Radiocarbon dating of the Son Pellisser lime burial (Calvià , Mallorca)

The chronology of the Balearic lime burials has been under debate for many years. It has been unclear for a long time when the interments in lime burials came in use during the Iron Age also called the Talayotic period on the Balearic Islands. Different opinions exist, some archaeologists define the entire Iron Age as the Talayotic period, some include also the late Bronze Age in this cultural period. Still others call the middle and Late Iron Age the Post-Talayotic period. In spite of the Hallstatt plateau in the calibration curve the radiocarbon dates of the Son Pellisser lime burial have demonstrated very clearly that the lime burial started most probably around 780 BCE and at least before 550 BCE, rejecting the hypothesis of a Late Iron Age phenomenon. Furthermore, the analysis of the bones confirmed the earlier observations that the Balearic lime burials were the result of a special type of cremation involving the use of fine crushed limestone during the Iron Age.