Funerary archaeology issues in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar: the example of artificial cave necropolis of Los Algarbes (Tarifa, Cádiz)

Abstract

The aim of our article is to explain and understand the symbolic landscape, considering this one, in addition, as a sacred place of worship and burial along Prehistory. In the centre of this area the necropolis of Los Algarbes is located (Tarifa, Cádiz), the target of the present study, which is located in a geographically speaking highly interesting space since it is close to the Strait of Gibraltar, a border territory between two continents and two seas, whose proximity was more a cause of union than it was of separation in those days. In this way, it favoured the contact between different cultural realities from Prehistory, turning the funerary world into one of the best indicators of these contacts, display and mixture of the different beliefs and survival of the religious and symbolic manifestations.