Routledge Library Editions: Archaeology [1 ed.] 9781138799714, 9781315751948, 9781138813502, 9781315748092, 0049130226, 1138799718

Citation preview

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: ARCHAEOLOGY

Volume 26

LAND-USE AND PREHISTORY IN SOUTH-EAST SPAIN

This page intentionally left blank

LAND-USE AND PREHISTORY IN SOUTH-EAST SPAIN

ANTONIO GILMAN AND JOHN B. THORNES WITH STEPHEN WISE

First published in 1985 This edition first published in 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1985 A. Gilman & J. B. Thornes All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-138-79971-4 (Set) eISBN: 978-1-315-75194-8 (Set) ISBN: 978-1-138-81350-2 (Volume 26) eISBN: 978-1-315-74809-2 (Volume 26) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this book but points out that some imperfections from the original may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

LAND-USE AND PREHISTORY IN SOUTH-EAST SPAIN Antonio Gilman John B. Thornes with Stephen Wise

London GEORGE ALLEN & U N W IN Boston

Sydney

© A. Gilman & J. B. Thornes, 1985 This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved.

G eorge Allen & U nw in (Publishers) L td , 40 M useum Street, L on don WC1A 1L U , U K George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd, Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 4TE, UK Allen & Unwin Inc., Fifty Cross Street, Winchester, Mass. 01890, USA George Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd, 8 Napier Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia

First published in 1985

ISSN 0261-0485

B ritish L ib rary C atalo gu in g in Publication D ata Gilman, Antonio Land use and prehistory in South-east Spain. (The London research series in geography, ISSN 0261-0485; 8) 1. Man, Prehistoric - Spain, Southern 2. Site catchment analysis (Archaeology) - Spain, Southern 3. Spain, Southern - Antiquities I. Thornes, John B. II. Wise, Stephen III. Series 936'. 6 GN836.S6 ISBN 0-04-913022-6

L ib rary o f C ongress C atalo gin g in Publication D ata Gilman, Antonio. Land use and prehistory in south-east Spain. (The London research series in geography, ISSN 0261-0485; 8) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Economics, Prehistoric - Spain. 2 Copper age - Spain. 3. Bronze age - Spain. 4. Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric - Spain. 5. Land use - Spain - Social aspects. 6. Spain - Antiquities. I. Thornes, John B. II. Wise, Stephen. III. Title. IV. Series. GN835.G55 1984 936.6 84-9363 ISBN 0-04-913022-6 (alk. paper)

Set in 10 on 12 point Bembo by Computape (Pickering) Limited and printed in Great Britain by Mackays o f Chatham.

Preface T his w ork seeks to im prove understanding o f the prehistory o f south-east Spain by establishing a system atic geographic context within which to evaluate the archaeological record. South-east Spain includes the m ost arid region o f Europe, and that arid sector, today largely poverty-stricken, has yielded som e o f the continent’s richest C op p er and Bronze A ge remains. Traditionally this paradox has been explained by supposing that south-east Spain w as a focus o f influences from the already civilised Eastern M editerranean, but this view has been rendered untenable by the new, lengthened chronology established for Eu rope by radiocarbon dating. B y studying the location o f ancient settlements with respect to agricultural resources and by integrating this inform ation with excavated data from those sites, we can develop evidence that points to an alternative to the ex Oriente lux account o f the processes governing the C opper and B ronze A ge florescence o f south-east Spain. Site catchment analysis, the m ethod we have adopted, involves deduction o f the econom ic orientation o f the inhabitants o f an ancient settlement from the distribution o f resources in the settlem ent’s vicinity. T w o assum ptions are essential to this approach. The first, that sites were located so as to m inim ise the cost o f access to resources, is unproblem atical in the cultural context o f prehistoric Iberia. The second, that the distributions o f ancient and m odern resource spaces correspond system ati­ cally to one another, requires control over the m ajor factors governing land­ scape change over the millennia since the sites were occupied. These factors are vegetational degradation, erosion and agricultural m odernisation. Given appro­ priate m ethodological controls and thanks to the large num ber o f well know n later prehistoric settlem ents available within our region o f study, we can use site catchm ent analysis to show that the C op p er and Bronze A ge florescence was based on the developm ent o f an intensive, hydraulic agriculture. This intensifi­ cation o f production perm itted surpluses to be concentrated in the hands o f an elite, w hose wealth is recovered in the archaeological record. A. J.

