El Argar Research Articles

Exploitation of Mining Resources in El Argar Culture: Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Hinterland of the Western Betic Cordillera (Southeastern Iberian Peninsula)

ABSTRACTThis research addresses the territorial organisation of metallurgical production during the El Argar Bronze Age (2200–1550 cal bc) in the inner areas of El Argar territory through lead‐isotope and trace element analyses of geological copper ores, archaeometallurgical remains and copper‐based artefacts. Results from 31 mineral and 35 archaeological samples suggest that the exploitation of copper resources in the studied region was significant and had a similar impact than other mining districts of El Argar territory. This, therefore, leads the hierarchical and centralised production model to be questioned. It also appears that the copper ore deposits in the coastal regions that were intensively exploited during the Copper Age were used less intensively in the El Argar period. At that time, copper was mostly procured from ore deposits in the inland areas of El Argar territory: that is, ore deposits within the Alpine orogeny hinterland (inland areas of the Betic Cordillera, from Granada to Baza). Other artefacts were sourced from outside the Alpine geological domain, but still on the fringe of El Argar territory (the foothills of the Sierra Morena‐Linares mining district) or even from ore deposits definitely outside El Argar territory itself (the Los Pedroches Variscan region and elsewhere).

Diverging Paths

During the Early Bronze Age (EBA), a relatively small number of European societies developed into highly centralised and hierarchical political entities. In contrast to the intensive research focused on these groups, little attention has been paid to their relationship with neighbouring populations, which had a much more egalitarian structure. In the southeast quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula, over a century of research on the EBA (ca. 2200 –1550 BC) communities has failed to identify distinctive traits leading to the definition of archaeological entities beyond the El Argar group, which according to many authors reached the form of an early state organisation around 1750 BC. This study aims to go beyond previous culturalist approaches and to focus on how communities with very different social organisations interacted in this macro-region as well as in a border region between El Argar and La Mancha. To that effect, we analyse primarily settlement size as an expression of the demographic and economic strength of a community, and ‘enrockment’ (enrocamiento), a concept that defines the degree of protection and spatial distancing of a settlement from its surrounding land and neighbouring communities. This large-scale comparative approach reveals the distinctiveness of highly dispersed and well-protected communities settling in the belt immediately north of El Argar and shows how this cost-intensive strategy changes with increasing distance from El Argar, when flat land and often larger settlements become dominant. The combination of settlement patterns and economic organisation also highlights the marked differences between El Argar and all the other communities living in the Iberian Peninsula.

Giant limpets in southern Iberian coastal and continental archaeological sites, from Neanderthals to Copper Age

The use of coastal resources has been crucial for human diet and social behaviour evolution has been extensively documented since the Middle Palaeolithic, mainly in the western Mediterranean and southern Africa. In southern Iberia, the mollusc assemblages associated with archaeological sites show a continuous record regardless of palaeoclimatic conditions. Among these, limpets are uninterruptedly abundant from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Bronze age with the giant limpets (Cymbula safiana and Patella ferruginea) being present since MIS6. To assess their distribution, predominance, and cultural significance this paper presents the results from an exhaustive archeozoological survey of the southern Iberian region. A total of 1628 specimens have been analysed, including 425 modern (333 C. safiana and 91 P. ferruginea) and 1203 from 60 archaeological deposits deriving from 36 sites, both coastal and continental. Giant limpets’ context also has been described and it has been related with a wide variety of deposits ranging from food refuse accumulations to occupations and burials.Detailed morphological and surface analysis allowed us to determine extraction methods and anthropic transformations. On coastal sites, the giant limpet record starts with Neanderthal populations from the Middle Palaeolithic and continues throughout the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Copper Age. On inland sites, giant limpets appear first in reduced numbers during the Late Neolithic and have been often worked into elliptical contours with polished, rib-free, external shell surfaces. In this study, we focus on the Copper Age, when giant limpet use becomes common, and records include tholoi, dolmens and other funerary contexts. The data indicate that the use of P. ferruginea is associated with Los Millares and El Argar cultures. Giant limpets use declines during the Bronze Age probably due to the major cultural shift that occurred during the Chalcolithic to Bronze transition.The data suggest that giant limpets should be considered as proxies of long-range trade during the Chalcolithic. We propose a new hypothesis linking giant limpets symbology with orbital/tidal variations and the ubiquitous use of marine elements as symbolism during this period.Our study highlights the relevance of shells in the reconstruction of the symbolic evolution of prehistoric cultures, as well as their connections with local ecosystem resources and regional commerce networks.

