Nuevas Evidencias Sobre La Organización Espacial Del
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TRABAJOS DE PREHISTORIA 69, N.º 1, enero-junio 2012, pp. 65-79, ISSN: 0082-5638 doi: 10.3989/tp.2012.12080 New evidence on the spatial organisation of the Valencina de la Concepción Copper Age settlement: geophysical survey between La Pastora and Montelirio Nuevas evidencias sobre la organización espacial del asentamiento de la Edad del Cobre de Valencina de la Concepción: prospección geofísica entre La Pastora y Montelirio David Wheatley (*) Kristian Strutt (*) Leonardo García Sanjuán (**) Coronada Mora Molina (**) José Peinado Cucarella (***) ABSTRACT (1) (2) (3) as at the PP4-Montelirio sector, their potential patterns and sequence. This raises questions regarding the tradi- tional separation of the site into ‘settlement’ and ‘necro- polis’ areas and contributes more generally to a better The major Copper Age settlement of Valencina de la understanding of the spatial organisation of this large Concepción has been the subject of research interest over prehistoric settlement. more than a century. The history of previous investiga- tions at the site has resulted in a heterogeneous archaeo- logical record that is particularly diffi cult and that dis- plays signifi cant gaps and problems. In this paper, we present the results of a geophysical survey carried out in RESUMEN December 2004 between the La Pastora and Montelirio sectors of this site in response to a proposed road deve- lopment that was never put into practice, and which re- El gran asentamiento de la Edad del Cobre de Valen- vealed several previously unknown features. These data cina de la Concepción ha sido objeto de numerosas in- are assessed in the light of the results obtained from the vestigaciones a lo largo de más de un siglo. Estas inves- excavation carried out between 2007 and 2008 at the tigaciones han dado lugar a un registro arqueológico immediately adjacent sector of PP4-Montelirio, currently heterogéneo particularmente difícil de interpretar, y que under study by us, where several dozen prehistoric fea- presenta importantes vacíos y problemas. En este artícu- tures (both, non-megalithic and megalithic, funerary and lo se exponen los resultados de una prospección geofísi- non-funerary), were found. Altogether, this new evidence ca realizada en diciembre de 2004 entre los sectores de makes a signifi cant contribution to the spatial interpreta- La Pastora y Montelirio en conexión con el proyecto de tion of the Valencina de la Concepción site, particularly construcción de una carretera que fi nalmente nunca se as they convey the fi rst-ever cartography of a large area llevó a cabo. Estas prospecciones revelaron numerosas of this settlement. From this evidence, a discussion is estructuras previamente desconocidas. Los datos de esta made concerning the density and diversity of the features prospección geofísica son valorados a la luz de los re- identifi ed both between La Pastora and Montelirio as well sultados obtenidos en la excavación llevada a cabo entre 2007 y 2008 en el sector inmediatamente adyacente de PP4-Montelirio, actualmente en proceso de estudio por nuestra parte, donde se identifi caron varias decenas de (*) Archaeology, Faculty the Humanities, University of Southampton. Highfi eld. Southampton. Reino Unido. estructuras prehistóricas (negativas no-megalíticas y me- E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] galíticas, funerarias y no-funerarias). Estos resultados (**) Dpto. de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de arrojan nueva luz de cara a la interpretación espacial Sevilla. C/ María de Padilla s/n. 41004 Sevilla. España. del asentamiento de Valencina de la Concepción posibi- E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] litando, por primera vez, cartografi ar un sector amplio (***) Arqueólogo Profesional. C/ Mare Vella 216. 46003 del mismo. A partir de estas nuevas evidencias se debaten Valencia. E-mail: [email protected] cuestiones relativas a la densidad y diversidad de las Received: 30-IV-2011; accepted: 16-VI-2011. estructuras presentes entre La Pastora y Montelirio así 66 David Wheatley, Kristian Strutt, Leonardo García Sanjuán, Coronada Mora Molina y José Peinado Cucarella como en el propio sector PP4-Montelirio, sus posibles et al. 2010). Notable for its very large area – the patrones espaciales y funcionales así como su diacronía. prehistoric evidence may cover up to 400 ha – Esto plantea preguntas con respecto a la clasifi cación tradicional del sitio en zonas diferenciadas de “hábitat” and its substantial megalithic monuments, Valen- y “necrópolis” y contribuye en general a una mejor cina is situated on the higher ground of the Alja- comprensión de la organización espacial de este gran rafe platform to the west of the Guadalquivir asentamiento prehistórico. River valley, about six kilometres from the city of Seville (Fig. 1). Key words: Copper Age; Iberia; Geophysics, Magneto- metry; Megaliths; Negative Features; Archaelogy of ma- Archaeological research at Valencina dates nagement. back to the late 19th century and has continued sporadically to the modern era of developer-fund- Palabras