Theme:
The archaeology of material culture, bodies and landscapes
Session format:
Session, made up of a combination of papers, max. 15 minutes each
Title:
El Argar and the European Bronze Age – Rise and fall of the first state society in the western Mediterranean
Content:
El Argar is a unique socio-economic and political entity in the West Mediterranean between ca. 2200-1550 cal BCE. Archaeologically, it is chiefly characterized by hilltop settlements, with specialised workshops, storage rooms, large water reservoirs and other monumental buildings, as well as a very particular intramural burial ritual, organised along rather strict sex, age, and social class divides. The Argaric society went through a series of changes that led to larger and architecturally more complex urban or proto-urban centres controlling a territory of ca. 35.000 km2. Until recently, our understanding of El Argar was mainly based on the funerary evidence recovered by the Belgian engineers Henri and Louis Siret at the end of the 19th century. During the last years, large scale excavations at settlements such as La Bastida and La Almoloya are providing a much more complete picture of this society. Research carried out in the mining districts of the eastern part of Sierra Morena, as well as excavations in settlements located at the eastern fringes of the El Argar territory are also providing a better understanding of the internal differences in this vast area. Lastly, bio-anthropological evidence from isotope and ancient DNA work provides first insights into mobility, demography, kinship, and populations affinities. The aim of the session is to provide an overview of this recent research and to discuss the socio-economic and political organisation of El Argar. Contributions to this session should refer to the over-regional connections between El Argar and other contemporary Bronze Age societies.
Keywords:
El-Argar, Early-Bronze-Age, Southeast Iberia
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Main organiser:
Prof. Dr. Roberto Risch (Spain) 1
Co-organisers:
Group leader Molecular Anthropology Wolfgang Haak (Germany) 2
Full Professor Vicente Lull (Spain) 1
Full Professor Rafael Micó (Spain) 1
Visitant Professor Cristina Rihuete-Herrada (Spain) 1
Affiliations:
1. Autonomous University of Barcelona
2. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena)
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