NEOLITHIC

Overview

Andalusia is one of the peninsular Mediterranean regions where the early stages of the Neolithic can be identified. The first productive communities appear fully formed and being part of the cultural mainstream of the printed ceramics. The best-studied areas are located in the coastal provinces of Almería, Granada and Málaga, or immediately indoor areas, such as Jaén, with obvious geographical affinities with the southern Levantine zone.

In the Alpujarras, taking into account the regional diversity at a peninsular level, there was a process of neolitizing, adapting to the characteristics of the environment and the existing cultural traditions. The beginning of the Neolithic in the region occurs in the fourth millennium B.C.

The human groups get involved in the environment with new strategies of economic exploitation: the development and expansion of agricultural and livestock techniques uses, the exploitation of new raw materials for the manufacture of different objects (ceramics, textiles, objects of personal adornment), the polish technique focused on the stone industry. In addition, a continuation in the traditional activities related to subsistence (hunting, fishing and gathering) is appreciated.

The Neolithic development will contribute in a social setting that is much more complex (increasing sedentarization, population growth, new artistic and religious visions). It will develop new social and economic relations.

In terms of the habitat in the area, the sites are located in caves, shelters and outdoors. The settlement extends over much of the interior and the coastal zone.

The oldest human remains found belong to this period, with such famous settlements such as the Cueva de los Murciélagos in Albuñol or the caves of the Campanas and Intentos in Gualchos, to which numerous sites on the coasts of Granada and Almería are joined. The settlements in the cave of the mountains of Lújar and the Contraviesa and outdoor settlements of Guainos Alto (Adra) and the Cerrillo de la Gobernadora (Beninar).

Megalithic Culture

The consolidation of economic, social, territorial or productive concepts of the Neolithic are related to the emergence of new funeral demonstrations represented by social groups that are part of the Megalithic Culture, new cultural focus that emerges in the west of the Alpujarra, centred in Antequera and Huelva.

The extension of the megalithic funerary ritual, associated to the widespread of the outdoors settlement in dispersed locations, reaches the western half of the province of Granada. According to the researchers, in the area of Guadix-Baza the western and eastern megaliths converge. It is represented by the tholoi of the Culture of the Millares. It will have a wide development in the later Copper Age.

The megalithic and sedentary culture live with different cultural traditions, represented by nomadic lifestyle groups. It extends towards all the middle and low Andarax.

Almería Culture

It takes place in the Recent Neolithic and it joins the Copper Age. In this phase, the improvement of the agricultural and livestock techniques in the valleys of the province of Almería results in the proliferation of sedentary communities, grouped in small villages and burial rituals that lead to the typical burial mound graves.

The emergence of metallurgy leads to the Copper Age or Chalcolithic period, and later to the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

COPPER AGE

It covers approximately the third millennium B.C. It is characterized by the appearance of a new cultural focus, based on the wealth of mining. It covers the eastern limits of the Alpujarra and it can be seen in the settlements of Granada and Almería.

Necropolis: burials accompanied with grave goods, "tholos" type, such as Los Milanes in Abla or the Balsaplata Necropolis in Berja.

Settlements: The Millares in Santa Fe of Mondújar, Las Juntas in Abla.

The introduction of copper metallurgy is related to greater economic complexity (intensification of production: hunting, agriculture, livestock, handmade production) and social (social stratification, urban planning). During a big part of the period the collective burial ritual is still in force, in monumental structures and caves.

Culture of Los Millares

Since the beginning of this stage, large and fortified populations are being formed from the southwest of the peninsula. They are related to the development of the collective burial ritual, in which tholoi are grouped in large necropolis.

The settlement of Los Millares, located in the mountain de Gádor, is considered the most important of the culture of Almería. It reaches a great technical and cultural development that is extended to the south and  east of the peninsula.

The abandonment of Los Millares is related with the foundation, in its surroundings, of the first settlements belonging to the Culture of the Argar.

BRONZE AGE

Between 1,900-1,800 B.C. the Bronze Age period arises. From this period, remains have also been found in the Alpujarra. Settlements such as Cerro de Beneji (Berja) o Cerroncillo (Dalías) stand out. The Culture of El Argar develops in Almería, spreading over a wide area of Andalusia, over much of the territory occupied by the Culture of Los Millares.

It is characterized by the development of bronze metallurgy and by an evolution at all levels, financial, social and cultural. Among the features of these complex societies are  the population growth, an increasing defensive concern, a new urban design, the towns-necropolis association, the economic intensification, the handcraft specialization, the development of trade, the cultural uniformity and the social differentiation.

The new settlement model is defined by the location of settlements in high places strongly walled, which provides a greater visual control. They colonize areas of medium or high mountain and they extend themselves across much of the region.

At the end of the period, the organization of El Argar disappears. After a period of general decline, a general transformation that sets aside the centralization is produced. Regional groups with some new settlement and funeral patterns predominate. Changes in the villages are noticeable in terms of location, architecture and defence.