Fuente Álamo (archaeological site)

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The Fuente Álamo archaeological site in south-east Spain is one of the most intensively studied settlements of the Argentine culture . In addition to many graves, including a metallurgist's grave, a cistern , large granaries as well as metal and stone tools were found.

Archaeological site of Fuentes Álamo, with the river valley in the background

location

With only 16 km to the coast, the location Fuentes Álamo is only separated from the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mazarrón by the Sierra del Algarrobo and the nature reserve of the Sierra de la Muela . The former Argaian settlement is located in the Almanzora Valley near the present-day town of Fuentes Àlamo de Murcia , to the north within sight of the Sierra de Almagro mountain range , about 10 km north of El Argar itself. To the west and south it was surrounded by the mountain formations ( Sierra de Bedar or Sierra de Cabrera ), which reach an altitude of almost 1000 m. The wide, then probably fertile plain of Campo de Cartagena runs further east to the salt water lagoon “Mar Menor” . The settlement was strategically oriented towards the extraction of raw materials for the metallurgical industry of that time, especially since there could have been opportunities for metal processing in the Sierra de Almagro - especially for copper.

View from the plain to the Sierre de Cabrera

description

The large-scale excavations on around 8% of the likely total of approximately 2 hectares of settlement concentrated on the presumed settlement center on the hilltop and a 32 × 4.5 m long cut down the southern slope. Statistical analyzes have shown that the majority of the archaeological material comes from the developed El Argar horizons III and IV, chronologically it is the time between approx. 1900 and 1550 BC. u. Z.

The archaeologists involved divide the settlement into three areas: the "top location", which runs a little further to the east, the west and south slopes:

East slope and hilltop : Built since the beginning of the settlement around 2200 BC u. Z. the most important buildings were located here:

  • Two square towers of 49 m² and 70 m² respectively, originally probably several stories high.
  • A large building ("Building I").
  • Four round, slightly conical stone buildings with a diameter of 2.8 m, which are interpreted as storage buildings.
  • A cistern with a capacity of 90,000 m³
  • Compared to the western slope, relatively few graves were found on the hilltop and the eastern slope, while the proportion of children's graves was low at 38%.
  • In the few graves, however, 90% of all metal grave goods discovered in Fuente Alamo were discovered.
  • The large number of grave vessels as well as copper objects and practically all silver and gold additions were located next to the buried in this area.
  • In the buildings there were not only most, but also the greatest variety of tool types, e.g. B. Stone axes and drilled sanding plates.
  • About 75% of all metallurgical tools come from here, which fits in with the discovery of a “metallurgist's grave”. (See under "Finds")
  • Likewise, most of the tools made from non-local rock (e.g. andesite, basalt and flint) and almost all artifacts that can be associated with ceramic production (specialized polishing stones).
  • Dozens of functional millstones (due to the lack of a finding, it could originally have been over 100).
  • Several large ceramic vessels with a capacity of 35-120 liters.
  • The botanical test results show that 90% of the charred seed remains consist of barley (Stika 1988, 2001).

West slope The poorly preserved remains of the wall indicate the presence of smaller buildings and common residential structures. The main burial area is assumed to be here, which in turn confirms the domestic character of the poorly preserved buildings there. Not only very many, but above all the greatest density of burials were excavated, also a very high number of children's burials, which makes up about half of the graves here. Many of the graves in this area are without gifts, while the few metal objects represent just 6 percent by weight of the ritually laid metal.

Southern slope During the developed settlement phases this was systematically terraced. Elongated buildings have been identified on these terraces, which were arranged in steps close to one another on the slope. The density of the graves was significantly lower, although the number of children's graves also appears to be significant here.

Chronology of the excavations

  • around 1884 the brothers Luis and Henri Siret explored the area for the first time. They were Belgian mining engineers and were supposed to investigate possible silver deposits on site. It is from them that the name of the El Agar culture comes.
  • In 1977 Hermanfrid Schubart and Oswaldo Arteaga carried out the first excavations.

Later followed

Finds

Macrolithic tools:

  • Polishing stones
  • Millstones
  • 2700 tombstone tools
  • 179 flint tools

Hundreds of these were examined petrographically , the areas of origin of the starting stones determined, as well as morphometrically and functionally analyzed, such as the microscopic determination of the signs of use.

Metallurgy Some stone tools are associated with processing metal. Metal processing can be detected in several layers of the early, middle and late settlement phase.

  • Molds
  • Crucible
  • Anvils
  • hammer
  • pierced or non-pierced grindstones,
  • Grinding plates and flint blades, the traces of which indicate the use of metal

The metallurgist's grave The 40–60-year-old man from grave 54 clearly belonged to the dominant class of the early period, which is shown by his dagger, dagger and medium-sized vessel as well as his stratigraphic location. A sanding plate, on the top of which can be seen signs of wear, was attached to the outside of his left upper arm.

