The Bronze Age in Mediterranean Iberia

ISBN: 978-84-92681-91-4 (Printed Edition) 978-84-92681-92-1 (e-book)

IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR wEST OF EuROPE:FROm NEOlITHIc TO ROmAN cONquEST

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THE BRONzE AgE IN mEdITERRANEAN IBERIAvIcENTE lull, RAFAEl mIcó, cRISTINA RIHuETE HERRAdA and

ROBERTO RIScH

Introduction: concept, chronology and periodization

In general terms, the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula was marked around 22001by the material culture that appeared after the Chal-colithic societies crisis, and came to an end with the rise of Phoenician colonial activity in the western Mediterranean, around 900. Scholars have attached particular importance to these two points in time, but this does not mean that a single social process linked the two. In fact, the term “Bronze Age” covers such disparate cultures that it has no precise socio-logical meaning. It is not even accurate as a reference to technology, since bronze was not used until well into the second millennium, and the first Phoenician outposts did not result in its substitution by iron. In practice, “Bronze Age” is little more than a conven-tion with a chronological meaning.

There was such social diversity during these 1300 years in the Iberian Peninsula, that only greater terri-torial consolidation along much of the Mediterrane-an seaboard justifies treating it separately. However, this territorial stability was not a constant, either in terms of duration, geographical scope or inten-sity. In this respect the El Argar stands out, with its extensive settlements, numerous funerary contexts and standardised production of artefacts making it a point of reference in the development towards an urban society with social classes and state-like politics. Outside its setting in the southeast, and the southeast itself after the Argaric era, diversity ap-peared to flourish once again with new vigour, al-though in some cases caused by the persistent gaps in our archaeological knowledge.

The periodization of the regions situated roughly between the Sierra Nevada and the eastern Pyrenees is based on several hundred radiocarbon datings and dozens of stratigraphic and contextual records2. At

* Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, [email protected] All chronological references in the text are expressed in

calendar years BCE.2 González Marcén et alii (1992), Castro et alii (1996). For

an additional treatment of questions of chronology and periodization of the peninsular Bronze Age, see Almagro

least in the areas in the south, a tripartite division of the Bronze Age is reasonable.

• EarlyBronzeAge(ca. 2200 - 1550). This pe-riod covers the El Argar archaeological group and those of La Mancha and the eastern parts of the Betic and Iberian systems. They are the best known and are the ones on which we shall focus. This period is sometimes sub-divided into Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age, although this distinction does not always find a satisfactory chronological and material definition.

• LateBronzeAge(ca. 1550 - 1300). With very few exceptions, the decline in permanent settlements marked a turning point in social evolution. However, this makes it difficult to identify populations with clear territorial limits. In this period and the one that follows, innovations in bronze metallurgy and pottery set the pattern for defining archaeological ho-rizons and groups.

• FinalBronzeAge (ca. 1300 - 900). In the cen-turies before the Iron Age, the peninsular communities seem to be more closely linked with each other and with the external world, as Atlantic, Mediterranean and continental connections suggest. The first signs of Phoe-nician colonisation on the south coast con-ventionally indicate the end of the Bronze Age, although in practice the last regional horizons probably extend to around 800.

Early Bronze Age (ca. 2200 – 1550)

Our problematic understanding of social transitions

In order to understand the social realities that were forged around 2200,* we need to look at the transformations that were under way during the pre-vious period. From a general perspective, the third

Gorbea (1997), Ruiz Gálvez (2001) and Barandiarán et alii (2007).

The Bronze Age in Mediterranean Iberia

Vicente Lull*, Rafael Micó, Cristina Rihuete Herrada

and Roberto Risch

IberIa. ProtoHIStorY oF tHe Far weSt oF euroPe128

millennium saw the culmination of a socioeconom-ic process that began with the Neolithic expansion. From at least the sixth millennium, the lands that provided high yields with relatively non-intensive technologies in terms of labour were those that at-tracted human occupation. The scarcity or absence of highly stratified stable settlements reflects the periodic movement of groups caused by variations in the availability of resources. In many cases, only the presence of collective burials used for genera-tions suggests a certain degree of permanence.

From the end of the fourth millennium traditional Neolithic semi-sedentary and open societies began to display “anomalies”, particularly in the southern half of the Peninsula. A proliferation of stone-built forti-fied settlements and settlements whose limits were determined by surrounding ditches, whether or not these were of a defensive nature, indicate that com-munities had become more sedentary: some became so deeply rooted that it is evident that only violence could dislodge them, while others began to revolve socially and economically around certain enclaves. Despite these trends, the maintenance of collective funerary practices, the formal similarities of artefacts produced and the wide circulation of certain objects and raw materials suggest that groups’ ancestral rela-tionships and contacts persisted over wide areas and that the community remained the political and eco-nomic focus of life.

During the third quarter of the third millenni-um, the panorama in the southern regions under-went changes which, proved to be decisive. Earlier settlements, sometimes very large and situated by preference in valleys or on river terraces, began to lose importance in favour of other, smaller centres on rugged hilltops with good visibility. At the same time, funerary practices saw the beginning of in-dividual treatments in small structures connected with areas of habitation. In the production of arte-facts, the wide distribution of the items associated with the Bell Beaker phenomenon (copper-tanged daggers, Palmella points, v-perforated buttons, arch-ers’ wrist-guards) indicate that social networks had not been interrupted; even so, the fact that deco-rative patterns on pottery became differentiated into regional styles tells us there was a reduction in the geographical scale of contacts. Fragmentation, individualisation and violence shaped social trends around the twenty-third century when, with the abandonment or restructuring of the largest and most emblematic Chalcolithic sites, a change of course in historic development is in evidence3.

3 Lull et alii (2010a).

The crisis of the Chalcolithic world did not pave the way for a shared future. From 2200 on-wards various separate developments would take shape, from urban societies articulated into socio-economic classes capable of maintaining political boundaries to communities that adopted or main-tained semi-sedentary ways of life in which it is difficult to identify significant and permanent con-centrations of power. Determining the degree of independence between them is one of the most interesting topics of current research. In any case, it seems clear that the beginnings of the Bronze Age meant a displacement of the centre of gravity of the peninsular population from the southwest quadrant to the southeast and, in this second area, the configuration of a political and economic epi-centre in Argaric lands (Fig. 1). This is our point of departure.

