 | |
| Geographical range | Southeast Spain |
|---|---|
| Period | Bronze Age |
| Dates | c. 2200 —c. 1300 BC |
| Major sites | El Argar,La Bastida de Totana |
| Preceded by | Bell Beaker culture,Millaran culture |
| Followed by | Motillas,Levantine Bronze Age,Post-Argar,Cogotas culture |
TheArgaric culture, named from the type siteEl Argar near the town ofAntas, in what is now theprovince of Almería in southeasternSpain, is anEarly Bronze Age culture which flourished between c. 2200BC and 1550 BC.[1][2][3]
The Argaric culture was characterised by its early adoption ofbronze, which briefly allowed this tribe local dominance over other,Copper Age peoples.[4] El Argar also developed sophisticatedpottery andceramic techniques, which they traded with otherMediterraneantribes.[4]
The civilization of El Argar extended to all the current-day Spanishprovince of Almería, north onto the centralMeseta, to most of theregion of Murcia and westward into the provinces ofGranada andJaén, controlling an area similar in size to modernBelgium.[5]
Its cultural and possibly political influence was much wider. Its influence has been found in eastern and southwestern Iberia (Algarve), and it likely affected other regions as well.
Some authors have suggested that El Argar was a unified state.[5]
The center of this civilization is displaced to the north and its extension and influence is clearly greater than that of its ancestor. Their mining andmetallurgy were quite advanced, with bronze,silver and gold being mined and worked for weapons and jewelry.
Pollen analysis in a peat deposit in the Cañada del Gitano basin high in theSierra de Baza suggests that the Argaric exhausted precious natural resources, helping bring about its own ruin.[6] The deciduous oak forest that covered the region's slopes were burned off, leaving a tell-tale carbon layer, and replaced by the fire-tolerant, and fire-prone, Mediterranean scrub familiar under the namesgarrigue andmaquis.[7][8]
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A meaningful element are theglass beads (of blue, green and white colors) that are found in this culture and which have been related with similar findings inEgypt (Amarna), Mycenaean Greece (dated in the 14th century BC), the BritishWessex culture (dated c. 1400 BC) and some sites inFrance. Nevertheless, some of these beads are already found inChalcolithic contexts (site ofLa Pastora) which has brought some to speculate on an earlier date for the introduction of this material in southeast Iberia (late 3rd millennium BC).
Pottery undergoes important changes, almost totally abandoning decoration and with new types.
Textile manufacture seems important, working specially withwool andflax.Basket-making also seems to have been important, showing greater extent and diversification than in previous periods.
Thecollective burial tradition typical ofEuropean Megalithic culture is abandoned in favor of individual burials. Thetholos is abandoned in favour of smallcists, either under the homes or outside. This trend seems to come from the Eastern Mediterranean, most likely fromMycenaean Greece (skippingSicily andItaly, where thecollective 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 inpithoi (large jars) becomes most frequent (see:Jar-burials). Again this custom (that never reached beyond the Argarian circle) seems to come from Greece, where it was used after. ca 2000 BC.
Out of 36 males tested from La Almoloya and La Bastida sites, 35 were assigned to haplogroup R1b-M269 (the exact phylogenetic position on the Y haplogroup tree could be resolved further in 14 males, who carry the derived variant at Y-SNP P312, and the derived subvariant Y-SNP Z195 in 18 males), only an individual was from another clade, E1b-L618. The Argar Culture was likely formed from a mixture of new groups arriving from north-central Iberia (which already carried the predominant Y-chromosome lineage and central European steppe-related ancestry) and local southeastern Iberian Copper Age groups that differed from other Iberian regions in that they carried an Iran Neolithic-like ancestry (similar to that found in eastern and/or central Mediterranean ancient groups). The major additional ancestry source resembled central EuropeanBell Beaker groups, which first contributed ancestry to northern Iberia, followed by a southward spread. The distal sources were ~60% Anatolian farmer, ~25% Western Hunter-Gatherer, ~15% Yamnaya. Some phenotypìc traits were: absolute majority of brown eyes, pale skin was majoritary, and brown hair was more usual than black hair.[15]
The culture of El Argar has traditionally been divided in two phases, named A and B.
Phase A started in the 18th century BC, with the earliest calibratedC-14 dates pointing to the first half of that century:
Phase B begins in the sixteenth century BC. The main C-14 date is that of 1550 BC (+/- 70 years) in Fuente Álamo for the upper layer of El Argar B2 (with four layers underneath the lowest B phase). Other stratigraphic dates are somewhat more recent, but are not confirmed by C-14.
El Argar B ends in the fourteenth or thirteenth century BC, giving way to a less homogeneous post-Argarian culture. Again, Fuente Álamo gives the best C-14 dating with 1330 BC (+/- 70 years).
Many more C-14 dates have been published since the beginning of the twenty-first century. In recent publications, at least 260 such dates are cited altogether. There is now a widespread consensus that the emergence of El Argar can be dated at 2200 cal BC, although its end remains somewhat disputed. Various opinions place the end of El Argar at 15th-14th centuries BC.[16]
Recent research suggests a link between drought and the cereals grown.[17] In general, the cultivation ofbarley increased in the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, while the cultivation ofwheat, which was initially dominant, decreased. Significant changes are associated with dry periods. However, during the very dry period between 1900 and 1600 BC, an increase in free-threshing wheat can be observed. This may be due to the fact that people in the neighbouringMotillas were already using groundwater to grow wheat. Through exchange, this grain also reached the settlements of the El-Argar culture.[17]
Silver was also exploited. Gold had been abundantly used in theChalcolithic period, but it became less common in El Argar culture. Discovery in 2014 of an especially rich grave and an associated building atLa Almoloya have provided important details about the culture. The archaeological site is in a southeastern portion of the Iberian Peninsula. The richness of the burials of its women has led to some re-evaluation of the place of women in this Early Bronze Age culture.
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![Silver diadem from La Almoloya.[18][19]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAlmoloya_Diadema.jpg)
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![Decorative gold cones from San Antón[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSet_of_42_gold_hollow_perforated_cones_from_San_Ant%25C3%25B3n_(Orihuela%2c_Alicante%2c_Spain)%2c_El_Argar_culture.png)
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Media related toArgaric culture at Wikimedia Commons
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