Diadem

The diadem is formed by a thin gold strip, wider in the centre, with perforations at the ends. It is made by using the beating technique. According to Manuel de Góngora, the diadem was positioned on the skull of a male skeleton, which formed part of a collective burial. Nonetheless, this seems difficult to believe: firstly, although the skeletons were preserved, it is impossible that these were maintained in a sitting position, since muscle loss makes the bones lose their original position and fall on the ground; secondly, the preserved ceramic materials belong to the Neolithic period and the diadem, considering its typology and technique, would belong to a subsequent period within the Copper Age; thirdly, both in the report and the comments made, the skeletons were identified as females and males, however, the people who identified them did not have any scientific training and could not distinguish the sexual characteristics of the bone remains; fourthly, it is also unusual to find collective burials in the Neolithic period, since this ritual is recorded during the dolmen culture. We do know: that this type of goldsmith`s ware belongs to the Chalcolithic period; the area of Albuñol is near a secondary gold-bearing site, located in the Ugijar-Alcolea depression; the Cueva de los Murciélagos, at the end of the 19th century, was exploited in order to extract lead and the native gold appeared, at times, in veins of heavy metals such as lead.