Argaric society

At the end of the nineteenth century, H. and L. Siret published their findings on domestic con-texts, numerous burials and a multitude of ce-ramic, metal, stone and bone objects discovered in a dozen sites in the eastern districts of Almería and Murcia4. The most important of them, El Ar-gar (Almería), gave its name to an archaeological entity that would become a point of reference for the first stages of the Bronze Age in Europe5. The Argaric communities occupied a territory of some 33,000 km2 in its period of maximum expansion. The oldest enclaves are documented in the coast-al or pre-coastal districts of Almería, Murcia and southern Alicante, and then extend inland as far as the upper Guadalquivir and the southern edge of La Mancha in the early centuries of the second millennium.

We owe the archaeological definition of the Ar-garic group to the varied and abundant finds dating to its full and final phases, coinciding with its maxi-mum territorial extent, economic development and the ritual deposits that formed part of funer-ary practices (2000-1550). We shall discuss this in the pages that follow, but first we should mention a number of aspects related to the complex subject of

4 Siret y Siret (1887, 1890), Schubart and Ulreich (1991).5 For a fuller version of the synthesis of Argaric society pre-

sented here, and an extended bibliography, consult Lull (1983, 2000), Lull and Estévez (1986), Chapman (1990, 2003), Castro et alii (1999), Lull et alii (2005, 2010b, 2011, 2013b), Eiroa (2004), López Padilla (2009), Aranda (2011), Cámara and Molina (2011).

tHe bronze age In MedIterranean IberIa 129

the formation of Argaric society and its relationship with contemporary groups between ca. 2200 and 2050/2000.

The formative context

When excavations began, various sites situated in the “home” of Argaric society, such as Lugarico Viejo, Fuente Vermeja and Las Anchuras, were dat-ed to a transitional period of the early Bronze Age. However, the relative scarcity of finds and their uncertain chronological position made it difficult

to determine their implications. Today, the excava-tions in Gatas, La Bastida, Santa Catalina, Lorca and Fuente Álamo, and also the absolute dating of ma-terials recovered in the past, are beginning to throw light on a key period.

These sites attest to the choice of hilltops with natural defences, a trend that began at the end of the Chalcolithic. Huts were built on the hillsides and had curved outer walls, foundations partially cut from the rock and mud-brick walls held up by posts. Archaeologically visible funerary prac-tices show that inhumation in collective structures fell out of favour, and became infrequent, to be replaced by the adoption of small spaces, such as rock-cut tombs and cists, in the subsoil of the vil-lages. Few ceramic vessels unequivocally match the types proposed by the Sirets, but small and medium-sized items such as bowls, and pots with a slightly defined rim, in pale tones of clay, superfi-cially smoothed and irregularly fired are abundant. The upper body of some pots is decorated with designs that include incised triangles arranged in series, filled with dots or lines, that could be re-lated to the “epi-Bell Beaker” styles.

Not many finds can be securely dated to between 2200 and 2050/2000 outside the “core” Argaric area, between the Vera basin and the Guadalentín valley. Without the confirmation of radiocarbon dates, it is problematic to assignto this period stratigraphic usually labelled “late/final Chalcolithic” or “Early Bronze Age” in the case of finds whose composition cannot simply be equated to better known Chalcol-ithic assemblages or to the consolidated horizons of the Bronze Age. However, we would risk suggest-ing that settlements that were probably occupied at the end of the third millennium, such as Terlinques, Serra Grossa, Mas del Corral (Alicante), Muntanya Assolada (Valencia), Cerro de las Víboras, Molinos de Papel (Murcia), Cerro de la Virgen (Granada), Cerro de la Encantada (Ciudad Real) and Morra del Quintanar (Albacete), amongst others, display simi-larities to the Argaric “homeland” in one or other aspect of their dwellings, funerary practices or ar-tefacts.

But, if human occupations at the end of the third millennium shared characteristics that developed out of the disintegration the Chalcolithic societies in the south, was there anything unusual in the low-lands of the southeast that would foreshadow a dif-ferent future? The answer is no more than a working hypothesis, and lies in the recent find of a system of monumental stone fortification at La Bastida (Mur-

Figure1. Patterns of settlement in the Iberian Peninsula be-tween (1) ca. 3200 and 2200 BCE and (2) ca. 2200 and 1550 BCE. The symbols represent the form and density of settlement on the basis of information from surveys and excavations, without indicating exact positions.


cia) (Fig. 2)6. Its position on a hilltop that is in it-self protected and hidden, and the fact that its new architectural solutions (solid, closely-space square towers, a fortified entrance passage parallel to the outside wall) dissociates it from the Chalcolithic tradition. The disappearance of flint arrowheads from the archaeological record of the southeast, co-inciding with the use of halberds, daggers and short swords of arsenical copper attests to the decline of Chalcolithic archery in favour of hand-to-hand combat, which the fortification of La Bastida was well adapted to resist; in other words, communities that defended themselves with the tools they used for working the land or hunting gave way to groups that were expert at wielding real weapons.

As a hypothesis, it is our contention that groups of men specialising in using physical violence formed in the lowlands of the southeast, and that these groups and the society that maintained or suffered them successfully directed that violence towards conquest and appropriation. Argaric society devel-oped out of the substratum of the original popu-lation, and expanded using what could be called military violence. Whether or not extra-peninsular

6 Lull et alii (2014).

factors were involved in shaping it is something that will have to be resolved by research.