B.

GILMAN THORNES

This page intentionally left blank

Acknowledgements In a jo in t enterprise such as the research presented here, it is im portant to assign responsibility for the various aspects o f the w ork. A ntonio Gilm an conducted the prehistoric and land-use investigations. Joh n B . Thornes designed and directed the geom orphological investigations, with the collaboration o f Stephen M . Wise, who carried out the field m apping and im plem ented the data processing. R obert Provin and D avid Fuller, staff cartographers in the D epartm ent o f G eography, California State U niversity, N orthridge (C S U N ), prepared the land-use m aps. B. J. D uffy, J. Pugh and J. Wyatt o f the London School o f Econ om ics draw ing office prepared the water diversion potential m aps. The land-use investigations were initiated in the sum m er o f 1977 with the support o f a N ational Endow m ent for the H um anities Sum m er Stipend to G ilm an, and were continued in the sum m er o f 1978 with the assistance o f grants from the Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones and the C alifornia State U n iver­ sity Foundation, N orthridge. Full project funding for fieldw ork and analysis in 1979-80 w as m ade possible by a N ational Endow m ent for the H um anities M atching Grant, by a Tinker Foundation Post-D octoral Fellowship to Gilm an, and by Grants from the Fundacion Juan M arch, the Fundacion U niversitaria Espariola, the Sociedad de Estudios y Publicaciones, the N orthridge A rchaeolo­ gical Research Center (C S U N ) and the Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences (C S U N ). Analysis o f the results o f the fieldw ork was greatly facilitated by the extension o f a second Fellow ship year to Gilm an by the Tinker Foun­ dation. We acknow ledge our profound gratitude to all o f these organisations and to their officers, o f w hom Katharine A bram ovitz, Andres A m oros, Em ilio G om ez O rbaneja, Andres Gonzalez, William Know les, Kenneth M axw ell, Katherine M iller and Pedro Sainz Rodriguez were o f particular assistance. D om on ic Vallese, Financial O fficer o f the U nited States Em bassy, M adrid, m ost kindly helped to arrange the transatlantic m atching o f grants. C . C. L am berg-K arlovsk y , D irector o f the Peabody M useum , H arvard U niversity, generously sponsored Gilm an as a Tinker Post-D octoral Fellow and m ade it possible for him to spend 1980-81 as a Visiting Scholar in C am bridge, M assachusetts. We wish to extend thanks also to those officials o f various agencies who facilitated our w ork in Spain. M anuel Fernandez-M iranda, Subdircctor de Bellas Artes o f the M inisterio de Cultura, kindly granted us official perm ission for our w ork. Jo rg e Porras M artin, head o f the D ivision de A guas Subterraneas in the Instituto G eologico y M inero de Espana, perm itted us to consult his organ isation ’s Inventario de Puntos de A gua. In this consultation we received the help o fjo s e Luis G uzm an del Pino, Manuel R uiz-T agle, M elchor Senent and

X

L A N D USE AN D P R E H I S T O R Y IN S O U T H - E A S T SPAI N

M anuel del Valle Cardenete o f the IG M E offices in M alaga, A lm eria, M urcia and Granada, respectively. A ngela Cuenca (Director, A rchivo H istorico Pro­ vincial, A lm eria), M aria Pilar N unez A lonso (Director, A rchivo de la Real Chancillerfa, Granada) and M aria Luisa Perez M as (D irector, A rchivo H istorico Provincial, M urcia) perm itted us to consult volum es o f the Catastro de la Ensenada in their care. In addition, we w ish to thank Cristina Echavarria, Laura Join es and D on ald T h o m p so n for volunteering their assistance during various phases o f our fieldw ork. G rego ry T ruex, D epartm ent o f A n th ropology (C S U N ), provided statistical advice and im plem ented the analysis o f variance o f land uses. It is im possible to give adequate thanks to a colleague w hose support, in this as in other things, m akes the struggle w orth while. In addition, we w ish to express our gratitude for help and advice o f various kinds to N icolas Cabrillana, Francisco Carbonell C adenas de Llano, Jav ier C arrasco Rus, R obert C hapm an, C arlos Dabezies, T im oth y Earle, M anuel G arcia Sanchez, Jo scfin a G om ez M endoza, Richard H arrison, R obert H ow ard , Francisco Jim enez Garrido, M anuel Laza Palacios, Keith M orton, A ngel Perez C asas, Jo se M anuel Ram irez A rjona, Gines R idao, Luis Sacristan, Ju d ith Saenz de T ejada, Ruth T ringh am , Ralph Vicero, Bernard Wailes and Ju an Z ozaya. N o survey project o f the kind undertaken here w ould have been possible w ithout the co-operation o f the m any people in the Spanish countryside w ho w ith unfailing politeness answ ered our questions and tolerated our trespassing. T o them all w e express our thanks. Finally, w e wish to thank our w ives, not ju st for the m any acts o f direct assistance in the research, but for putting up with our absences and our presences. J.B.T,

