El Argar
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El Argar is the name given to an ancient civilization that flourished from the town of Antas, Almería, in the south-east of Spain between c. 1800 BCE and 1300 BCE.
The El Argar civilization was characterized by its early adoption of bronze, which briefly allowed this tribe local dominance over other, copper age peoples. El Argar also developed sophisticated pottery and ceramic techniques, which they traded with other Mediterranean tribes.
El Argar developed from the earlier civilization of Los Millares but it shows clear Mediterranean influences of Mycenaean origin. The center of this civilization is dsiplaced to the north and its extension and influence is clearly greater than that of its antecessor.their mining and metallurgy were quite advance, with bronze, silver and gold being mined and worked.they made weapons and jewelry.
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[edit] Extension
The civilization of El Argar extended to all the province of Almería, most of the Land of (Murcia) and parts of the province of Granada.
Its cultural and possibly political influence was much wider, influencing clearly Eastern and South-Western Iberia, and possibly other regions as well.
Some authors have suggested that El Argar was a unified state.
[edit] Main Argaric towns
- El Argar: irregularly shaped (280 x 90 m).
- Fuente Vermeja: small fortified site, 3 km north of El Argar
- Lugarico Viejo: larger town very close to Fuente Vermeja.
- Ifre (Murcia): on a rocky elevation.
- Zapata (Murcia): 4 km. west of Ifre, fortified.
- Gatas (4 km west of Mojácar, Almería): fortified town on a hill with remarcable water canalizations.
- El Oficio (9 km north of Villaricos, Almería): atop of a well defended hill, strongly fortified, specially towards the sea.
- Fuente Álamo (7 km north of Cuevas de Almazora, Almería): the citadel is atop of a hill, while the houses are in its southern slope, that is terraced.
- Almizaraque (Almería): a town dating to Los Millares civilization.
- Cerro de la Virgen de Orce (Granada).
- Cerro de la Encina (Monachil, Granada).
- Cuesta del Negro (Purullena, Granada).
[edit] Periodization
The culture of El Argar is divided in two phases, named A and B.
[edit] El Argar A
This phase started in the 18th century BCE, with the earliest calibrated C-14 dates pointing to the first half or this century:
- 1785 BCE (+/- 55 years) in the transitional Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze of Cerro de la Virgen de Orce, a peripheric site.
- 1730 BCE (+/- 70 years) in Fuente Álamo for El Argar A2, with six undated A1 layers under it.
- 1700 BCE in Cuesta del Negro (another peripheric site) with clear Argarian materials in its lower layer.
[edit] El Argar B
This phase begins in the 16th century BCE. The main C-14 date is that of 1550 BCE (+/- 70 years) in Fuente Álamo for the upper layer of El Argar B2 (with four layers underneath of the B phase). Other stratigraphic datatations are somwhat more recent but are not confirmed by C-14.
[edit] Post-Argarian phase
El Argar B ends in the 14th or 13th century BCE, giving way to a less homogeneous post-Argarian culture. Again Fuente Álamo gives the best C-14 datation with 1330 BCE (+/- 70 years).
[edit] Material culture
[edit] Metallurgy
El Argar is the center of Early and Middle Bronze Age in Iberia. Metalurgy of bronze and pseudo-bronze (with arsenium instead of tin).
Weapons are the main metallurgic product: knives, halberds, swords, spear and arrow points, and big axes of curved edge are all aboundant, not just in the Argaric area but also elsewhere in Iberia.
Silver is also exploited, while gold (very aboundant in the Chalcolithic period) is less common now.
[edit] Glass beads
A meaningful element are the glass beads (of blue, green and white colors) that are found in this culture and that have been related with similar findings in Egypt (Tell El Amarna), Mycenaen Greece (dated in the 14th century BCE), the British culture of Wessex (dated c. 1400 BCE) and some French sites.
Nevertheless some of these beads are found in chalcolithic contexts (site of La Pastora) what has brought some to speculate with an earlier date for the introduction of this material in SE Iberia (late 3rd millennium BCE).
[edit] Other manufactured goods
Pottery suffers important changes, almost totally abandoning decoration and with new types.
Textile manufacture seems important, working specially with wool and flax. Basket-making also seems to have been important, showing greater extent and diversification than in previous periods.
[edit] Funerary customs
The collective burial tradition of Megalitism is abandoned in favor of individual ones. The tholos is abandoned in favor of small cists, either under the homes or outside. This trend seems to come from the Eastern Mediterranean, most likely from Mycenaean Greece (skipping Sicily and Italy, where the collective burial tradition remains for some time yet).
From the Argarian civilization, these new burial customs will gradually and irregularly extend to the rest of Iberia.
In the phase B of this civilization, burial in pithos (large jars) becomes most frequent. Again this custom (that never reached beyond the Argarian circle) seems to come from Greece, where it was used since c. 2000 BCE.
[edit] Related cultures
- Los Millares: its antecessor culture.
- Bronze of Levante: extending by the Land of Valencia: with smaller towns but very related to El Argar.
- Motillas (La Mancha): what would seem a military march of these proto-Iberian peoples.
- South-Western Iberian Bronze circle.
- Mycenaean Greece: some cultural exchanges across the Mediterranean are very clear, with Argarians adopting Greek funerary customs (individual burials, first in cist and then in pithos), while Greeks also import the Iberian tholos for the same purpose.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- F. Jordá Cerdá et al. History of Spain 1: Prehistory. Gredos ed. 1986. ISBN 84-249-1015-X