We should not forget, when considering the ini-tial rise of Argaric society, that the lowlands of the southeast offered excellent conditions for farming. In historic times and even more so today, with annu-al rainfall of around 200-300 mm, such fertility can only be achieved using complex irrigation systems, since the rains can only sustain basically steppe or shrub-like vegetation. Moreover, the intense erosion hinders edaphic development and produces denud-ed landscapes. The most widely accepted idea until a few decades ago was that the climate in recent prehistory was similar to that of today. Thus it was assumed that subsistence was based on intensive systems of agricultural production (irrigation, cul-tivation of olives and grapes), and that the political demands of managing it encouraged the formation of some of the first complex societies of western Europe. However, recent palaeo-ecological recon-structions indicate that during the third millennium rainfall was more abundant than today, more wa-ter was available, and the vegetation included large areas of scrub and Mediterranean woodland in the lowlands, species of trees in the sierras and, even areas of riparian forest. Thus Argaric society devel-oped under more favourable ecological conditions

Figure 2. Fortified complex of La Bastida (Totana, Murcia) (©ASOME, UAB).


than today’s, although the same research also sug-gests that human impact in the form of opening up fields for the cultivation of crops, over-use of agri-cultural land, clearing areas for grazing and obtain-ing fuel severely affected the vegetation coverage and the soil, thus contributing to the crisis that led to its demise.

The archaeological definition

Defining Argaric society from ca. 2000 onwards involves data of various kinds. Most of the settle-ments were situated on steep hills at the foot of the sierras, separated from the plains and fertile valleys but with visual control over these areas and over communication routes (Fuente Álamo, Ga-tas and El Oficio in Almería; Lorca, La Almoloya and Monteagudo in Murcia; San Antón, and Lad-eras del Castillo in Alicante; Cerro de la Encina, and Castellón Alto in Granada). They usually oc-cupied between 1 and 2 ha, although some were larger and reached about 4 or 5 ha (La Bastida and Lorca). Houses were built to an apsidal, trapezoidal or rectangular floor plan with an area of up to 70 m2. They consisted of stone walls, built with mortar, mud walls strengthened with posts and plastered on the inside with the addition of lime for walls

and ceiling. These buildings were arranged in tight groups on artificial terraces along the hillsides.

It has also been suggested that some of the smallest strategically-located hilltop settlements (Barranco de la Viuda, Cerro de las Viñas and Tira del Lienzo (Fig. 3) in Murcia, Tabayá and Cabezo Pardo in Alicante) could have been defensive en-claves or used for economic control at the service of higher ranking centres. Less well known due to the intensity of taphonomic processes, but certainly abundant, were the hamlets consisting of scattered dwellings situated on plains and in river valleys (El Rincón, Los Cipreses and La Alcanara in Murcia). Finally some small coastal enclaves (Illeta dels Ban-yets in Alicante, Punta de los Gavilanes in Murcia) have been uncovered.

All the Argaric settlements shared the same fu-nerary ritual characterised by the practice of inhu-mations under the floors of the inhabited area. They were almost always individual burials, sometimes double and, very exceptionally, with three or more individuals. The dead were deposited in small rock-cut tombs (“covachas”), cists or stone chambers, ce-ramic urns or pits (Fig. 4). Despite the large number of burials published, more than two thousand, and the fact that individuals of both sexes and all ages are represented, an indeterminate part of the popu-

Figure 3. Aerial view of the hilltop occupied by Tira del Lienzo (Totana, Murcia) (©ASOME, UAB).


lation are not reflected in the funerary record. The find of human bones digested by canines in Fuente Álamo could indicate that a certain number of bod-ies were left exposed outside the settlements and that other funerary practices may have existed that have left no trace in the archaeological record.

The grave goods frequently associated with the dead are a useful source of information for learn-ing about Argaric material culture. One of the most striking aspects is the standardisation of pottery and metallurgical production (Fig. 5). The variations in the first can be summarised in eight basic forms produced by combining three simple geometric shapes. These consist of bowls and cups with pro-truding or slightly inward-facing rim suitable for eating and drinking; carinated, globular or ovoid pots, of average capacity for preparing food and small-scale storage, and large vessels with a capac-ity of between 100 and 200 litres. Also of note are the famous chalices, raised bowls on a high stem. Part of the repertoire stands out for its exceptional quality: fine walls, excellent firing and an intense burnish that gives the pottery a metallic sheen. The very few decorative motifs consist of burnished

phytomorphic designs. Only a few appliqués, main-ly mamelons, break the homogeneity of the smooth surfaces. Both the standardisation of Argaric pot-tery and the quality of some of its examples were the result of specialised activity.

The inventory of metal objects (Fig. 5) includes weapons and tools (halberds, swords, axes, daggers, knives, awls, chisels), and adornments (diadems, bracelets, earrings, rings, necklace beads). Most are made from copper, usually containing high percent-ages of arsenic. From 1800-1700 pieces made from tin bronze are found. Native silver and, occasion-ally, gold were also used in the production of adorn-ments.

Despite the abundance of copper ores, the sources of supply were few and subject to politi-cal control. The most unmistakable and abundant evidence of mining, reduction and making ingots comes from the settlement of Peñalosa, in the foot-hills of the Sierra Morena (Jaén)7. From the cen-tres of primary production, the metal was taken to a small number of workshops in the central settle-ments, the only ones with the equipment needed for smelting, forging finishing and maintenance of objects (crucibles, moulds, anvils, hammers, grind-ers). Finally the objects were distributed, although not all sections of the population had equal access to them, as their unequal distribution in the settle-ments and amongst grave goods indicates. Argaric metallurgy was a centralised activity and its produc-tion, distribution, use and consumption was subject to strict and asymmetric control.

There was a great abundance and variety of lithic production. The large settlements accumu-lated a large number of grinding stones, hammer-stones, reamers and sharpeners, made from clasts collect from the principal fluvial deposits. In addi-tion there are flint blades and sickle teeth, which are very scarce in the large hilltop centres com-pared with the settlements on the plain. Each cen-tral settlement organised the exploitation of the lithic resources available in a territory of between 10 and 50 km2, and prevented the exchange of raw material used for the manufacture of everyday tools. This practice, hard to explain without a po-litical structure that could impose restrictions, led to differences in productivity between neighbour-ing territories.

