European Kingdoms

Levantine Bronze / Valencian Bronze (Chalcolithic / Bronze Age) (Iberia)
c.2200 - 900 BC

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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 three thousand year-old Iberian Neolithic experienced some difficulties towards the end of the fourth millennium BC, seemingly as part of a wider climate-related transition which also affected Sumer. The early Chalcolithic (Copper Age) became dominant, leading directly into the Iberian Bronze Age around 2800 BC.

The Levantine Bronze in Iberia primarily covers the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, bordering the territory of the Argaric culture to the south, the Motillas to the west, and the Cogotas I culture to the north-west. It is often also referred to as the Valencian Bronze which was its transition phase between 2200-1500 BC. This oversaw the regional introduction of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age), primarily due to recent Bell Beaker influences, and the beginnings of a true Bronze Age.

Based on ceramic styles the Levantine Bronze could be dated as early as about 2600 BC, succeeding a late Neolithic ceramic style. This early phase also forms part of the Campaniform Chalcolithic, the main transitionary phase in Iberia between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. Levantine dating in connection with this is still being discussed, potentially with an even-earlier start date being possible (plausible, given that the Bell Beaker arrived around 2800-2600 BC).

Bell-shaped ceramics began to flourish, thanks to those Bell Beaker influences. Early pots employed corded dressings, using nailing ropes or fabrics, or dotted dressings in the form of geometric alignments. Later pots used incision ceramics, being formed with sharp tools. Copper weapons began to appear in the form of reed daggers and palmela points. The Alicante province took influences both from the Levantine and the Argaric.

Archaeological finds are constantly being made, and archaeological cultures are frequently being updated with new information. Get in touch here if this page also requires updating.

(Information by Trish Wilson & Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from The Archaeology of Bronze Age Iberia, Gonzalo Aranda Jiménez, Sandra Montón-Subías, & Margarita Sánchez Romero (Routledge, 2019), from Atlantic Seaways, Barry Cunliffe, from Iberia, the Atlantic Bronze Age and the Mediterranean, Brendan O'Connor, from Bronze Age Iberia, Vicente Lull, Rafael Mico, Cristina Rihuete Herrada, & Roberto Risch, from Contacto cultural entre el Mediterráneo y el Atlántico (siglos XII-VIII ane), S Celestino, N Rafel, & X-L Armada (Eds, Consejo superior de Investigaciones Cientificas Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma, in Spanish), from Vida y muerte de una espada atlántica del Bronce Final en Europa: Reconstrucción de los procesos de fabricación, uso y destrucción, Bénédicte Quilliec (in Spanish), from Les ors de l'Europe atlantique à l'âge du bronze, Barbara Regine Armbruster (in French), from The Culture of Valencian Bronze, Miquel Tarradell (1969), and from External Links: The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe (Nature), and Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa (in Spanish), and Celtiberia.net (in Spanish), and Lista de pueblos prerromanos de Iberia (in Spanish, Hispanoteca.eu), and Euskomedia (in Spanish), and The Bronze Age in the North of Valencia: Habitat and Territories, María Jesús de Pedro Michó (Published 2004, with a précis available in French via the Semantic Scholar).)

c.2200 BC

The Levantine Bronze begins by this date in Iberia (and possibly earlier), being primarily focussed at this stage on what is known as the Valencian Bronze which lasts until about 1500 BC. This early period also forms a definitive termination for the Campaniform Chalcolithic.

The La Serna deposit of the Campaniform Chalcolithic in Iberia is located in the municipality of Arganda del Rey, close to the border with the municipality of Velilla de San Antonio

Agriculture and livestock form the main economic activities. Crops increase their yield, mainly due to the inclusion of new species and alternation between cereals and legumes. The introduction of the plough allows extensive dryland agriculture.

Livestock usage focuses on goats and sheep since they produce milk and various derivatives such as cheese and yogurt, while also providing meat and wool. Pigs, horses, and oxen are raised to a lesser extent, with the oxen providing the motive power for ploughing. Wild boar and rabbit is occasionally hunted, both for meat and to protect crops.

The search for land for crops and livestock, along with the increase in population, leads to a marked exploitation of the territory. The main consequence of this is accentuated deforestation, since wooded areas near the towns are primarily used for construction and firewood.

The Valencian Bronze habitation site of Barranco Tuerto, typically located on a mountain ridge, with other settlements being located on similar ridges or on steeply-sided hills

However, the overall picture of the Levantine Bronze is one of stagnation, a lack of renewal, and an acceptance of things as they are instead of pursuing progression. Its neighbour, the Motillas, emerges at the same time, but is more forceful in constructing strong fortified settlements.

c.1500 BC

Weakening for the past century and-a-half, Iberia's Argaric culture abruptly terminates here, as does the Valencian Bronze period of the Levantine Bronze. Both have seem their principal settlements become progressively depopulated.

The Levantine and the neighbouring Motillas both survive though, the former to begin its 'late' period while the Post-Agaric succession to the Agaric begins on its southern flank.

Little information is available about the late Bronze Age in the Valencia area due to the use of soft and not very durable materials, although the existence of social and commercial activity has been documented.

Bronze technology in Iberia was championed by the Los Millares civilisation of the Mediterranean south coast, but it was later cultures which progressed to cover much of the peninsula (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.1250 - 1100 BC

One of the earliest proto-Celtic cultures has started to appear in Central Europe, this being the late Bronze Age Urnfield. It replaces the preceding Tumulus culture before spreading far and wide.

Some Q-Celtic-speaking proto-Celtic groups of this culture apparently end up in Britain, while others enter north-eastern Iberia to provide some of the earliest Indo-European elements there. The Levantine Bronze to the immediate north of the Post-Argaric for one is greatly influenced by this in its own later phase.

It serves as an intercommunicating network between the various other Iberian Bronze Age cultures, while also picking up a degree of influence from the neighbouring Cogotas I culture through the same channels.

This perfect Late Bronze Age sword of the Urnfield culture in Central Europe was discovered as part of a burial, lying next to the remains of a man, woman, and child

c.1000 BC

The Iberian Bronze Age culture, Cogotas I, is ended by a growing influx of Indo-European tribes. These no doubt include proto-Italic-speakers who are already becoming established, but now Urnfield proto-Celts are joining them.

These groups generally occupy areas of central and western Iberia, forming new cultural expressions on the ruins of the older ones. One of these involves a grouping which will later become the Vettones, and involves the formation of the Cogotas II culture.

More recently, however, there has been a tendency to identify such early arrivals as being more broadly Indo-European or proto-Celtic tribes rather than actual Celts, and argue for a process of infiltration over an extended period, from around 1000 to 300 BC, rather than invasions.

By around 1300 BC various changes had taken place in Iberia, with the Argaric culture having collapsed and others having experienced problems, including the Levantine Bronze, leaving the way clear for the emergence of a fresh wave of cultural zones (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The first arrivals appear to establish themselves in Catalonia, having probably entered via the eastern passages of the Pyrenees. Later groups (more readily identifiable as Celtic) venture west through the Pyrenees to occupy the northern coast of the peninsula, and south beyond the Ebro and Duero basins as far as the Tagus valley.

It could be the strong Iberian presence in the east which prevents these proto-Celts from continuing down the Mediterranean coast to enter the Levantine Bronze or Post-Argaric regions.