Approach to the visual landscape of the Gor river megalithic necropolises (Granada, Spain)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of several visibility analysis carried out upon the 151 preserved megaliths of the Gor valley (Granada, Andalusia, Spain) as well as upon the 5 known settlements in the area with Chalcolithic chronology. In order to analyse the relationship between megaliths, settlements and territory during the Late Prehistory in Southeastern Iberia, the analyses carried out have been intervisibility and individual, cumulative and total or inherent viewshed. The results underline the existence of a noticeable network of visual connection between the megaliths as a whole, as well as with the settlements, especially in the middle river course. This interrelationship is only broken by some more distant necropolises that were already noted as they differ from the rest in both topographical and formal aspects. The results of cumulative and total viewshed show the existence of a defined strategy to choose megaliths locations, in order to visually control areas of the terrain that are not naturally privileged as observation points. The conclusions clearly point to the existence of an increasing network aimed at achieving the demarcation and total control over the exploited territory, creating a new landscape mainly linked to funerary monuments, from which ancestors tie past to present for defining territorial appropriation.