One of the main ways the output of the lithic in-dustry was used was in the harvesting and grinding cereals. Wheat is always found, but almost always

7 Contreras (2000).

Figure 4. Argaric urn burial (La Bastida, burial 21) (©AS-OME, UAB).


in lower quantities than barley, which accounts for more than 90% of the seeds recovered in the final phases of El Argar. Legumes (lentils, peas and, above all, beans) barely reach 2%. The small size of barley seeds in the lowlands of Almeria and the results of carbon isotope analysis suggest its extensive cultiva-tion on unirrigated land. This must have had a se-vere ecological impact as a result of clearing of large areas of the plains. For their part, legumes could be grown in plots situated on the fertile river terraces, perhaps assisted by small-scale irrigation systems. This would seem particularly necessary for cultivat-ing flax, attested by find of seeds and fibres from cloth. Flax and wool were the basic raw material for making cloth, which was made on looms assisted by clay weights of various shapes and sizes. Similarly, there is evidence of the consumption of olives or wild olives, grapes and figs, although doubts remain about whether these fruits were domesticated.

Livestock displays a homogeneous pattern in Argaric territory. In terms of supplying meat, cattle and ovicaprids were of approximately similar im-

portance, between 30 and 50%, followed at some distance by pigs and equidae. The use of derivative products is also attested. Hunting, fishing and col-lecting shellfish played a secondary or marginal role, except in some coastal enclaves with the necessary infrastructure for smoking fish for preservation (Punta de los Gavilanes in Murcia).

As we have said, burials have brought to light a large number of objects for understanding and cate-gorising the Argaric material culture. In addition, an analysis of the variability of grave goods has shown that they reflect socioeconomic class, sex and age. Meanwhile, osteological studies are beginning to re-veal aspects of kinship and economic relationships. For instance, the lower degree of cranial variation amongst women compared with men in the settle-ment of El Argar suggests that women spent their whole lives in the place where they were born, while most of the men moved from one place to another, probably on marriage. This could indicate that kin-ship relationships respected matrilocal or avunculo-cal principles of residence. Differences between the

Figure 5. Argaric ceramic shapes and metal items.


sexes can also be seen in the distribution of tasks, since the work done by women involved travelling shorter distances and carrying less weight than men. The number of injuries, some the result of episodes of violence, is higher amongst men.

El Argar: synthesis on political and economic or-ganisation

The combination of funerary and habitat data gives us an idea of the nature of Argaric society at its height. El Argar was the culmination of an im-portant phase of territorial expansion towards the interior and underwent exceptional architectural, economic and political development throughout almost the whole of the first half of the second mil-lennium. An upsurge in new construction involved the systematic terracing of the hillsides of hilltop settlements (Fig. 6) and the planning of a dense network of domestic and productive structures. An exceptional volume of space devoted to produc-tion and storage was concentrated in a number of large buildings. The main purpose of these work-shops seems to have been for grinding and produc-ing cloth, and also producing and repairing different types of tools. As well as dwellings and workshops, the central settlements contained cisterns, granaries

and grinding areas, stables, towers, defensive walls and bastions (Fig. 7).

In the funerary world, burial rights were extend-ed to children and other social groups. In addition, the diversity of grave goods increased, revealing new social differences. The social and political model adopted during the eighteenth century remained in force until the end. At this time, the men of the dominant class were buried with a long sword and the women with a diadem as distinctive artefacts, in addition to a wide range of metal tool sand adorn-ments and ceramic vessels. Prominent burials were restricted to the central settlements, where much of the social production and, seasonally, external manpower was concentrated, despite their distance from the best farming land and the main sources of raw materials. In addition, the districts at the top of certain hills are notable for their architecture and accumulated means of production (metallurgy), the food resources available (remains of equidae and cattle) and the wealth of their burials.

Below the dominant class was another made up of individuals with political rights which can be identified by its funerary association with met-al tools, together with a certain number of metal adornments and ceramic vessels. The association of axes with men and awls with women does not, in the first instance, suggest distinctions of gender but primarily socioeconomic class, since only around 40% of the women and barely 25% of the men were buried with these objects: economic condition pre-vailed over gender. At a third level there was a sec-

Figure 6. Terracing in Castellón Alto (Galera, Granada) (M. A. Blanco/GEPRAN Universidad de Granada).

Figure 7. The piedmont sector of the southeastern hillside of La Bastida after conservation work. Bottom, centre, the large reservoir with an approximate capacity of 300,000 litres (Geodiscover - Murcia and ©ASOME, UAB).


tor made up of individuals with very modest grave goods (the occasional piece of pottery, necklace or adornment) and, finally, a group whose burials con-tained no offerings at all.

The differences in funerary consumption were the same for children or adolescents as for the adult and senile population, which indicates mechanisms for hereditary transmission of property. Age played a secondary role in access to wealth: although some items such as swords, diadems and axes are almost exclusively associated with adults and senile indi-viduals, only one sector of society could afford to relinquish them when its members died at these ages.

In short, a dominant class that owned the land and the basic means of production (metal, food) was in a position to leave objects of high social value in their burials, as well as enjoying the best material conditions of life. This class used weapons to maintain their privileges through violence, and owned costly adornments for display. Such an eco-nomic and political structure can be defined as a “State” in the Marxist sense. It does not necessarily have to take the form of a unitary centralised gov-ernment. In this case, what seems more likely is that a number of regional political units that were linked in some way maintained their respective territories for subsistence farming, and were able to extend their influence beyond their common borders.

The beginning of the Bronze Age in regions bor-dering Argaric territory

Argaric society, expansive and aggressive, im-pacted life in the neighbouring communities. The large number of small settlements in places that could be defended could be one response to the Ar-garic military threat, while other aspects such as the ritual of selective intra-mural burial, sometimes in an urn, or the circulation of certain objects (swords, metal adornments) and raw materials (copper, sil-ver, ivory) would reveal influences of various kinds. The mechanisms of social resistance and emulation probably facilitated the phenomenon of “Argarisa-tion” seen in various parts of the Peninsula.

