Early Iberian Cultures

The system which has evolved to catalogue the various archaeological expressions of human progress is one which involves cultures. The task of cataloguing the vast range of human cultures which emerged from Africa and the Near East right up until human expansion reached the Americas is covered in the related feature (see link, right).

Early Iberia formed the south-western peninsula of Europe and comprises the modern countries of Portugal and Spain, plus the principality of Andorra and the British crown colony of Gibraltar. The peninsula's role in human development played a notable role in the first millennium BC, even before the coming of imperial ambitions which reached its southern and eastern shores.

The Argaric or El Argar culture emerged to encompass a large stretch of south-eastern Iberia during the early Bronze Age. It was born directly out of the vibrant Bell Beaker culture, quickly finding its feet to become one of a series of important contemporary societies in Europe. In doing so it generated the first urban and state society in the western Mediterranean while the others did the same elsewhere.

The culture is named for the type site of El Argar, which is located in today's municipality of Antas in Almería. That site was discovered and defined at the end of the nineteenth century by the Belgian-Spanish Siret brothers, Luis and Enrique, former mining engineers turned archaeologists.

The culture consists of a series of highly-defensive walled towns which are located in difficult-to-access or fortified areas. These towns were tightly packed behind their walls, with square-shaped, stone-and-adobe houses, with burials in cists, jars, or caves under the floors, an abundance of weapons, and a progressive social stratification.

Based on archaeological findings which involved funerary offerings, the Argaric included at least two phases. During these there existed a continuous internal social hierarchy, and external expansion over neighbouring regions until the final century or so of the culture's existence. Beyond a determination of the culture's specific origins there also exists a level of consensus when delimiting the overall range of Argaric influence in south-eastern Iberia.

Its original core would have been in the modern provinces of Almería and Murcia, from where it expanded into neighbouring regions. In time it included parts of the centre and east of Granada, as well as some areas of Jaén, Alicante, and Ciudad Real. Such expansion would be a direct consequence of Argaric militarism, its warriors heading towards strategic areas which would allow control over communications routes or agricultural or mining resources.

Those warriors formed an Indo-European ruling elite, most likely proto-Italics of the West Indo-European branch, but much of the general population was a native Iberian mix of Neolithic Farmer stock of the Cardial Ware and La Almagra cultures, and a smaller level of Mesolithic inheritance which had been absorbed by those Neolithic farmers.

The chronology for this culture is subject to a touch of disagreement, but the calibrated interval between 2300 or 2200-1500 BC is generally accepted. Its dates can be shown slightly more briefly at 2250-1600 BC. Other authors seem keen on reducing that start even more, and pushing for a later end date - 2000-1100 BC - which would remove its direct connection to the Bell Beaker culture.

Most known Argaric settlements are located on high ground and are well defended, although some smaller settlements are known to have existed on the plain. High-ground towns were made up of buildings which had a rectangular or trapezoidal plan, built in stone, rammed earth, or adobe on the artificially terraced slopes of the hills.

Archaeologists have uncovered constructions which are of a domestic nature: homes, tools, and storage containers. Other structures are larger: dedicated workshops, productive activities, and centralised warehouses. Certain towns have defensive structures such as walls and towers, but most did not need them due to their strategic location.

Their size was often quite modest, with estimates of between three to five hundred people living in the larger towns, such as Gatas IV and Fuente Álamo III-IV, while El Argar itself had a population of about five hundred, and La Bastida de Totana about six hundred.

The old Chalcolithic towns with their circular houses were entirely replaced by new architecture, with a more regular layout, well-defined streets, and rectangular homes. Generally speaking, these towns offered what could be called a series of community services which included drainage pipes, cisterns for a water supply, ramps and stairs between one level and another, storage barns, enclosures for livestock, and ceramic and metallurgical kilns.

The location of settlements was usually close to sources of drinking water and, sometimes, copper and silver deposits which were mined. The 'large towns' were located either at the exit of a valley, on a plateau, or on a well-protected slope, while the smaller ones were on small isolated peaks called cabezos.

Central towns usually corresponded to other, smaller ones as outposts with, as a general rule, a direct road and visibility which helped maintain direct contact with the main town.

The Argaric subsistence economy was based on agriculture and livestock, with traces of hunting, gathering, or shellfish harvesting. Barley clearly predominated over wheat, legumes, or flax, which would be grown in the most fertile soils. On the coast, cereals and legumes alternated in a dry land regime, while in the interior agriculture would follow fallow rotations and would be complemented by an important livestock herd.

The main domesticated animal species were sheep, goats, pigs, oxen, and horses. The storage and grinding of cereals was carried out centrally in large towns, where hand mills and storage containers have been found which would have covered the needs of a population which was much greater than actually existed here.

Pottery was made manually, being good quality and with standardised typologies Cups, glasses, bowls, and pots stand out as some of the best work. Tools were made of carved or polished stone, bone, or metal alloys such as arsenical copper or bronze. Metallurgical industries were of great importance, as attested by the abundant finds of artefacts and production waste, as well as metal items.

Almost the entire Argaric zone is rich in metalliferous sources, and these would be exploited by groups which specialised in such activities. Despite this, textile manufacturing was the main industry, exclusively using linen as far as is known, since no fabrics are known which derive from animal products.

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