Application of photogrammetry and laser scanner on the Bronze Age structures of the Castillejos de Luna cist tomb necropolis (Pizarra, Spain)

The cist tombs necropolis at Castillejos de Luna, in Sierra de Gibralmora-Sierra del Hacho (Pizarra, Málaga, Spain) was known from the graphic documentation and the grave goods of two tombs. New studies have documented nine burials. The aim of this article is to present the new virtualisation work that has been carried out in the necropolis, to generate a new three-dimensional (3D) documentation of the currently known records, which are in acceptable visibility conditions. Using tools to document tombs in 3D offers us great advances in data acquisition and editing, with great precision and realism, thanks to the 3D models generated through techniques such as photogrammetry or laser scanning. Thanks to these tools, it is possible to carry out studies on digital twins and use them as informative material for society. The study this paper describes has generated high quality products for dissemination and future analysis. The results shown here are of metric character, with orientation and geographical location of the structures. In addition, in one of the tombs the authors show the combination of photogrammetric techniques with laser scanners to obtain a single high-resolution 3D model; subsequently a retopology process is carried out to achieve a "light" model with a photorealistic appearance that is both easily manipulated on mobile devices for its dissemination and a guarantee that the general public can enjoy this necropolis in a different way. The preliminary results are published in the web repository of 3D models Sketchfab, where the users can see a preview of one of the tombs before and after being optimised with retopology through Blender. The authors provide a socio-historical analysis of Bronze Age necropolises in central Andalusia, within the framework of a debate on the western expansion of the El Argar Culture.

Kinship practices in the early state El Argar society from Bronze Age Iberia

The Early Bronze Age in Europe is characterized by social and genetic transformations, starting in the early 3rd millennium BCE. New settlement and funerary structures, artifacts and techniques indicate times of change with increasing economic asymmetries and political hierarchization. Technological advances in metallurgy also played an important role, facilitating trade and exchange networks, which became tangible in higher levels of mobility and connectedness. Archeogenetic studies have revealed a substantial transformation of the genetic ancestry around this time, ultimately linked to the expansion of steppe- and forest steppe pastoralists from Eastern Europe. Evidence for emerging infectious diseases such as Yersinia pestis adds further complexity to these tumultuous and transformative times. The El Argar complex in southern Iberia marks the genetic turnover in southwestern Europe ~ 2200 BCE that accompanies profound changes in the socio-economic structure of the region. To answer the question of who was buried in the emblematic double burials of the El Argar site La Almoloya, we integrated results from biological relatedness analyses and archaeological funerary contexts and refined radiocarbon-based chronologies from 68 individuals. We find that the El Argar society was virilocally and patrilineally organized and practiced reciprocal female exogamy, supported by pedigrees that extend up to five generations along the paternal line. Synchronously dated adult males and females from double tombs were found to be unrelated mating partners, whereby the incoming females reflect socio-political alliances among El Argar groups. In three cases these unions had common offspring, while paternal half-siblings also indicate serial monogamy or polygyny.

Copper Supply Networks in the Early Bronze Age of South-east Spain: New Evidence from the Lower Segura Valley

The range of copper sources and the nature of metal supply networks used by the El Argar culture of south-east Spain have been the subject of a long-running debate. On one side of this debate we have a model that envisages supply for much of the El Argar culture coming from a closely circumscribed region and controlled centrally by a political élite, while on the other side we have a model of a more decentralised supply network drawing on a wider, geographically more dispersed range of ore sources that is lacking the same level of political control. The available archaeometallurgical data are not entirely conclusive in this respect. While results from the existing, comparatively small body of lead isotope analyses have been taken to support, at least to some extent, the idea of a single main source region supplying most if not all of the El Argar culture area with copper, results from the much larger but not easily interpreted body of minor-element analyses would appear to lend support to the notion of a more decentralised supply. In this contribution we present new analytical data from the Lower Segura Valley, both from local copper ores and from local El Argar artefacts, which provide new insights relevant to this debate.

Potential and limitations of LiDAR altimetry in archaeological survey. Copper Age and Bronze Age settlements in southern Iberia

Potential and limitations of LiDAR altimetry in archaeological survey. Copper Age and Bronze Age settlements in southern Iberia

Emblems and spaces of power during the Argaric Bronze Age at La Almoloya, Murcia

The recent discovery of an exceptionally rich grave at La Almoloya in south-eastern Spain illuminates the political context of Early Bronze Age El Argar society. The quantity, variety and opulence of the grave goods emphasise the technological, economic and social dimensions of this unique culture. The assemblage includes politically and ideologically emblematic objects, among which a silver diadem stands out. Of equally exceptional character is the building under which the grave was found—possibly one of the first Bronze Age palaces identified in Western Europe. The architecture and artefacts from La Almoloya provide new insight into emblematic individuals and the exercise of power in societies of marked economic asymmetry.

