El Argar culture

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Spread of the El Argar culture in southeastern Spain
Decorless cup in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid

The El Argar culture is a two-phase Bronze Age culture that occurred in southeastern Spain between 2200 and 1550 BC. Was common. It emerged from the Los Millares culture and was named eponymously after the site of El Argar, a cave settlement near Antas in the province of Almería about 40 km northeast of the city of Almería . The Belgian mining engineers Henri and Louis Siret recognized it as an independent cultural group at the end of the 19th century after extensive excavations rich in finds at many well-known, fortified settlements. The related Motilla culture ( Motilla del Azuer ) followed further north . In view of a culturally uniform area roughly the size of Belgium, some researchers speak of the “first state structure in Europe”.

history

The first beginnings of the El Argar culture date back to around 2200 BC. BC back. The first phase of culture lasted until around 1900 BC. BC and was followed by a transition phase that lasted until around 1700 BC. Chr. Moves. In this early period there were burials in stone boxes , pits and rock niches, as they were still in use all over Central Europe at that time. The dead were buried as stools in the settlement areas and inside the houses. There were also some gold finds at this time . Characteristic for the culture are undemanding, kink-walled ceramic vessels and dagger sticks , as they have also been proven in other regions such as Central Europe and England. Overall, the image of a Bronze Age European culture emerges .

Around 1700 BC A gradual change took place, which is visible through new grave rites (with the introduction of vessel burials in so-called pithoi ), structural forms and the development of handicrafts. Eye idols such as B. from the white temple of Ebla (Syria), raise initial questions. There was also a change in values. Gold has now been replaced by silver and dagger sticks by swords. The second phase of the El Argar culture experienced a tremendous boom and clearly showed an astonishingly hierarchical society. This phase is so unusual for the western Mediterranean that excavators speak of a “Troy of the West” and attest to a cultural level that comes close to the contemporary Troy VI.

Economy and domination

Around half of the population was active in agriculture; their graves did not contain any grave goods. Another 40% of the population can be addressed as hard-working craftsmen or the military, as anthropologist Camila Oliat makes clear on the basis of bone wear . It is interesting that only around half of the population received a funeral. Why is still a mystery to archaeologists. The remaining 10% of the population belonged to a ruling elite who built large buildings and rulers' seats. So was z. For example, a more than 100 m² “throne room” in La Almoloya was excavated, near which large granaries were located - a possible indication of donations in kind.

The ruling class brought the food under their control in their residence and distributed it from there to the rest of the population. The simple population was fed with cereal porridge, supplemented by beans, lentils and acorns, while the ruling class also had a good supply of meat and honey.

architecture

The extensive settlements consisted of rectangular, closely nestled houses with bases made of quarry stone and limed floors. During this phase, floor plans of 70 m² were possible for the residential units, with the ground floor often containing workshops and workrooms, while the respective craftsman lived with his family on the upper floor. Specializations such as grain millers, butchers, weavers or blacksmiths can even be identified. Furthermore, an attempt is also made to prove that the ruling class was the owner of these residential units and workshops, i.e. that they made these residential units available to the craftsmen for appropriate consideration.

It was also found that some of these settlements such as B. La Bastida de Totana were completely rebuilt and were not based on previous settlements. Particularly noteworthy about La Bastida de Totana is the water supply. Because here, in the middle of the settlement, a trough with a stream inflow was dammed over a length of 14 m. Such a dam was unique in Europe at that time.

Grave goods

Pithos tomb 9 in El Argar

In addition to flat axes and swords, enormous silver finds were made, including silver diadems for the upper class. The ceramics from this time are almost standardized and hardly decorated, but still extremely high quality fired. In addition, this culture controlled several copper and silver mines in the near and far area (e.g. near Jaén ).

Now people were only slightly buried traditionally in stone boxes. The majority of the population was buried in clay jugs (Greek: Pithoi , Spanish: Tinjana). Both pithoi and silver were more common in the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia at this time, so that a connection to the Aegean is considered likely in this context. Imported goods from the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt (e.g. faience ) are evidence of extensive trade relationships.

Decline

A monoculture of barley followed after wide deforestation, which ultimately led to soil salinization. Therefore, towards the end of culture, deficiency symptoms continued to increase among the population. Bulging pots and pots are evidence of the sudden end of La Bastida. Eventually all settlements ended up in a layer of fire that lasted around 1550 BC. Is dated.

The archaeologist Roberto Risch suspects a rebellion of the starving population, who got rid of their ruling elite and burned the settlements. The following period is characterized by simple rural settlement. The culture of El Argar was completely forgotten.

The collapse appears to have affected the entire periphery of El Argar. On the southern plateau, many hill settlements and the fortified motillas were abandoned . In the northeast, a new center of power formed around the approximately two-hectare settlement of Cabezo Redondo . Apparently, societies further north on the Iberian Peninsula benefited, whose culture subsequently expanded into the southern areas affected by social unrest. Relatively small-scale economic and political territories were formed, which were dominated by two to five hectares of hilltop settlements.

