South-Western Iberian Bronze

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The South-Western Iberian Bronze is a poorly defined Bronze Age culture of Southern Portugal and nearby areas of SW Spain (Huelva, Seville, Extremadura). It replaced the earlier urban and Megalithic existing in that same region in the Chalcolithic age.

It is characterized by individual burials in cist, in which the deceased is accompanied by a knife of bronze. Much more rare but also more impressive are the grabsystem tombs, made up of three adjacent stone enclosures, of quasi-circular form, each one with an opening. They are covered by tumuli and are possibly the burials of the main leaders of these peoples.

[edit] Phases

1. Horizon of Ferradeira (c. 1900-1500 BCE): still mostly Chalcolithic but already with individual burials. Influenced by the culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro.
2. Horizon of Atalaia (c. 1500-1100 BCE): that introduces the grabsystem tombs, being contemporary of El Argar B but continuing after its end. It is in this phase when the culture extends to Extremadura and Western Andalusia.
3. Horizon of Santa Vitoria (c. 1100-700 BCE): that reaches the early Iron Age.