Iberian Beakers

Abstract

The idea that the Beaker ware found over a large part of western and central Europe was Spanish in origin was made popular by the writings of Alberto del Castillo and Bosch Gimpera some thirty years ago. Although others have argued that the greater density of Beaker finds in central Europe makes that region a more likely homeland for the pottery, the Spanish theory is still the more generally accepted. Its implications for European prehistory are obvious: for if Beaker ware evolved from local Spanish traditions, then it is events in Spain which determine the terminus post quern for its appearance in Europe. Moreover, Castillo and Bosch Gimpera propose even more precise starting-points for different varieties of Beaker ware in Europe, since in the Peninsula they interpret different styles as stages in the development of the pottery, and therefore regard them as necessarily consecutive. At the same time if, as Castillo maintained, Beaker ware represents an evolution of early Spanish pottery, then its inventors, as descendants of the original neolithic population, might well be distinct from the later metal-using peoples in the Peninsula, among whom the pottery is found. It would therefore be plausible to suggest that Beaker ware was diffused in the Peninsula by the movements of a separate (basically neolithic) group; and the existence of such a group south of the Pyrenees would strengthen the hypothesis that in Europe also the pottery was spread by the migrations of a separate ‘People.’