Researched sites

Archaeologically described sites of the El Argar culture

The most important sites of this culture in the province of Almería include, besides El Argar (Antas):

literature

  • Oswaldo Arteaga , Hermanfrid Schubart : Fundamentos arqueológicos para el estudio socio-económico y cultural del área de El Argar. In: Homenaje a Luis Siret (1934–1984). Actas del Congreso, Cuevas del Amanzora, June 1984. Minuesa, Madrid 1984, ISBN 84-505-3511-5 , pp. 289-307.
  • Oswaldo Arteaga : Tribalización, jerarquización y Estado en el territorio de El Argar In: SPAL. Vol. 1, 1992, ISSN  1133-4525 , pp. 179-208.
  • Martin Bartelheim , grave equipment as a status indicator? - Reflections on the social structure of the El Argar culture in southern Spain , in: B. Horejs - R. Jung - E. Kaiser - B. Terzan (eds.), Interpretationsraum Bronzezeit, UPA 121 (Bonn 2005) 599–618.
  • Dirk Brandherm , urge to the west. Disparate border dynamics in the older Bronze Age of Southeast Spain , in: T. Doppler - B. Ramminger - D. Schimmelpfennig (Eds.), Borders and border areas? Examples from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Focus on the Neolithic Age - reports from the Neolithic 2 group (Kerpen-Loogh 2011) 189–204.
  • Dirk Brandherm , Archaeological Periodization Concepts Between Material Culture and Social Development. The case studies El Argar and western urnfield culture in comparison , phase transitions and upheavals in Bronze Age Europe: Contributions to the meeting of the Bronze Age working group at the 80th annual conference of the Northwest German Association for Antiquity Research in Lübeck from 2-3. September 2013, UPA 297 (Bonn 2017) 25–54.
  • Selina Delgado-Raack , Vincente Lull , Katja Martin , Rafael Micó , Roberto Risch , The Silversmiths of Tira del Lienzo, Totana, Prov. Murica, in the context of El Argar Metallurgy , in: H. Meller - R. Risch - E. Pernicka (eds.), Metals of Power - Early Gold and Silver. 6th Central German Archaeological Day from October 17 to 19, 2013 in Halle (Saale), conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory Hall 11 (Halle (Saale) 2014) 577–591.
  • Selina Delgado-Raack, Roberto Risch, Social Change and Subsistensce Production on the Iberian Peninsula during the 3rd and 2nd Millennia BC , in: J. Kneisel - M. Dal Corso - W. Kirleis - H. Scholz - N. Taylos - V. Tiedtke (Ed.), The Third Food Revolution? Setting the Bronze Age Table: Common Trends in Economic and Subsistence Strategies in Bronze Age Europe. Proceedings in the International Workshop "Socio-Enviromental Dynamics over the Last 12,000 Years: The Creation of Landscapes III (15th - 18th April 2013)" in Kiel (Bonn 2015) 21–47.
  • Stephanie Eichler: The Spanish Troy . In: Image of Science . No. 4/2016 . Konradin , 2016, ISSN  0006-2375 , p. 60-65 .
  • Milena Müller-Kissing , New Research on the Chronology and Metallurgy of the El Argar Culture in the Vera Basin (Spain) , AInf 37, 2014, 225–238.
  • Vicente Lull : La "cultura" de El Argar - a modelo para el estudio de las formaciones económico-sociales prehistóricas ; AKAL Editor Verlag, 1983, ISBN 84-7339-660-X .
  • Hermanfrid Schubart , Volker Pingel : A Bronze Age hilltop settlement in Andalusia. In: Archeology in Germany. No. 4, 1992, ISSN  0176-8522 , pp. 10-13.
  • Hermanfrid Schubart , The graves of Fuente Álamo: a contribution to the funerary rites and the chronology of the El Argar culture , MB 32 (Wiesbaden 2012).
  • Hermanfrid Schubart , El Argar (Antas, Almería) , MM 55, 2014, 29–120.
  • Hermanfrid Schubart , The excavations on the southern slope of the Bronze Age hillside settlement: the El Argar period , MB 40 (Wiesbaden 2019).
  • Ulf von Rauchhaupt : The first state in the West . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . July 31, 2016.

Web links

Commons : El Argar Culture  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New research on the chronology and metallurgy of the El Argar culture ( Memento of the original from March 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the Vera basin (Spain). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
  2. ↑ The Spanish Troy? - The importance of the El Argar culture , www.swr.de.
  3. ↑ Harald Meller meets… Roberto Risch , www.lda-lsa.de.
  4. ↑ Roberto Risch, Harald Meller: Change and Continuity in Europe and the Mediterranean Area around 1600 BC Chr. In: Harald Meller, François Bertemes, Hans-Rudolf Bork, Roberto Risch (eds.): 16oo - Cultural upheaval in the shadow of the Thera outbreak? State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt - State Museum for Prehistory Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN 978-3-944507-00-2 , p. 607 ( online [PDF; 3.3 MB ]).
  5. ↑ Dirk Husemann: The Silver Princes from the Edge of the Old World , Spektrum.de, April 14, 2020