Los Millares

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Los Millares is the name of a Chalcolithic occupation site 17km outside Almería in Andalusia, Spain.

It consists of a settlement, guarded by numerous outlying forts and a cemetery of passage grave tombs and covers around 5 acres (2ha). It was discovered in 1891 during the course of the construction of a railway and was first excavated by Luis Siret in the succeeding years. Further excavation work continues today.

The settlement itself was surrounded by three concentric walls with four bastions; radiocarbon dating has established that one wall collapsed and was rebuilt around 3025 BCE. A cluster of simple dwellings lay inside the walls as well as one large building containing evidence of copper smelting. Pottery excavted from the site included plain and decorated wares including symbolkeramik bowls bearing oculus motifs. Similar designs appear on various carved stone idols found at the site. Although primarily farmers, the inhabitants of Los Millares had crucially also learnt metal working and the site is considered highly important in understanding the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The Los Millares culture eventually came to dominate the Iberian peninsula.

Analysis of occupation material and grave goods from the cemetery of 70 Tholos tombs with port-hole slabs has led archaeologists to suggest that the people who lived at Los Millares were part of a stratified, unequal society which was often at war with its neighbours.