clave: Edad del Cobre; Iberia; Geofísica; ed archaeology. Early work focused on the out- Magnetometría; Megalitos; Estructuras Negativas; Ar- standing megalithic monuments of La Pastora, queología de gestión. Matarrubilla, and Ontiveros (Tubino 1876; Ober- maier 1919; Carriazo & Arroquia 1962; Collantes de Terán 1969). This revealed the very signifi cant 1. INTRODUCTION scale of the monumentality associated with Va- lencina, emphasising the importance of the settle- Nurtured by the steady fl ow of new empirical ment and establishing the largely uncontested fi ndings and by competing theoretical approach- view that it represents a large, single-phase settle- es, the Iberian Copper Age (or ‘Chalcolithic’) ment with an associated necropolis that demon- period, spanning between c. 3200 and 2100 cal strates a single tradition of burial practices. BC, has generated intense academic debate since From the mid-1970’s onwards, several fea- the 1980s. Following early papers (for example tures found largely in the northern part of the site Arribas Palau & Molina González 1984; Gilman (beneath the modern settlement of Valencina) 1987; Chapman 1990), a growing literature in have been interpreted as domestic or production- English has recently begun to make this more related (Fernández Gómez & Oliva Alonso 1986; accessible to an international audience, particu- Murillo Díaz et al. 1987; Blanco Ruiz 1991; Ruiz larly with respect to issues surrounding settle- Moreno 1991; Martín Espinosa & Ruiz Moreno ment patterns, economic intensifi cation, metal- 1992; Santana Falcón 1993; Arteaga Matute & lurgy, burial practices and social inequality. Cruz-Auñón Briones 1999; Cruz-Auñón Briones Prominent in this literature are sites in Spain & Arteaga Matute 1999a, 1999b; Ruiz Moreno such as Los Millares, in Almería (Micó Pérez 1999; López Aldana et al. 2001; Vera Fernández 1995; Esquivel Guerrero and Navas Guerrero et al. 2002; Nocete Calvo et al. 2008). Structures 2005, 2007; Navas Guerrero et al. 2008), La identifi ed include cut features referred to as ‘silos’ Pijotilla (Hurtado Pérez 2000, 2010) and San that are conventionally interpreted as grain stor- Blas, in Badajoz (Hurtado Pérez 2004; Kohring age pits, ‘hut fl oors’ (fondos de cabaña), ‘dumps’, et al. 2007); Cabezo Juré, in Huelva (Nocete ‘ditches’ and ‘trenches’. Metal production is now Calvo, 2006), as well as Portuguese sites such as well documented by the presence of furnaces, Leceia (Cardoso 2000; Muller & Cardoso 2008) crucibles and slag in certain areas (Nocete Calvo and Vila Nova de São Pedro (Müller & Monge et al. 2008). The production of a Carta Arqueo- Soares 2008) in Estremadura and Alcalar in the lógica (inventory) of the excavations carried out Algarve (Morán Hernández 2010). The evolution at the site (Ruiz Moreno 1995, Vargas Jiménez of some the issues under discussion is well re- 2004a, 2004b) represented a signifi cant advance fl ected in papers by Gilman 1987, 2002; Díaz- in the systematization of information and assess- Andreu 1995; Chapman 1995, 2008; Díaz-del- ment of its organization. In addition to this, a Río 2004, 2011. number of papers have attempted to place the The Copper Age settlement of Valencina de la evidence within a broader interpretative and his- Concepción, Castilleja de Guzmán (henceforth toriographic framework of the site has also re- ‘Valencina’) is located in the province of Sevilla ceived some attention (Ruiz Mata 1983; Martín and has recently begun to be discussed in papers de la Cruz & Miranda Ariz, 1988; Murillo Díaz aimed at international audiences (Nocete Calvo 2001; Gómez de Terreros Guardiola 2005, et al. 2008; García Sanjuán 2009; Costa Caramé 2008). Trab. Prehist., 69, N.º 1, enero-junio 2012, pp. 65-79, ISSN: 0082-5638 doi: 10.3989/tp.2012.12080 New evidence on the spatial organisation of the Valencina de la Concepción Copper Age settlement... 67 Fig. 1. Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla). Location in relation to other excavated sites of the 3rd and 2nd millennia cal BC in the lower Guadalquivir valley. The main map also shows the estimated outline of the coastline during Late Prehistory. The density of these investigations (Fig. 2) Díaz 1991; Santana Falcón 1991; Ruiz Moreno arguably makes Valencina the most intensively & Martín Espinosa 1993; Martín Espinosa & excavated Copper Age settlement in Iberia. Ruiz Moreno 1995; Ruiz Moreno & Martín Es- Since the 1970s a number of previously un- pinosa 1995; Arteaga Matute & Cruz-Auñón recorded, generally smaller, megalithic construc- Briones 1999; Arteaga Matute & Cruz-Auñón tions have been discovered, mainly as the result Briones 2001). In 1998 a signifi cant major mega- of rescue excavations (Fernández Gómez & Ruiz lithic structure, Montelirio, was also identifi ed; Mata 1978 (1); Murillo Díaz et al. 1990; Murillo excavations carried out between 2007 and 2009 have demonstrated that this is another major megalithic structure similar in scale to La Pastora (1) Cabrero García, R. 1985: “El sepulcro megalítico de and Matarrubilla (their locations are shown in Caño Ronco (Camas, Sevilla) y su vinculación con el yacimien- to calcolítico de Valencina de la Concepción”.