Argaric craftswomen: Sex-based division of labor in the Bronze Age southeastern Iberia

The macroscopic and microscopic analyses of teeth from the Castellón Alto individuals belonging to El Argar culture (Southeastern Iberia), dated from Bronze Age, were carried out to identify non-alimentary uses of teeth and the tasks associated with the use of teeth as tools. Macroscopically, we identify 5 out of 106 individuals showing atypical dental features compatible with non-alimentary tooth use. The teeth of these individuals were analyzed in depth with scanning electron microscopy to identify non-alimentary dental features. Evidence of non-alimentary uses of teeth such as enamel chipping, notches, occlusal, and interproximal grooves were recorded from five individuals. One of the most outstanding results is that only 5 females of 106 total individuals showed the use of teeth as tools. The dental wear features of these five individuals indicate the use of teeth as tools to carry out some tasks related to thread and cordages preparation for textile and/or basketry production, suggesting not only occupational specialization but also sex-based division of labor in the Bronze Age of Southeastern Iberia.

Modo de vida y racionalidad de la economía campesina: A propósito de las comunidades de la Edad del Bronce de la zona septentrional de El Argar

El Argar is one of the most remarkable Bronze Age archaeological cultures of the Iberian Peninsula, due to the magnitude of some of its infrastructures and the quality of its grave goods. This has led part of the research community to suggest that it may have been state-like in nature. However, not many studies reveal how this social development had to be grounded in the labour of peasant groups. Accordingly, this paper aims to more thoroughly analyse the rationale linked to the peasant economy and ways of life among the Argaric communities living in the northern areas of the El Argar social space. It also addresses the mechanisms used by the dominant groups to appropriate surplus product and labour from these peasant communities, thereby taking the first steps towards the institutionalization of social inequalities.

Circulation of olives, figs and grapes in the area of El Argar culture in south-eastern Spain

The consumption of olives, figs, and grapes in El Argar territory (2200–1550 CAL BC) has been suggested through carpological analysis. Currently, there are 22 settlements with archaeobotanical studies of seeds and fruits; most of them present parallel anthracological analyses. There is a lack of wood finds of the mentioned species in some of the analysed sites, with only fruits present, while at other sites wood finds are reported but fruit remains are missing. If these absences are meaningful, one could aim to define production sites and exchange networks within this unique socio-political context of El Argar area. This paper aims to compare different series of archaeobotanical data to define fruit management and circulation in El Argar during the Bronze Age. The information provided by charcoal analysis circumscribes each settlement in a specific environment, which is directly related to the orography of the landscape. The results show a clear zoning of settlements participating in the circulation of edible fruits between the coast and the high plateau. The interpretation of exchange, redistribution and probable trade of fruit products between different El Argar sites adds new information about Argaric society.

Reconstructing Bronze Age diets and farming strategies at the early Bronze Age sites of La Bastida and Gatas (southeast Iberia) using stable isotope analysis.

The El Argar society of the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (2200–1550 cal BCE) was among the first complex societies in Europe. Its economy was based on cereal cultivation and metallurgy, it was organized hierarchically, and successively expanded its territory. Most of the monumentally fortified settlements lay on steeply sloped mountains, separated by fertile plains, and allowed optimal control of the area. Here, we explore El Argar human diets, animal husbandry strategies, and food webs using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of charred cereal grains as well as human and animal bone collagen. The sample comprised 75 human individuals from the sites of La Bastida (n = 52) and Gatas (n = 23), 32 domesticated and wild animals as well as 76 barley and 29 wheat grains from two chronological phases of a total time span of ca. 650 years. The grains indicate extensive cereal cultivation under rain-fed conditions with little to moderate application of manure. Especially at La Bastida, crops and their by-products contributed significantly to the forage of the domesticated animals, which attests to a strong interrelation of cultivation and animal husbandry. Trophic level spacing and Bayesian modelling confirm that human diets were largely based on barley with some contribution of meat or dairy products. A cross-sectional analysis of bone collagen suggests that children were breastfed until about 1.5–2 years old, and infants from Gatas may have suffered from more metabolic stress than those at La Bastida. Adults of both sexes consumed similar diets that reflect social and chronological variation to some extent. Despite significantly higher δ13C and δ15N values at La Bastida than at Gatas, the isotopic data of the staple crops and domestic animals from both sites indicate that such differences do not necessarily correspond to different average human diets, but to agricultural strategies. These results urge for a reassessment of previous isotope studies in which only human remains have been taken into account. The study highlights that disentangling the complex influences on human isotope compositions requires a firm set of comparative data.

