Osteobiografía y la Población de la Plaza de España, Écija (Sevilla)

The maqbara located under the Plaza de España in Ecija included many burials dating from the period immediately after the Islamic conquest of Iberia. As only Muslims could be buried there, the individuals buried in the necropolis formed a diverse and yet discrete sample of early medieval people from Andalucía. The palaeopathologies found were very well described and documented in the original excavation reports, and aspects of the skeletal variability of the buried individuals have been the focus of previous bioarchaeological studies. This paper attempts to synthesise these studies and develop the concept of using a series of osteobiographies to form a potentially representative skeletal sample for further study.This enables the multiplicities of identity to be expressed and compared, but maintains the amazing large sample size of the original excavation. The current study places stress on the growth process and understanding the role of activity practices in shaping the individual life course