Increasing contextual information by merging existing archaeological data with state of the art laser scanning in the prehistoric funerary deposit of Pastora Cave, Eastern Spain Oreto García Puchol a, * , Sarah B. McClure b , Josep Blasco Senabre c , Fernando Cotino Villa c , Vito Porcelli c a Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de Valencia, Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain b Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA c Global Geomatica, C/ Santiago Rusiñol 32, 46019 Valencia, Spain 1 article info Article history: Received 28 June 2012 Received in revised form 17 October 2012 Accepted 18 October 2012 Keywords: Neolithic Chalcolithic Bronze age Human burial 3D model Virtual reconstruction C14 data abstract In this paper we present a virtual reconstruction of prehistoric funerary practices in Pastora Cave, a collective burial site in Eastern Spain that dates from the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Modern data of the cave was captured by 3D laser scanning techniques and added to recorded archaeological data and 3D graphic information. The combination of these data sets allowed us to create a hypothetical reconstruction to analyze the material excavated in the 1940s and 50s in greater spatial context. A 3D model of the current cave was created in order to serve as a basis for modeling the relative stratigraphic information available. We present the methodology employed and the results and impli- cations of the analysis for Pastora Cave with particular emphasis on the spatial and chronological data. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Recent developments in 3D laser scanning techniques provide a tool to better understand chronological contexts in archaeological sites (Rüther et al., 2009). In this paper we present a virtual reconstruction of prehistoric funerary episodes in Pastora Cave, a collective burial site in Eastern Spain that dates from the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Pastora Cave has long been regarded as a typical example of collective burials in the region (McClure et al., 2010, 2011; Soler, 2002) and is one of many known mortuary cave deposits. Most of these burial caves, however, were excavated in the early 20th Century AD and share problems of old excavation techniques and documentation. In particular, they often lack detailed contextual information of the finds. To address these issues of context, we generated a virtual image of what the ancient cave may have looked like by recreating the stratigraphy and representing it in a 3D virtual environment. In order to do this, modern data of the cave captured by 3D laser scanning techniques was added to recorded archaeological data and 3D graphic information. The combination of these data sets allowed us to create a hypothetical reconstruction to analyze the material excavated in the 1940s and 50s in greater spatial context. This endeavor also highlights the possibilities of recovering accu- rate plans, sections and isolines from the 3D real mesh of the cave. In the following we present the methodology employed and the results and implications of the analysis for Pastora Cave with particular emphasis on the spatial and chronological data. 2. La Cova de la Pastora La Cova de la Pastora (Alcoi, Alicante) or Pastora Cave is part of a larger phenomenon that begins from the Late Neolithic onwards (mid IVth millennium cal BC) in Eastern Spain. During this period, collective burials were placed in natural caves. This is a character- istic of the central Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula where the megalithic monuments of the Atlantic facade are absent. The funerary use of caves continues in this region during the Chalcolithic and into the Bronze Age. Approximately 130 caves with collective burials are known from the Valencian region on the * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 963983893; fax: þ34 963983887. E-mail addresses: Oreto.garcia@uv.es (O. García Puchol), Sbm19@psu.edu (S.B. McClure). 1 global@globalmediterranea.es, http://www.globalmediterranea.es. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas 0305-4403/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.015 Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (2013) 1593e1601