Spatial patterns of temperature, precipitation, and settlement dynamics on the Iberian Peninsula during the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age

In light of recent climate changes, it is important to also gain knowledge about the spatial manifestation of past climate events and their potential impact on ancient societies across a wide range of different scenarios. Following this approach, we compare compilations of seasonal (winter and summer) as well as annual precipitation and temperature changes to a measure of human activity based on AMS 14C data of settlement sites from the Iberian Peninsula during the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age – a period of major social turnover. Palaeoclimatic reconstructions show a long-term decrease in winter precipitation between 6000 and 3000 cal. BP (4050–1050 BCE). Superimposed to this long-term aridification trend was the 4.2 ka BP climate event, which manifested itself as a period of abrupt decrease in summer precipitation and/or an elongation of the summer dry period, but probably with constant winter precipitation from 4000 to 3800 cal. BP (2050–1850 BCE), particularly affecting the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Additionally, a winter cooling event across the Iberian Peninsula and its marginal seas occurred between 4400 and 4000 cal. BP (2450–2050 BCE) coinciding with Bond Event 3. By comparing human activities to the changes in seasonal and annual precipitation, new insight is gained into the causal relationships between climatic and social dynamics in the past. We show that winter precipitation potentially played a major role for the societies during the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age of the southern Iberian Peninsula. While the El Argar culture at the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula boomed in spite of enhanced summer drought associated to the 4.2 ka BP climate event, decreasing winter precipitation was potentially contributing to a demographic decline in the southwest after 4800 cal. BP (2850 BCE) as well as to the bust of the El Argar culture in the southeast after 3600 cal. BP (1650 BCE) by limiting the agricultural strategies.

Rediscovering famous assemblages: A rare Bronze Age crucible from El Argar, Spain

A rare open shallow crucible from the British Museum collection, excavated at the Bronze Age site of El Argar in south‐east Spain by Louis and Henri Siret, was studied using X‐radiography and scanning electron microscopy. The crucible has relatively thick walls, a spout and a non‐refractory fabric. It was used for melting copper alloys for various possible purposes, such as alloying, refining, recycling or before casting, at around 1100°C. Both arsenic and tin were detected in various places and concentrations in the analysed specimens. This crucible could have been used during the period of transition from arsenic‐rich copper to tin bronzes in the El Argar culture, or used for the recycling of arsenic‐rich copper artefacts being alloyed with tin to produce tin bronzes. This melting crucible is a rare example of its kind to have been investigated scientifically, as most crucibles from contemporary sites on the Iberian Peninsula are generally associated with smelting. This study has also crucially shed more light on the types of alloys and variety of activities undertaken during that transitional period between the use of arsenical copper and tin bronzes in this region.

Secuencia de ocupación y desarrollo constructivo del asentamiento de Caramoro I (Elche, Alicante): aportaciones a la arquitectura argárica

A pesar de que la cultura de El Argar es una de las entidades arqueológicas mejor conocidas del ámbito peninsular, no son muchos los trabajos efectuados sobre los aspectos arquitectónicos y del desarrollo constructivo de los asentamientos argáricos excavados. En este artículo se presentan las formas arquitectónicas, las técnicas y materiales constructivos empleados y la secuencia de ocupación del asentamiento de Caramoro I (Elche, Alicante) a partir del análisis estratigráfico y de estructuras conservadas, reforzada y avalada con una serie de dataciones absolutas sobre muestras de vida corta. Los resultados obtenidos han mostrado que Caramoro I fue un asentamiento de carácter agropecuario, ubicado en los límites fronterizos septentrionales de El Argar, que fue reformado con la intención de mejorar su protección y defensa, a partir de la fortificación de su zona de acceso. Sus concomitancias con otros asentamientos similares en territorios de frontera más orientales vienen a mostrar su carácter logístico.