Outside Argaric territory other archaeological groups have been defined on the basis of geography and artefacts8, although their borders are usually ill-defined. In La Mancha and the Iberian-Levantine

8 Castro et alii 1996, García Huerta and Morales (2004), Hernández Alcaraz and Hernández Pérez (2004), Hernán-dez Pérez et alii (2009).

strip the establishment of numerous hilltop settle-ments with stone-built structures have been record-ed. However, these two elements do not necessar-ily go together. We find the clearest example in La Mancha, where settlements in prominent places, of-ten fortified, called “morras” and “castillejos” (Morra del Quintanar and Cerro del Cuchillo in Albacete)coexisted with others on the plain containing spec-tacular masonry structures: the “motillas” (Azuer, Los Palacios and Santa María del Retamar in Ciudad Real, El Acequión in Albacete)9 (Fig. 8). Irrespective of their position, most of these settlements cover an area of between 0.01 and 0.5 ha, it being rare to find any that exceed this figure. One of the best known motillas is that of Azuer10. It has a central tower built to a square floor plan, preserved to a height of 11 m, surrounded by two concentric walls, the outer one some 35 m in diameter. The spaces inside were used to store cereals, stable livestock and carry out various activities related to food production and making cloth. It also had a well with masonry walls that reached the aquifer 20 m below. In fact the geographical position of the motillas privileged the access to subterranean water resources. The village spreads out around the outer wall, the houses built on stone foundations to an oval or rectangular floor plan, their walls made of mud-bricks and plant ma-terial.

In addition to motilla sand hilltop settlements, there are settlements on the plain that are revealed only by the bases of huts (Las Saladillas in Ciudad Real). Despite this variety, they all shared the use of plain pottery (bowls, carinated, globular and ovoid pots), which sometimes had mamelons, han-dles, shaped cordons and impressed decoration on the lip. The few pieces of flint recovered are associ-ated with processing vegetables, as are the grinding stones found in the houses. Knives, awls, axes and projectile points are the copper objects best repre-sented, although they are few in number.

Burials are documented under the floor in some houses, mainly pits lined with stones, and some urns in the case of children. Their number and density are lower than those of the Argaric sites. They usually contain individual inhumations, without apparent restrictions for reasons of sex or age. Grave goods are absent or very scarce, so do not suggest marked differences in the access to wealth. Motillas such as El Acequión, Santa María del Retamar and El Azuer are interpreted as com-

9 Martín Morales et alii (1993), Fernández-Posse et alii (2008).

10 Aranda et alii (2008), Nájera et alii (2010).


munal centres for storage, production and defence rather than as places of residence for a hypotheti-cal ruling class. The role of contemporary hilltop settlements is still uncertain, but in view of the impressive defences of the motillas it is not clear that the population of the former dominated the latter. The general panorama seems to be that of more or less autonomous communities with access to their own economic territories.

In the centre and south of the Valencian Region and neighbouring districts to the west, we also find hilltop settlements with a notable development of stone architecture, sometimes used for defensive purposes (Mola d’Agres and Mas de Menente in Al-icante, Muntanya Assolada in Valencia, El Recuenco in Cuenca, Hoya Quemada and Castillo de Frías in Teruel, Cerro de la Campana in Murcia)11. The most prominent settlements are modest in size (between 0.1 and 0.3 ha) and most of them take the form of a farm or hamlet (between 0.01 and 0.1 ha).

The structural variation in time and space is con-siderable. In phase I (ca. 2150-1900) of the hilltop

11 de Pedro (2002, 2006), Hernández Pérez (2009-2010).

village of Terlinques (Alicante)12, there is a large building that was used for various types of produc-tion and storage, while in phase III (ca. 1700-1500) the area was occupied by a dozen sections arranged on either side of a central street between which functional differences can be observed (Fig. 9). In Lloma de Betxí (Valencia), two large multi-purpose buildings, measuring 34 x 10 m, occupy the high-est point of the enclave, where two cisterns are also documented13. Both in terms of the volume of arte-facts associated with grinding and systems for stor-ing grain, and the evidence of cloth production, the productive efforts of some of these sections are not unlike those documented in the Argaric workshops. However, this centralisation of economic activity was not on such a large scale nor did it have the social and political implications of those in El Argar.

Burials are found almost exclusively close to set-tlements, taking advantage of naturally occurring hollows that held individual inhumations or those of small groups (Mola d’Agres, Muntanya Assolada).

12 Machado et alii (2009), Hernández Pérez et alii (2013).13 de Pedro (1998).

Figure 8. Motilla del Azuer (Daimiel, Ciudad Real) (GEPRAN, Universidad de Granada).


The inventory of artefacts uncovered is domi-nated by pottery: open and inturned bowls, cari-nated vessels or, in the main, those with a curved profile of different sizes, geminate vessels. The sur-faces are usually smooth, although impressed cords, mamelons, handles and impressions are not infre-quent. Metal production (knives, awls, axes, projec-tile points) is concentrated in the districts closest to the Argaric territory.

The northern coastal strip

As we move towards the north of the central districts of the Valencian Region, permanent settle-ments (Pic dels Corbs -València-, Orpesa la Vella, Torrelló d’Onda and Tossal del Mortórum in Cas-tellón), most of them on hilltops, begin to become scarcer. After crossing the Ebro, open settlements on the plain or low hills characterised by concen-trations of subterranean structures predominate14.

14 Maya (1997), López Melción (2000), de Pedro (2006), Rafel et alii (2008), Soriano (2013).

These “pit fields” are the most frequent type of set-tlement in the interior and northern regions of the Peninsula from the Neolithic until the end of the Bronze Age. They consisted of structures of various shapes and sizes, used as silos, dwellings (“pit dwell-ings”), hearths, deposits of offerings and middens. They formed part of open settlements, occupied on a temporary or seasonal basis, whose development can be seen in sometimes very extensive horizontal stratifigraphies. They would have been inhabited by several dozen people with a high level of productive autonomy, as indicated by the availability of tools related with the processing, storage and consump-tion of food, and with pottery, lithic, bone and met-allurgical production (Minferri in Lerida; Institut de Manlleu and Can Roqueta in Barcelona). Caves and rock shelters were also occupied at the same time (Mas d’Abad in Castellón; Cova del Toll in Barce-lona; Cova Colomera in Lerida; Balma del Serrat del Pont in Gerona) on an occasional basis.

