The Copper Age Settlement of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain): Demography, Metallurgy and Spatial Organization

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained from a review of the archaeological record available for the prehistoric site of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain), one of the most important settlements of SW Iberia in the 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC. Two main variables, namely demography and metallurgical production, are examined in the light of both conventional and spatial statistical methods (with particular emphasis on significance testing) with the aim of assessing the wider issue of social complexity. Among the various conclusions emerging from this empirical study, two stand out. Firstly, neither the correlation between the total extension of the settlement and the complexity of its internal organisation, nor the spatial delimitation between domestic/productive and funerary practices is as straightforward as previously claimed. Secondly, no simple, clear-cut statistical patterns are found in the spatial distribution of human remains or metal objects. These conclusions provide the basis for a critique of currently held interpretations of Valencina de la Concepción as the political centre of an early state extending across the lower Guadalquivir valley. RESUMEN

Assembling the Dead, Gathering the Living: Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Modelling for Copper Age Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain)

“…The older suggestion of a sharp distinction between a ‘domestic’ zone and a ‘necropolis’ area within Valencina as a whole has already been challenged, for good reasons (Costa Caramé et al 2010 ; García Sanjuán 2013 ). But in the horizon of tholos use suggested here, there could have been a concentration of tholoi and related features in one part of the site—subject, of course, to the reservation that there remain substantial areas of it, to the north, the northeast and the south, which have not yet seen extensive investigation.…”

“…2 ), took place in the early 1990s following geophysical survey (Santana Falcón 1993 ). A variety of cut features (Costa Caramé et al 2010 , p. 90) and an MNI of 19 were found, including six young adults and eight adults (Díaz-Zorita Bonilla 2017 , p. 96) (Fig. 33 ).…”

“…Geophysical survey and excavations have revealed scores of pits and shafts, and a range of both small and large megalithic constructions and ‘artificial caves’ (or hypogea ) (Vargas Jiménez, Meyer and Ortega Gordillo 2012 ; Wheatley et al 2012 ; Mederos Martín et al 2016 ; Meyer and Goosens 2016 ). The site has become central to recent debates about social complexity in Iberia; recent publications include the proceedings of a conference devoted to the site (García Sanjuán, Vargas Jiménez et al 2013b ), a monograph presenting the study of the Montelirio tholos (Fernández Flores et al 2016 ), and a host of papers discussing metallurgy, craftsmanship and the exchange of exotic raw materials, notably cinnabar, amber, ivory, gold or rock-crystal (Nocete Calvo et al 2008 , 2013 ; Costa Caramé et al 2010 ; García Sanjuán, Luciañez Triviño et al 2013a ; García Sanjuán and Murillo-Barroso 2013 ; Rogerio-Candelera et al 2013 ; Murillo-Barroso et al 2015 ; Morgado Rodríguez et al 2016 ).

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The Radiocarbon Chronology of Southern Spain's Late Prehistory (5600–1000 cal BC): A Comparative Review

“…Many may well include a combination of living and ceremonial spaces, with substantial alterations over time, as for example might be the case of Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla), the largest of all the sites recorded so far (Costa Caramé et al . ). It is here where radiocarbon chronology can play an important role, as recently demonstrated for Britain and Ireland (Whittle et al .…”

“Other” possibilities? Assessing regional and extra-regional dental affinities of populations in the Portuguese Estremadura to explore the roots of Iberia's Late Neolithic-Copper Age

“…During this time a number of fortified or ditched enclosure sites emerged as important social, political, and ritual centers, particularly in the fertile Guadiana and Guadalquivir river valleys of southern Iberia. Some sites extended over large areas, such as Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla) (450 ha) (Costa et al, 2010), Marroquíes Bajos (Jaén) (113 ha) (Zafra et al, 1999), and La Pijotilla (Badajoz) (80 ha) in Spain (Hurtado, 1997), and Porto Torrão (Beja) (70 ha) (Valera and Filipe, 2004), Alcalar (20 ha) (Morán and Parreira, 2003) and Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz) (>16 ha) (Valera et al, 2014) in Portugal. A diversity of tomb architecture was utilized, including megaliths, rockshelters, natural caves, hypogea, pits, and tholos (Boaventura, 2009;Boaventura et al, 2014;Silva, 2002Silva, , 2003.…”