THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN

IBERIA
VICENTE LULL, RAFAEL MIC, CRISTINA RIHUETE HERRADA and
ROBERTO RISCH

Published in: IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE:

FROM NEOLITHIC TO ROMAN CONQUEST
ISBN: 978-84-92681-91-4 (Printed Edition)
978-84-92681-92-1 (e-book)
 Vicente Lull*, Rafael Mic,

The Bronze Age in Mediterranean Iberia

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 Autnoma de Barcelona, Vicente.lull@uab.cat
1
All chronological references in the text are expressed in
calendar years BCE.
2
Gonzlez Marcn 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 Glvez (2001) and Barandiarn et
alii (2007).
128 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
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 Almera
and Murcia4. The most important of them, El Ar-
gar (Almera), 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 Almera, 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 Estvez (1986), Chapman (1990,
2003), Castro et alii (1999), Lull et alii (2005, 2010b,
2011, 2013b), Eiroa (2004), Lpez Padilla (2009), Aranda
(2011), Cmara and Molina (2011).

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.
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
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 129
to determine their implications. Today, the excava-
tions in Gatas, La Bastida, Santa Catalina, Lorca and
Fuente lamo, 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 Guadalentn 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 Vboras, 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-
130 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 2. Fortified complex of La Bastida (Totana, Murcia) (ASOME, UAB).
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 3. Aerial view of the hilltop occupied by Tira del Lienzo (Totana, Murcia) (ASOME, UAB).
than todays, 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 lamo, Ga-
tas and El Oficio in Almera; Lorca, La Almoloya
and Monteagudo in Murcia; San Antn, and Lad-
eras del Castillo in Alicante; Cerro de la Encina,
and Castelln 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
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 131
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 Vias and Tira
del Lienzo (Fig. 3) in Murcia, Tabay 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
Rincn, 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-
132 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 4. Argaric urn burial (La Bastida, burial 21) (AS-
OME, UAB).
lation are not reflected in the funerary record. The
find of human bones digested by canines in Fuente
lamo 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 appliqus, 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 Pealosa, in the foot-
hills of the Sierra Morena (Jan)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 5. Argaric ceramic shapes and metal items.
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-
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 133
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
134 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 6. Terracing in Castelln Alto (Galera, Granada)
(M. A. Blanco/GEPRAN Universidad de Granada).
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
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).
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-

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, Garca Huerta and Morales (2004),
Hernndez Alcaraz and Hernndez Prez (2004), Hernn-
dez Prez et alii (2009).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 135
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 Mara del Retamar in Ciudad
Real, El Acequin 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 Acequin, Santa Mara
del Retamar and El Azuer are interpreted as com-
9
Martn Morales et alii (1993), Fernndez-Posse et alii
(2008).
10
Aranda et alii (2008), Njera et alii (2010).
136 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 8. Motilla del Azuer (Daimiel, Ciudad Real) (GEPRAN, Universidad de Granada).
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 dAgres and Mas de Menente in Al-
icante, Muntanya Assolada in Valencia, El Recuenco
in Cuenca, Hoya Quemada and Castillo de Fras 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), Hernndez Prez (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 Betx (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 dAgres, Muntanya Assolada).
12
Machado et alii (2009), Hernndez Prez et alii (2013).
13
de Pedro (1998).

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).
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 -Valncia-, Orpesa la Vella,
Torrell dOnda and Tossal del Mortrum in Cas-
telln), 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), Lpez Melcin (2000), de Pedro (2006),
Rafel et alii (2008), Soriano (2013).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 137
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 dAbad in Castelln; 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-
138 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
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 appliqus (decorated
cords, tongues, mamelons, handles). However, it is
common to find earlier local Bell Beaker survivals
(Pyrenees, Salom) and regional epi-Bell Beaker de-
velopments (Arbol-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 Gambs) 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-

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).
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).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 139
ments were abandoned, to the extent of depopu-
lation. The hilltop enclaves that survived after El
Argar, like Gatas, Fuente lamo, Tabay, 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-
140 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 11. Plan of Murviedro (Lorca, Murcia) (excavations by A. Pujante, M J. Madrid and J. Belln; Delgado-Raack,
2008: 36).
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 Crdoba, Cuesta del Negro in Gra-
nada, Gatas in Almera).
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 Vinalop that connects
17
Hernndez Prez (2009-2010).

Figure 12. Cabezo Redondo (Villena, Alicante) (fotografa de los autores).
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).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 141
(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-
lages 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
142 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
Figure 13. The Treasure of Villena (Alicante) (Museo Arqueolgico Jos Mara Soler (Alicante) (photo: Francs Fot-
grafos).
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, Torrell dOnda
and Mas dAbad have been identified on the east
19
Mart 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 14. Layout of Gen (Aitona, Lerida) (Maya et al., 1998, fig. 22, courtesy of Javier Lpez Cachero).
of the Peninsula (Muricecs, in Lerida, Sant Mart
dEmpries, 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 (Gen, Carretel 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
Carls et alii (2007).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 143
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 (Pea Negra, in
21
Castro (1994), Lpez Cachero (2007, 2008), Lorrio
(2008).
144 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE

Figure 15. Types of silos in Can Roqueta (Sabadell, Barcelona) (Carls et al., 2007, fig. 46, courtesy of Oriol Vicente).

Alicante; Qurnima, in Almera), 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) (Carls et al., 2007: fig. 150, courtesy of Xavier Carls).
THE BRONZE AGE IN MEDITERRANEAN IBERIA 145
Following the Mediterranean coast southwards,
the continuation of earlier open air enclaves or those
in caves can be observed (Torrell del Boverot, Pic
dels Corbs, Mola dAgres, Mas dAbad), 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 lamo), 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 Pen de la
Reina, in Almera; 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 (Pea 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
146 IBERIA. PROTOHISTORY OF THE FAR WEST OF EUROPE
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
Cdiz; Morro de Mezquitilla, in Mlaga) 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.