La Almoloya de Pliego

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Almoloya de Pliego is named a site of the El Argar culture in southeastern Spain . The remains of a palace complex from the Bronze Age have survived there 4200 years to this day. The finds uncovered in 2014 show an exceptionally good state of preservation, so even food residues can be clearly assigned during preparation. The discovery of a throne room within one of the palace buildings as well as a prince's tomb with magnificent grave goods is considered a sensation.

location

La Almoloya lies above a wide river delta of the Pliego river on the high plateau "El Altozano", at 585 m above sea level. d. M., a foothill of the Sierra Espuña , in the area of ​​today's municipality Pliego (Murcia) in the Murcia region . The plateau has the shape of an oval of 85 m in length and about 35 m maximum width and an area of ​​about 3000 m².

Before the current excavations, rudimentary remains of a terrace culture were recognizable. Boundary stones were gradually removed from the terraces as they hindered agriculture in the 19th century. According to locals, wheat was grown on the plain until the beginning of the last century, after which the plain was largely left to its own devices and overgrown.

View from the Sierra Espuña

description

The site is still the object of intensive archaeological research, so no final publications are available yet. However, there are first interim results from October 2014.

Research history

The scientific description of the site has so far been divided into two stages: excavations before 2013 and after 2013, the start of the current archaeological excavations.

Before 2013

Emeterio Cuadrado Díaz and Juan de la Cierva López began field work in 1944 and their excavation results at that time were published in an exhibition. Within a few days between June and August, the rudimentary remains of a house with eight graves were uncovered using very crude technology. The documentation of the sites and finds was in line with the times, topographical drawings and maps were made and the finds were strictly cataloged. The excavation campaign focused on a western and a southeastern part of the complex. Structural evidence of two houses and two stone boxes was found in the former . In the second, southeastern section, six more graves, three urns and three stone boxes.

The settlement

The houses found at that time were built with dry stone walls or bound with mortar and had a roof made of branches and clay. Cuadrado suspected a fortification wall in the southwest half of the plateau, directly at the top of a ramp that ran up to the settlement. He also assumed the existence of another entrance on the eastern slope.

In "House 2" a "furnace" was defined on the basis of combustion residues, which is why it was described as a place of residence or "home". In this context one vessel of shape 4 was found. In "House 1" a number of loom weights were secured. A collection of seven millstones was found in the same house, which is why the existence of a mill has been suggested there. There were also other stone tools and ceramics of all kinds, mainly fine, large ceramics with tints from black to light colors, in brown to red tones. Large numbers of animal remains were found, including deer, pigs, cattle, rodents, birds, cats and other carnivores.

The graves

Cuadrado's excavations in 1944 and a diploma thesis by Maria Manuela Ayala from 1986 on finds from robbery excavations describe 16 graves. Among these, stone boxes to urns dominate in a ratio of 3 to 1. Both archaeologists describe the discovery of a special form of burial in the form of directly adjacent stone boxes, each of which shared one of its side stone slabs. In both of these parallel graves an adult is buried in one of the stone boxes and a child in the other. These are the only documented children from the Argarian period buried in stone boxes - so far, children had only been found in urns. With regard to the grave goods of the two parallel graves, there were not only a combination of a drinking cup of shape 5 but also useful objects made of metal such as daggers and awls.

The great majority of the graves were assigned to the disadvantaged strata of the Argarian society, and a lack of representation of the ruling group was found.

No further scientific investigations were carried out on site between 1944 and 2010, but numerous robbery excavations, probably also with the help of metal detectors.

2nd phase of excavations

In 2010, despite the dense shrubs and bushes on the entire high plateau, the scope of the robbery excavations was estimated using a topographic map. During the inspection, Lull et al. a. 45 so-called "molehills", and in pits the remains of at least eight cleared stone box graves. The description of this massive damage was the trigger for the release of funds to carry out a second scientific excavation campaign from 2013.

