The first specialised copper industry in the Iberian peninsula: Cabezo Juré (2900-2200 BC)

Abstract

A new research project has revealed a fully specialised copper industry in south-west Iberia at the beginning of the third millennium BC. The settlement is rife with hierarchy: on the slopes of the hill copper-workers smelt and cast and have their own residential zone, while an incipient aristocracy occupies a small fortification at the summit and commands all the imports and means of transport. The author sees this social system as endemic to the new industry.

Ancient History of the Arbins, Bearers of Haplogroup R1b, from Central Asia to Europe, 16,000 to 1500 Years before Present

“…By 4800 ybp the Arbins have reached Iberia to become the first Bell Beakers. This date was obtained for a common ancestor of haplotypes of P312 and U106 subclades (see the next Section), and is supported by archaeology data (Cardoso & Soares, 1990;Martinez et al, 1996;Cardoso, 2001;Muller & Willigen, 2001;Nocete, 2006).…”

“…It seems that L11 split off only ~250 years later. (Cardoso & ares, 1990;Martinez et al, 1996;Cardoso, 2001;Muller & illigen, 2001;Nocete, 2006 rked in bold) mut YS456 in P312 fluctuates between 15 and 16 in various datasets), which separates the two base haplotypes by 5.5/.12 = 46 → 48 generations, or by 1200 years. Since common ancestors of both subclades lived 4350 ± 700 an lyosov, 2011b), their common ancestor lived (1200 + 4350 75)/2 = 4850 ± 700 ybp.…”

Análisis pixe en muestras óseas subfósiles: ensayo de un protocolo de preparación

“…No obstante, dicha función, también favorece la bioacumulación de algunos metales derivados de la polución (Arnay-De-LaRosa et al, 1998;Baranowska et al, 1995;González-Reimers et al, 2003;Grattan et al, 2002;Martínez-García et al, 2005), motivo por el cual los huesos subfósiles pueden utilizarse como un método indirecto de medida de la contaminación ambiental en la antigüedad, al menos desde los orígenes de la metalurgia durante la prehistoria reciente (Nocete, 2006). Por ejemplo, en el sur de la Península Ibérica se han detectado niveles elevados de Cu, Zn, Pb y As en muestras de suelo y bivalvos datados en la Edad del Cobre (Aléx et al, 2004;Nocete et al, 2005), pero no se han realizado análisis en restos óseos.…”

The smelting quarter of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain): the specialised copper industry in a political centre of the Guadalquivir Valley during the Third millennium BC (2750–2500 BC)

“…By recognizing the existence, at the start of the Third millennium BC, of an industrial activity of complex technology (Nocete, 2004;Sáez et al, 2003), high degree of social organization (Nocete, 2001(Nocete, , 2006) and a volume of activity which brought with it the first environmental impact on a regional scale (Nocete et al, 2005b, the disciplinary paradigm which anchored this activity to a domestic sphere and of scarce technological development (Chapman, 1990(Chapman, , 2003Delibes and Fernández, 1993;Gilman, 1991;Montero, 1993;Rothemberg, 1990;Rovira, 2002) until the incorporation of the Iberian Peninsula into the orbit of the eastern Mediterranean intersocial networks of the First millennium BC (Gills, 1995;Gills and Frank, 1993), has been overcome.…”

“…Its activity was governed by a high and unknown degree of technical complexity , a rigid spatial division of labour (Nocete, 2004), and an optimised industrial production (Nocete, 2006), which contributed, together with other similar settlements (Nocete, 2005), to a strong process of deforestation and pollution from heavy metals on a local and regional scale throughout the first half of the Third millennium BC (Nocete et al, 2005b. In Cabezo Juré, an elite group with no direct link to the mining and metallurgical activities guaranteed, through an exclusive control of the means of destruction (fortifications and weapons), storage (water cistern and grain containers) and social reproduction (exotic products, .)…”