Bronze Age Frontiers and Pottery Circulation : Political and Economic Relations at the Northern Fringes of El Argar, Southeast Iberia, ca. 2200-1550 BCE
Moreno Gil, Adrià (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology)
Garrido García, Carla (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geologia)
Bonora, Bárbara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)
Gómez-Gras, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geologia)
Risch, Robert (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Prehistòria)

Data:	2025
Resum:	This paper explores the nature and dynamics of economic and political borders emerging in Later Prehistory between highly centralised and exploitative societies and their much more dispersed and small-scale neighbours. While increasing evidence indicates that Early Bronze Age entities such as El Argar, Únětice or Minoan Crete reached highly complex economic and political forms around 1850-1750 BCE, the processes by which their relations and borders with adjacent, less hierarchical groups were established and maintained still remain poorly understood. To identify such economic and political borders and asymmetric interactions in archaeology, a specific methodological approach was developed which combined extensive field survey, pottery petrography, and spatial modelling of pottery production and circulation areas. Our research focuses on the middle and upper Segura River valley, a largely unexplored borderland between distinct geographic and cultural zones of the Iberian Peninsula. While El Argar expanded over the semi-arid Southeast, adjacent regions-La Mancha and the Spanish Levant-were home to smaller-scale socio-economic entities, known as La Mancha or Las Motillas and the Valencian Bronze Age cultures. At the junction of these three groups, we surveyed 61 settlements across 4800 km2 and analyzed 1643 pottery sherds, conducting the largest petrographic study of Iberian Bronze Age ceramics. Spatial modeling of the results traced pottery production and circulation, offering insights into economic exchanges, social boundaries and the articulation of borderland spaces. By mapping distinct pottery-making practices, we reveal interactions between El Argar's core regions and its neighbours, demonstrating the potential of ceramic analysis for understanding Bronze Age border dynamics. Comparable studies in other regions are expected to lead to a better understanding of the role of borders in shaping prehistoric societies and inter-group relations.
Ajuts:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-112909GB-100 Agencia Estatal de Investigación HAR2017-85962-P
Nota:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Publicat a:	Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 32 (March 2025) , art. 36, ISSN 1573-7764

DOI: 10.1007/s10816-025-09702-y

41 p, 4.7 MB

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