The economy revolved around livestock and an increasingly well-established agriculture, as demon-strated by the chipped-stone industry in the prepa-

Figure 9. General plan of Terlinques (Villena, Alicante) in phase III (ca. 1750/1700-1550/1500 cal BCE). Distribution of grinding stones and other stone artefacts in areas of habitation. (Machado et al., 2009, fig. 2).


ration of sickle parts and communities’ greater ca-pacity for storage. Most of the pottery is smooth: open bowls, carinated pots and large jars, usually with a flat base and abundant appliqués (decorated cords, tongues, mamelons, handles). However, it is common to find earlier local Bell Beaker survivals (Pyrenees, Salomó) and regional epi-Bell Beaker de-velopments (Arbolí-Northeast) that coexisted for some time alongside later productions. Furthermore, it is assumed that metallurgy was gaining ground in the production of tools thanks to the working of local mines, such as Solana del Bepo (Tarragona). Even so, the pieces recovered are still scarce and are continuations of previous models (flat axes, awls, and tanged daggers, and points).

Some Chalcolithic practices are still seen in the burials, such as collective burials in natural cavities and megalithic tombs. The diversity of burial places in some areas is striking. For example, in Catalonia we see the coexistence of reusing earlier burials, in-humations in pits (Can Roqueta II), caves, pits with lateral chambers (Can Gambús) and megalithic tombs (cists, “paradolmens”, galleries, simple cham-bers or chambers with a vestibule), throughout the area to the north of Llobregat (Tafania in Gerona; Vall de Miarnau, and Cabana del Moro in Lerida; Clarena and Les Maioles in Barcelona). In general, rituals seem to have become more restrictive since burials are now smaller and fewer. This fact, and the significance that can be attributed to images of armed figures (Preixana stela, Lerida), are the lim-ited and inconclusive signs of political inequalities.

General trends during the ca. 2200-1550 horizon

In this period the Chalcolithic socio-economic structure, which had tended to transform collection surpluses into goods of exchange consumed in public rituals disappeared. From the end of the third millen-nium the trend was towards increasing control over the productive efforts of progressively circumscribed territories. In El Argar, the principal centres acted as capitals of territories that included subordinate pop-ulations on the plain. Asymmetries in expenditure on individualised burials, the appropriation and central-ised management of surpluses, and the use of vio-lence, suggest a society divided into socio-economic classes and a State political organization. In contrast, in the communities of the north, the mechanisms of social cooperation resisted the strategies for exploit-ing surpluses. Here the panorama extended from dis-persed storage in “pit fields” to collective protection in hilltop enclaves and motillas. Although no per-manent dominant groups can be identified, in many cases violence played an important role in social re-

lations, to judge by the effort devoted to building fortifications and the difficulties inherent in living in hilltop settlements.

These differences are reflected in metallurgical production. At the beginning of the Bronze Age ar-senical copper continued to be worked, so the real innovations took place with the introduction of moulds and the improvement of forging, which im-proved metallurgical productivity and the quality of the artefacts. The use of tin bronze only became widespread from the second quarter of the second millennium. These and other technical innovations, such as the use of rivets to hold cutting tools, per-mitted the development of specialised weapons such as halberds and, from the eighteenth century, swords that were more than 50 cm long. Their more frequent appearance in the southeast suggests that social violence became more entrenched here, and that it was exercised both in the heart and on the periphery of Argaric territory.

The economic impact of Argaric metallurgy is clear from the geographical scale of its organisation and the volume of production achieved. An indica-tor of this is the capacity for discarding artefacts, which indirectly informs us of the rate of renova-tion of tools, adornment and weapons. The more frequently they were replaced because they were broken or discarded, the greater the volume of pro-duction must have been. If we look at the density of artefacts held together with rivets (knives, daggers, halberds and swords), the Argaric southeast displays a much higher capacity for discarding them than the rest of the Peninsula (Fig. 10). Economic dif-ferentiation is accentuated still more if we take into account that most Argaric production dates to the nineteenth-sixteenth centuries.

In short, while in El Argar metallurgical produc-tion and circulation were organised at a regional scale, under the control of the dominant class and subject to high demand, in other regions the avail-ability of raw material and means of production was not subject to similar political restrictions nor did it reach a similar volume.

Over and above these differences, the early cen-turies of the Bronze Age saw the intensification of livestock production and, in particular, agriculture. The increased storage capacity of pots and silos, the predominance of the remains of barley and wheat in the palaeobotanic record, the orientation of flint chipping towards the production of sickle blades and, at least in the southeast, a new type of grinding stone that made milling more efficient, are all indi-cators of the increasing importance of cereal crops. This led to the reduction of woodland and the pro-


liferation of open spaces, which became practically steppes in some parts of the southeast.

Around 1550, the focal point of Argaric hegemonic power was suppressed. The fire levels that marked the collapse of some major Argaric settlements suggest a violent end. Some archaeological and environmental data indicate that the trigger for this revolutionary event was probably a subsistence crisis brought about by over-exploitation of the environment.

The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550 – 1300)

Dispersion and autonomy in the southeast quadrant

The breakup of the Argaric territorial structure ran in parallel with more or less profound trans-formations in the neighbouring regions15. In the southeast and La Mancha a large number of settle-

15 Castro et alii (2006).

ments were abandoned, to the extent of depopu-lation. The hilltop enclaves that survived after El Argar, like Gatas, Fuente Álamo, Tabayá, Cuesta del Negro and Cerro de la Encina, still had houses with a square or rectangular floor plan arranged on terraces, sometimes against large and thick head-walls. The same preference for places surrounded by stone wall sand hilltop sites is observed in the few new settlements or those whose principal oc-cupation dates to this stage, such as Murviedro (Fig. 11) (Murcia), El Negret and La Horna (Ali-cante). In contrast with the previous period, the virtual absence of tombs denotes political-ideolog-ical –but also economic– changes, with the abrupt reduction in volume of products discarded in fu-nerary practices.