A.G.

Contents Preface

page

Acknowledgements List of tables

1 Introduction 2 Background and problem The environm ental setting Past archaeological research T he archaeological sequence Subsistence Theoretical perspectives Problem s N o tes

3 Land-use investigations M ethods o f site catchm ent analysis H istorical dim ensions: the Catastro de la Ensenada N o tes

vii ix xiii

1 10 10 15 16 24 28 31 34

35 35 41 47

4 Geomorphological investigations

48

Soil erosion Studies ofin d iv id ual site settings E rosion: conclusions Water diversion potential

49 62 76 77

5 Site territories La A lm oloya C am p ico de Lebor, La B astida The M azarron sites Vera basin sites T errera V entura L os M illares, C erro Enm edio E lT a rajal C u e v a d e A m brosio C erro de las Canteras

84 85 87 91 99 110 114 119 122 125

Xll

CONTENTS

E lP icach o E lM a la g o n C erro de la V irgen El Culantrillo, C erro del Gallo, C uesta del N e g ro C u eva de la C ariguela, C erro de los Castellones (Laborcillas), T orre C ardela C u eva de los M urcielagos (Zuheros) L os C astillejos (M ontefrio) C ueva de la M ujer, C ueva del A gua C erro de la Encina C u eva d e N e rja Su m m ary N o tes

6 Comparative analysis and conclusions T estin g the irrigation hypothesis A lternatives C on clusions N o tes Appendix

Correspondence between site territories and Ensenada localities

page

128 131 134 137 143 149 153 156 158 162 164 170 172 172 181 183 189

191

References

194

Index

207

List of tables 1.1 2.1 2.2 4.1 4.2 4.3

4.4 4.5 4.6 5.1 5.2 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4

page 2 Localities studied Sum m ary o f m ajor features o f the later prehistoric sequence 17 in south-east Spain Proportions o f econom ically significant species at C op p er and 26 Bronze A ge sites in south-east Spain D erived data on slope lengths and on mean gradients 56 Soil storage volum es and param eters for ru n o ff m odel 58 Relevant rainfall data for four provincial capitals, and typical overland flow s and sedim ent yields com puted according to the annual (Kirkby) m odel, using the storage values from Table 4.2 59 Annual overland flow and sedim ent yields for the annual m odel under vegetated conditions, using appropriate local data 60 E xcess w ater production using storm -event m odel 60 M aster list o f gaugin g stations used in analysis 79 Areas (ha) o f the land-use categories within the site territories 164 Potential land use to which the sites are oriented 169 R uggedness in the 35 site territories 174 M ean annual precipitation (mm ) in the 35 territories 175 Results o f the analysis o f variance o f land-use areas (ha) in the 35 site territories in south-east Spain 176 A djusted mean land-use areas (ha) and mean ruggedness for the 35 site territories 177

