taken in order to understand early complex societies world-wide, as observations based on the ethnographic record may not provide entirely valid epistemological frameworks.