Although a good part of the Argaric means of production survived, the rarity of large capacity ceramic vessels is significant, and so too is the dis-appearance of workshops specialising in processing grain and making cloth on a large scale. Innovations in the pottery repertoire include flasks, cooking ves-

Figure 10. Average density of riveted tools and weapons in the Iberian Peninsula between ca. 2200 and 1550 cal BCE. Densities increase exponentially x2 between 1E-5 and 5E-2 artefacts per km2and province or region. (Lull et al., 2013: fig. 1; data from Brandherm, 2003).


sels with an open profile and carinated bowls with a vertical rim, often of very high quality and intense burnishing or decorative motifs in the Cogotas I style, originating from the Duero, Tagus and Upper Ebro basins16.

The dissolution of the Argaric State also brought with it the diversification of food production, as can be deduced from the recovery of the meat contribu-tion from hunting, significant regional differences in patterns of livestock production and the relative in-crease in legumes and fruit compared with the over-whelming prevalence of barley during El Argar.

Another symptom of the decentralisation of pro-duction was the relaxation of political control over metallurgy, whose means of production appear with greater regularity and with a certain indifference to the size and location of settlements. The disappear-ance of Argaric borders also meant that communi-ties could take part in medium -and long- distance exchanges. The circulation of volcanic rocks used in the manufacture of more effective grinding stones,

16 Molina (1978), Rafel et alii (2008).

the presence of widely shared pots styles and deco-rations (Cogotas I) and the spread of the traffic in tin for bronze production express new social relations. Another indicator of the permeability of peninsu-lar communications is the presence of wheel-made pottery of possible Mycenaean or Cypriot origin in the south of the Peninsula around 1300 (Llanete de Los Moros in Córdoba, Cuesta del Negro in Gra-nada, Gatas in Almería).

In a social context characterised by communi-ties that enjoyed greater autonomy, productive di-versification and permeability in external relations, it seems that the political-economic organisation inhibited levels of exploitation such as those expe-rienced in the Argaric era. However, this does not prevent us observing concentrations of power in cer-tain places, particularly on the old Argaric periph-ery. Cabezo Redondo (Alicante) is the best example (Fig. 12)17. This settlement, with an area of about 1 ha, occupied a strategically located hill overlooking the natural corridor of the Vinalopó that connects

17 Hernández Pérez (2009-2010).

Figure 11. Plan of Murviedro (Lorca, Murcia) (excavations by A. Pujante, Mª J. Madrid and J. Bellón; Delgado-Raack, 2008: 36).


the Mediterranean coast with the Sub-Betic and La Mancha mountain ranges. Some twenty rooms of up to 14 x 5 m built of plastered walls faced with dressed stone with mud mortar and ceilings with wooden beams and wattle and daub supported by trunks have been identified. Some housed work-shops for processing grain on a large scale, cloth production and metallurgy. The arrangement of the urban area, architecture, organisation of the means of production and intramural funerary ritual are reminiscent of what was seen in the central Argaric enclaves.

The abundance of gold adornments is unprec-edented in this context. As well as the various ob-jects that appeared in the Cabezo Redondo settle-ment, the cist grave of a child was discovered on the eastern side of the hill. It was found to contain a gold pendant and a hoard containing thirty-five pieces of gold jewellery (diadem, pendants, brace-lets, rings and spirals, amongst others). However, the most spectacular find, the Treasure of Villena18

18 Soler et alii (2005).

(Fig. 13), appeared in a nearby dry riverbed (Ram-bla del Panadero): a pottery vessel buried in the gravel of the riverbed contained a hoard consisting of eleven bowls, two gold flasks and three of silver, 28 gold bracelets and one iron bracelet, as well as various additional items, some incrusted with am-ber, weighing almost 10 kg.

If we look at the typically Argaric shape of the ceramic pot in which the hoard was found, the ce-ramic parallels of the flasks it contained and the archaeological context of similar pieces of jewel-lery in Cabezo Redondo itself, this hoard could not have been hidden long after the end of the Argaric period. The new excavations at Cabezo Redondo and their radiocarbon dates suggest that the treas-ure dates to before 1300/1200, when the settle-ment was abandoned. In view of the way the vil-lage’s productive forces were organised, it is not unreasonable to interpret the “treasure of Villena” as indicative of a local aristocracy based on con-trol of the interregional communication routes and centralised appropriation of local surpluses, pos-sibly including salt. However, such a concentration

Figure 12. Cabezo Redondo (Villena, Alicante) (fotografía de los autores).


of wealth and power was exceptional in the gen-eral panorama of the age, which was dominated by small communities that were self-sufficient in terms of subsistence production, capable of be-coming involved in contacts and exchanges and technologically well equipped.

The northern strip

The archaeological record of the central and northern Mediterranean strip seems to be marked by continuity19. The research assumes that many of the settlements founded at the beginning of the Bronze Age survived until at least the Final Bronze Age. From this perspective the variable inclusion of mark-er artefacts, such as button appendagen handles or the decorated pottery of Cogotas I, would establish the limits of a sequence that some have subdivided into “Middle/Recent” or “Late Bronze Age”.

In an ambiguous chronological trend, occupa-tions dating to this period at sites such as Les Rabo-ses, Pic dels Corbs, Orpesa la Vella, Torrelló d’Onda and Mas d’Abad have been identified on the east

19 Martí and de Pedro (1997).

coast. In the northeast it began with increased di-versification amongst the settlements in the coastal and pre-coastal territories and those of the inland basins that would culminate in the Segre-Cinca group at its height. Funerary practices became scarcer, although pit inhumations in settlements on the plain and sporadically burials in mountain caves (Montanisell, in Lerida) are still documented.

The Final Bronze Age (ca. 1300-900)

The panorama that began around 1300 suffers from major gaps in our knowledge of settlements, which is only compensated by the information that can be gleaned froma few sites in particular and the significance of certain artefacts. Domestic spaces become less visible, but are accompanied, perhaps not by chance, by increasingly intense and extensive circulation and deposition of products, especially metal goods, with parallels on the Atlan-tic seaboard (“Atlantic Final Bronze Age”), central Europe and the Mediterranean basin. However, in contrast with other regions, deposits of metal arte-facts, for whatever reason (economic, ceremonial, etc.) were not abundant along the eastern strip

Figure 13. The Treasure of Villena (Alicante) (“Museo Arqueológico José María Soler” (Alicante) (photo: Francés Fotó-grafos).


of the Peninsula (Muricecs, in Lerida, Sant Martí d’Empúries, in Gerona).