Vicente Lull , Rafael Micó , Cristina Rihuete Herrada , Roberto Risch , Eva Celdrán Beltrán , Inés Fregeiro Morador and Carlos Velasco Felipe started new scientific sightings and excavations in 2013. First of all, an inventory analysis was carried out on the whereabouts of the finds excavated in 1944, the documentation of the excavations and their scientific classification.

Description of the looting and robbery excavations since 1970

After the plateau had been thoroughly cleared of broken fragments and excavated material, the repeated violent interventions were more precisely identified. On the basis of a newly created topographic map Planta de La Almoloya tras la limpieza superficial realizada en 2013 , robbery excavations have been proven in ninety places to date. Traces of the grave robbers who were forensically pursued were also found. The number of damages increased to now 18 ransacked and emptied stone box graves and at least 4 urns.

Excavations summer 2014

Between August and September 2014, new areas were archaeologically researched and the following results were obtained: The settlement was densely built up, several independent palace complexes, each with approx. 300 m², and within 8 to 12 separate rooms, were recognizable.

A double burial was found in an urn grave, also known as the prince's grave (grave no. 38). The grave was in the large assembly hall ( throne room ) near the throne. They were the bones of an approx. 45 year old man and an approx. 25 year old woman, in close crouching positions . Valuable grave goods were given to the two of them, including thirty individual pieces of jewelry and weapons made of bronze or precious metals such as gold and silver. Among other things, there was a rod dagger, i.e. a bronze dagger that was used on a stick like a halberd, made of bronze. In this grave, for the first time in 130 years, another was found on the woman, the fifth silver diadem from the El Argar period. Furthermore, rings, earrings and bracelets made of pure silver came to light.

The first forensic examinations of the man's bones revealed that he had died at the age of 45 and had spent a lot of time on the horse. His right shoulder was much more trained than his left side, which could have been caused by frequent carrying and use of a sword. A scar on the forehead fits wounds in armed conflict. The woman's bone fragments suggest pneumonia as the cause of death. The man was buried earlier than the woman, his bones were no longer anatomically connected in contrast to those of the woman. This and other examples of double graves of men and women with a relatively large age difference suggest, according to Vicente Lull and colleagues, that the buried are related (as opposed to married couples or similar relationships), who in this case were of high rank.

The room in which the prince's tomb was found was a throne room or an audience hall within one of the palace buildings. With a covered area of ​​70 m², supported by wooden columns, it is an architectural masterpiece for the Bronze Age. A bench along the four walls around the windowless room can accommodate up to 64 adults. A ceremonial fireplace and a podium have also been identified in the room. The role as a throne room is suggested by the absence of any utensils among the finds.

Archaeological Discourse

Due to the size of the residential complexes, the wealth of grave goods as well as the weapons, jewelry and diadem of the young woman in the prince's tomb, the archaeologists who carried out the work assume that they have found the political power center of the El Argar culture in La Almoloya.

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Vincente Lull u. a. 2015
  2. ↑ a b c d Video press conference: "El Argar en primer plano: nuevos descubrimientos" 2014
  3. ↑ UAB 2014
  4. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 p. 45
  5. ↑ Ayala
  6. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a .: La Almoloya de Pliego antes de las excavaciones de 2013. MAN, Verdolay no 14, pp. 45-50
  7. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 p. 50
  8. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 p. 57
  9. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 p. 52
  10. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 pp. 56–62
  11. ↑ Vincente Lull et al. a. 2015 p. 62
  12. ^ A b Spanish News Today, October 2014
  13. ↑ a b Dirk Husemann: The Silver Princes from the Edge of the Old World , Spektrum.de, April 14, 2020
  14. ^ ScienceDaily 2014
  15. ^ V. Lull et al. a., Agraric Society. Sex and Death, Complutum, Volume 27, 2016, pp. 31-62

Coordinates: 37 ° 57 '9.5 "  N , 1 ° 30' 28.3"  W.