Dos tumbas individuales calcolíticas en las inmediaciones de los dólmenes de Osorno y Simancas: estudio bioantropológico, ofrenda de perros y ‘postvida’ megalítica en el valle medio del Duero

The authors examine two unpublished pits with single burials from the Spanish Northern Meseta dating to the Pre- Bell Beaker Copper Age.Although such burials constitute the majority in the mortuary record of that time and place, we discuss the degree to which they are normative.We review the origins of the two-phased burial rituals, well attested in the area during the Bronze Age, the results of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome analysis in one of the skeletons, and the importance of the often overlooked dog burials in the mortuary ceremonies of the Duero valley during the Copper Age.Lastly, the proximity of these two burials to the megalithic tombs of Los Zumacales (Valladolid) and La Velilla (Palencia) allow the authors to discuss the beginning of the ´afterlife` of these monuments in the middle Duero valley.