Evidence of bee products processing: A functional definition of a specialized type of macro-lithic tool

The present study deals with a specific type of cylindrical pestle identified among several thousands of macro-lithic tools studied so far for the Argaric Bronze Age (2200–1550calBCE) in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The combination of petrographic, technological, use-wear and residue analyses has allowed us to show that these tools were used to process beeswax and animal fatty products, probably for subsistence purposes. Apart from providing an easily recognizable archaeological tracer of apiculture, these results also complete our understanding of the economic organization of El Argar. Diachronic and spatial data reveal honey and meat productions as important energy alternatives in times of nutritional scarcity within a subsistence strategy based primarily on barley monoculture. Additionally, we show that there was socially differentiated access to both, honey and meat.

Revolutionary discoveries from Bronze Age Iberia: recent work on the Argaric world

In the Mediterranean region there are relatively few integrated, specialist research teams enga- ged in long-term and ongoing field- work. One of these rare and productive scientific collaborations is the ASOME (Arqueoecología Social Mediterránea, or Mediterranean Social Archaeoecology) group from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. The three volumes under review are authored by this team's lead researchers, and represent the first book-length publications from a long-term research project (2009–) on the Earlier Bronze Age El Argar culture (2200–1550 BC). They report the results of several excavations in the province of Murcia, Spain, supported by a combination of public and private funding. This ambitious initiative addresses ground-breaking research questions and offers solid and sustainable solutions for the conservation and preservation of these formerly neglected sites. Its aims, as summarised on the project's website, are: to create a systematic archive of information on the dispersed collections from earlier investigations; to undertake large-scale fieldwork on a series of key sites and to develop their public presentation; and to lay the foundations for an interdisciplinary research centre on prehistoric and Mediterranean archaeology (http://www.la-bastida.com).

Bronze Age cereal processing in Southern Iberia: A material approach to the production and use of grinding equipment

During the last two decades important progress has been made regarding functional analysis on prehistoric grinding equipment, thanks to the application of new methods and techniques. Despite these efforts studies integrating archaeology, ethnography, geology and other disciplines related to the material sciences are still rare. The main focus of this paper is placed on the grinding equipment composed of two elements, grinding slab and rubber, acting in reciprocal abrasive contact. Starting from systematic petrological, morphometrical, and functional analysis, qualitative and quantitative data are considered to define the manufacturing and use of grinding tools participating specifically in the production of flour. Morphology and size of grinding slabs and rubbers, raw materials used for manufacturing them, their mechanical properties as well as the geographical management of rocks will be interrelated in this study. From a methodological perspective, socio-economic contexts where grain processing was the main food supplying strategy are of particular interest. In these contexts, access to mechanically optimal raw materials and technical equipment plays a crucial role in the social as well as biological reproduction of human communities. This was the case in the El Argar society of southeast Iberia, where barley became the main staple food and the basic good of large scale surplus production between 2200 and 1550 cal. BCE. We will use this archaeological context to highlight the complexity of macro-lithic tool analyses and in particular with regards to the study of grinding tools. The ultimate aim is to understand to what extent the technological parameters of this subsistence strategy were related to the development of class society.

Un arma no solo de prestigio: la espada argárica de Peñalosa (Baños de la Encina, Jaén)

The sword found in a house at the Bronze Age settlement of Penalosa (Banos de la Encina, province of Jaen) is the only example from a domestic context in the El Argar culture. We analize the circumstances of the discovery, and discuss the results of the various analyses that have been performed. Finally, we compare the Penalosa find to other contemporaneous swords from the Iberian Peninsula and discuss whether the role of Argaric weapons was symbolic or functional.

Del Calcolítico al Bronce antiguo en el Guadalquivir inferior. El Cerro de San Juan (Coria del Río, Sevilla) y el ‘modelo de reemplazo’

The transition between Copper and Bronze Ages in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula is poorly known still, especially when compared with the transition between Los Millares culture to El Argar culture in the Southeast. The settlement of Cerro de San Juan, which controlled the Guadalquivir mouth at that time, shows some evidences of human occupations of both periods, an uncommon feature along the South of Iberian Peninsula. The data from this site suggest a sedimentary break between the two periods, and a strong cultural change as well. The culture material sets are different between the Bell Beaker phase and the Bronze Age, and several radiocarbon dates define consistently the chronology of the phenomenon. From this perspective, an analysis of every archaeological stratigraphy that has evidences of both periods is carried out. Against a model of cultural continuity , numerous archaeological features rather suggest a model of demographic r eplacement . Thus, the Bronze Age can be defined as a new way of life perhaps by human groups that were not direct descendants of the previous communities.