In contrast to earlier periods, the Segre-Cinca group in the northeast yields the clearest evidence of a society with territorial roots. The settlements are located on hilltops and rarely exceed 0.1 ha. They consist of terraced houses built to a rectan-gular floor plan, with foundations made of stones and mortar, wood and mud-brick walls and areas of between 25 and 40 m2. They are arranged along a central open space (Genó, Carretelà and Les Pare-tetes in Lerida) (Fig. 14). The habitat may be sur-rounded by a defensive wall and have a collective cistern. Until stone architecture reached the coastal and pre-coastal districts at the beginning of the Iron Age, settlements continued to consist of pit dwell-ings, silos and ditches, representing scattered ham-lets occupied by basically self-sufficient communi-ties (Can Roquetain Barcelona) (Fig. 15)20.

From the economic point of view, the increase in the number of grinding stones, the variety of ce-reals and legumes cultivated and the abundance of storage structures suggest that farming had become more intensive. The volume of the storage silos fluc-tuates between 500 and 2000 l, sufficient to guaran-tee food for a year for a small domestic group. Oc-casionally silos with a capacity of more than 2000

20 Carlús et alii (2007).

l are found, as well as concentrations of up to 25 grinding stones in some ditches, which could indi-cate some degree of supra-domestic centralisation, without this implying socio-economic asymmetries. But evidence of metallurgical production, always scarce and scattered amongst the inland settlements and those of the coast, does not suggest centralised political control.

The communities of the northeast used pottery vessels with fluted decoration that are linked with the beginning of the funerary phenomenon of the Urn-fields21. This name alludes to a rite consisting of the cremation of the dead and deposition of the remains in a pottery urn with a characteristic biconical pro-file. This, occasionally accompanied by grave goods, was buried in a pit that was sometimes marked (Can Missert and Can Piteu, in Barcelona; Torre Filella, in Lerida). However, the early temporal and regional coincidence between the new types of pottery and funerary practices is uncertain. Thus, while the fluted decoration became more widespread around 1300, the predominance of cremation in urns does not ap-pear to have occurred until shortly before the turn of the millennium. Be that as it may, and despite the fact that this funerary practice is documented at the same time in such distant regions as the north of Portugal (Paranho, in Viseu) or the southeast (Peña Negra, in

21 Castro (1994), López Cachero (2007, 2008), Lorrio (2008).

Figure 14. Layout of Genó (Aitona, Lerida) (Maya et al., 1998, fig. 22, courtesy of Javier López Cachero).


Figure 15. Types of silos in Can Roqueta (Sabadell, Barcelona) (Carlús et al., 2007, fig. 46, courtesy of Oriol Vicente).


Following the Mediterranean coast southwards, the continuation of earlier open air enclaves or those in caves can be observed (Torrelló del Boverot, Pic dels Corbs, Mola d’Agres, Mas d’Abad), although with a reduction in the population. This was the trend in the southeast, in view of the abandonment of large settlements of the Late Bronze Age (Cabe-zo Redondo, Fuente Álamo), which would result in the depopulation of many districts or an imperma-nent form of settlement. We find small settlements consisting of huts built on an oval stone foundation with mud-brick walls, with an area of about 20-40 m2 (La Serrecica, in Murcia; Gatas and Peñón de la Reina, in Almería; Cerro del Real, in Granada). The low number or absence of grinding stones in these huts suggests that these communities tended to live by raising livestock. Around the end of the second millennium new hilltop centres began to appear or earlier settlements were reorganised with more sta-ble structures and evidence of specialised metallur-gical production is better documented by the ninth century (Peña Negra, in Alicante).

Increased metallurgical production, the creation of exchange networks that brought Atlantic, Medi-terranean and continental populations into ever clos-er contact, and the key role of certain settlements and regions in these networks allow us to understand the emergence and concentrations of wealth and

Alicante; Qurénima, in Almería), the greater den-sity of burials in the northeast and their proximity to central European concentrations have led scholars to link the new ritualto the arrival of Hallstatt-type populations from across the Pyrenees. However, in view of the continuity that can be observed in the population, today the role of the indigenous popula-tions is more readily recognised. In this respect, re-gional differences in patterns of settlement can also be seen in the necropoleis. In the Segre-Cinca and Lower Aragon areas urns were deposited under tu-muli and inhumation rituals continued at the same time (Castellets II, in Zaragoza), but in coastal and pre-coastal regions funerary remains are buried in simple pits. Grave goods are usually modest, and only a few (less than 20% in the case of Can Piteu) consist of pottery vessels, shell adornments, metal objects and pieces of fauna (Fig. 16). Anthropological analy-sis indicates that some urns contained two or even three individuals, that children and adolescents are underrepresented and that men and women could receive the same burial rites.

In short, the panorama reveals small, basically self-sufficient herding communities in which it is difficult to see economic and political asymmetries. Only in the interior of Catalonia and Lower Aragon is it possible to discern a trend towards nuclearisa-tion in protected or fortified settlements.

Figure 16. Floor plan, section and ideal reconstruction of burial CPR-453 at Can Piteu, Can Roqueta (Sabadell, Bar-celona) (Carlús et al., 2007: fig. 150, courtesy of Xavier Carlús).


power. And it would not be unreasonable to think that it was precisely a knowledge of the existence of navigation and trade routes in the Final Bronze Age that permitted the early appearance of Phoeni-cian traders in the far west. Their first trading posts were founded in the south of the Peninsula (Gadir, in Cádiz; Morro de Mezquitilla, in Málaga) around 900. The introduction of the new exotic products they brought with them may have led to the devaluation

of Atlantic-Mediterranean traditions and the conse-quent decline of the Final Bronze Age system of ex-change. The emerging local elites would have made the most of the opportunities for economic and po-litical differentiation afforded by the new demanding groups and the products that could be traded, thus facilitating the work of the colonists and laying the groundwork for the economic and social structures that would take shape in the Iron Age states.

The Bronze Age in Mediterranean Iberia

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