This page intentionally left blank

1

Introduction

T he w ork reported on here had its inception during a train ride which one o f us (A. Gilm an) took from Granada to Valencia som e 10 years ago. The line runs through the area that was the heartland o f the Los M illares and El A rgar C ultures, which together constitute the culm ination o f the richest later pre­ historic sequence in the Iberian Peninsula and one o f the richest in Europe. It w as surprising for a student reasonably well acquainted with the archaeological literature on these cultures to find that he w as riding through an apparent desert (the ‘N fjar D esert’ o f M eigs (1966)). Indeed, that one o f E u ro pe’s m ost rem arkable cultural successions occurred in that continent’s m ost arid region w as a paradox that prehistorians had left practically unm entioned. Here, then, w as a prom ising subject for future investigation. T he failure to consider the distinctive geographical setting in which the early villagers o f south-east Spain succeeded in m aking their living for millennia is sym ptom atic o f the general neglect o f the econom ic aspects o f prehistory by archaeologists o f the Iberian Peninsula. This neglect is the result o f the theoreti­ cal approach that has prevailed since the inception o f research a century ago until the present. With only a few exceptions, the m ost im portant task o f pre­ historians has been to reconstruct a history o f the highest achievem ents o f the hum an spirit as these are m anifested in the material record o f artifacts and architecture. This essentially art-historical approach sees cultural changes over tim e as sim ple shifts in ideas, m ostly brought about by influences from abroad. A rchaeologists have disagreed about the sources o f particular cultural features and about the specific m echanism s by which these m ay have been introduced. Som e have even maintained that certain Iberian developm ents were indigenous in character. B u t until very recently there has been general agreem ent that the proper objects o f archaeological study were stylistically distinctive artifacts and buildings and that the econom ic and geographical aspects o f prehistory were inherently uninteresting: the study o f subsistence practices and o f m an-land relations could only reveal m undane com m on denom inators o f little relevance to the hum an history that m attered. Even the excavator who recently dis­ covered an irrigation ditch o f C op p er A ge date reports this find as an exam ple o f yet another trait diffused into Iberia from the civilised centre o f the O rient (Schiile 1967). T he later prehistoric record in south-east Spain is rem arkable in that a considerable num ber o f settlement sites are attested for each successive period. (A list o f the sites that we have studied, a reasonably com prehensive sam ple o f the better-know n localities, is given in Table 1.1 and their location is indicated in Figure 1.1.) Research has tended to concentrate on the burials found in or near these villages, since the graves yield stylistically distinctive m aterials m ore

T able 1.1

Localities studied.

Site name

Period*

Reference

Location

La Almoloya Cerro de la Virgcn

B C, B

Pliego, Murcia Orce, Granada

Cueva de Ambrosio Cerro de las Canteras Campico de Lebor La Bastida

N C C B

La Cenuela Cueva de los Murcielagos (Zuheros) Torre Cardela

B N

Cueva de la Carigiiela

N

Cerro de los Castellones (Laborcillas) Cerro del Culantrillo El Malagon El Picacho

C

Cuadrado Diaz (1946) Schiile & Pellicer (1966), Schule (1980) Jimenez Navarro (1962) Motos (1918) Val Caturla (1948) Martinez Santa Olalla et al. (1947) Zamora Camellada (1976) Vicent Zaragoza & Munoz Amilibia (1973) Molina Fajardo & Capel Martinez (1975) Pellicer Catalan (1964b), Almagro Basch et al. (1970) Mendoza et al. (1975)

Cabez Negro de Pastrana Zapata Parazuelos Ifre Los Castillejos (Montefrio) Cuesta del Negro Cerro del Gallo Campos, Tres Cabezos Fuente Alamo

El Oficio Cerro de la Encina Lugarico Viejo Fuente Bermeja El Argar, El Garcel, La Gerundia Gatas Cueva de la Mujer, Cueva del Agua Los Millares Terrera Ventura Cerro de Enmedio El Barranquete, El Tarajal Cueva de Nerja

C

Velez Blanco, Almeria Velez Blanco, Almeria Totana, Murcia Totana, Murcia Mazarron, Murcia Zuheros, Cordoba Torre Cardela, Granada Pinar, Granada

Laborcillas, Granada

Garcia Sanchez (1963) Arnbas et al. (1977) Hernandez Hernandez & Dug Godoy (1975) B Aubet et al. (1979) B Siret & Siret (1887) Siret & Siret (1887) C Siret & Siret (1887) B Arribas & Molina (1977, N, C 1979) Molina Gonzalez & Pareja B Lopez (1975) B Torre Pena & Aguayo de Hoyos (1976) Siret & Siret; (1887) C, N? Siret & Siret (1887) B Schubart & Arteaga (1978, 1980) Siret & Siret (1887) B Arribas et al. (1974) B Siret & Siret (1887) B Siret & Siret (1887) B B, N?, C Siret & Siret (1887)