Archaeological Discourse

The monumental settlement area at the height of Fuente Alamo is interpreted as a symbolically and socially exclusive area within the settlement: Here not only the most elaborate grave rituals were practiced, which is also supported by the size of some grave complexes, but also the majority of the grave goods were deposited, especially those with the highest social value. The low density of graves shows that only a small part of the population had access to this area and the wealth associated with it. Apparently, the social status of those buried here is expressed not only through the exclusivity and effort of the ritual, but also through a lower child mortality rate, which can be seen as an expression of better living conditions.

In specialized workshops no minerals were smelted and less metal was poured, but half-finished metal products were worked out and maintained by forging, grinding, polishing and sharpening. In the case of the grave goods in the "metallurgist grave", similar forging and grinding tools have been identified compared to those in other El Argar hillside settlements and in some so-called "metallurgist graves".

The investigation of the spatial and temporal distribution of all known means of production has led us to the conclusion that the El Argar metallurgy was organized supra-regionally over four production levels: 1. rather small settlements, which are mainly the mining, smelting and casting of Dedicated ingots (e.g. Peñalosa ), 2. Processing centers where, in addition to elaborated objects, semi-finished products were also produced (e.g. El Argar , La Bastida ), 3. Finishing workshops (e.g. Fuente Álamo, Gatas ) and 4. dependent settlements excluded from metal production.

The concentration of metalworking tools on the eastern slope of Fuente Álamo and the supraregional organization of the metallurgical production process reveal not only the economic, but also the social and political control over this crucial material. The almost exclusive dumping of metal in the graves of the eastern slope is therefore only the ritualized expression of the disposition power of a part of the population over certain means of production and thus clear evidence of the appearance of private property in the El Argar society.

See also

Other archaeological sites of the El Argar culture:

literature

  • Henri Siret , Louis Siret : Les premières Edades del metal dans le Sud-Est de l'Espagne. 1887, link to the 2006 edition.
  • Vicente Lull : La "cultura" de El Argar - a modelo para el estudio de las formaciones económico-sociales prehistóricas. AKAL Editor, 1983.
  • Hermanfrid Schubart : The graves of Fuente Ãlamo. A contribution to the funerary rites and chronology of the El Argar culture, Fuente Alamo. Part 4 (= Madrid contributions. Volume 32). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-89500-903-7 .
  • Hermanfrid Schubart, Volker Pingel , Oswaldo Arteaga : Fuente Alamo. Verlag Philipp von Zabern in Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2453-7 .
  • Hermanfrid Schubart, Volker Pingel: Fuente Alamo: A Bronze Age hilltop settlement in Andalusia. In: Madrid Communications. Volume 36, 1995, pp. 150-164.
  • Thomas Schuhmacher , Hermanfrid Schubart: Fuente Álamo. The settlement ceramics of the excavations 1985–1991. Studies on the chronology and the settlement scheme of the El Argar culture. Stratigraphically ordered ceramics from the El Argar period from the excavations 1977–1982. (= Iberia archaeologica. Volume 4). German archaeological institute. Madrid. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-8053-3242-4 .
  • Roberto Risch : Recursos naturales, medios de producción y explotación social. Un análisis económico de la industria lítica de Fuente Álamo (Almería), 2250-1400 ANE. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2002.
  • Roberto Risch: The architecture of the division of labor and society in the hilltop settlements of the early Bronze Age in south-east Spain. In: Wulf Raeck, Dirk Steueragel (ed.): The built and the thought (= Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften . Volume 21). Dr. Rudolf Habelt Verlag, Bonn 2012, ISBN 978-3-7749-3816-8 , pp. 21-40.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (Schubart / Arteaga 2001)
  2. ↑ Lull, La Cultura 1983, p. 236.
  3. ↑ Siret and Siret
  4. ^ Lull, La Cultura, 1983.
  5. ↑ R. Risch 2012, p. 24.
  6. ↑ Siret and Siret
  7. ↑ Dirk Husemann: The Silver Princes from the Edge of the Old World , Spektrum.de, April 14, 2020
  8. ↑ Lull, La Cultura p. 234
  9. ↑ Schuhmacher / Schubart 2003.
  10. ↑ R.Risch 2002.
  11. ^ Lull, La Cultura, 1983, p. 236.
  12. ↑ (Schubart / Arteaga 2001)
  13. ↑ R. Risch 2012, p. 27.
  14. ↑ R. Risch 2012, p. 29.
  15. ↑ R. Risch 2012, p. 30.

Coordinates: 37 ° 19 ′ 45.8 "  N , 1 ° 51 ′ 29.4"  W.