Gorafe, Granada Cullar-Baza, Granada Oria, Almeria

B N

Siret & Siret (1887) MacPherson (1870)

Turre, Almeria Alhama, Granada

C

Almagro Basch & Arribas (1963) Gusijener (1975) Molina et al. (1980) Almagro Gorbea (1973, 1976) Pellicer Catalan (1963)

Santa Fe de Mondujar, Almeria Tabernas, Almeria Pechina, Almeria Nijar, Almeria Nerja, Malaga

B C B

N?, C B C N

* B = Bronze Age; C = Copper Age; N = Neolithic.

Lorca, Murcia Lorca, Murcia Lorca, Murcia Mazarron, Murcia Montefrio, Granada Purullena, Granada Fonelas, Granada Cuevas, Almeria Cuevas, Almeria

Cuevas, Almeria Monachil, Granada Antas, Almeria Antas, Almeria Antas, Almeria

■Malaga

C a s tille jo s \ (M o n te friS ) I

F i g u r e 1.1

Ner/a m f

v M u je jJ A q ua

-J tmZ u y o s p '

1 J a e n —1

■ Granada

f j *

/"

a+ j

g S 'C u /a n tri/lo

/ ♦ •* ^ [• G a l/O Cuesta del N eg ro ■/- X \ *

,•

Torre \ Car de l

J.%sborcil*sm Carols*

. •I J

«

:>

ii ,,

]

/

M il tares

\

JX

y

•*

(

■

/ J/

'^ ^ lt~ ~ ^ * G a ta s

\

B arranquete

\

X"

^ C a m p o s / Tres C abezos

T

Fuente li'erm e/a^S '^V / / „ • ~ )m G e ru n d ia / A r g a r /G a r c e l Lugartco Vie/o y y j '

JT errera Ventura

■-.‘j

•

„

•

Cabezo N eg ro * ! f re * Z a p a ta ■ * r P arazuelos

• •

**. 0.1 mm

Average rainfall per rainy day

233 473 474 304

42 77 56 47

5.547 6.142 8.464 6.46

Almerfa Granada Malaga Murcia

(b) Overland flow (1 yr ]) and relative sediment yield (in brackets) for a 20 m long, 10° rilled bare slope on different lithologies. Erosion coefficient (k iri equation 4.1) is set at 0.02. Annual figures based on Kirkby (1977); the model and storage volumes are described in the text

Almerfa Granada Malaga Murcia

L

MS

MM

C

CC

M

CH

V

0.92 (0.00095) 4.3 (0.021) 35.0 (1.4) 4.0 (0.018)

0.18 (0.000035) 0.907 (0.0011) 12.0 (0.2) 1 (0.0011)

4.0 (0.02) 18 (0.34) NA

0.18 (0.000035) 0.97 (0.0011) 12 (0.2) 1 (0.0011)

0.095 (0.000010) 55 (0.00034) 8.0 (0.08) 0.6 (0.00037)

27.0 (0.84) 91 (9.3) NA

NA

0.16 (0.000027) NA

NA = not applicable.

15 (0.27)

74 (6.17)

170 (32.3) NA NA

NA 1.0 (0.001)

T ab le 4.4 Annual overland flow and relative sediment yields delivered from rilled and unrilled 20 m, 10° vegetated slopes within site territories. rc = 100(Ea/E p)() 5 using rainfall data from the most appropriate provincial capitals and evapotranspiration data derived from rainfall and from discharge measured at local stream gauging stations.

Site territories Vera basin sites, Gatas, El Oficio, Los Millares, Enmedio, El Barranquete Tabernas Almoloya Virgen Mazarron sites Campico/Bastida Ambrosio, Canteras Culantrillo, Guadix sites Nerja Alhama, El Picacho Malagon, Zuheros Laborcillas, Montefrfo Encina

Overland flow

Rilled slopes

Unrilled slopes

(i y r- 1)

( X l 0 ~ 4)

( X U ) - 6)

Capitals

rc

Almerfa Almerfa Murcia Granada Murcia Murcia Granada

46 47 51 51 53 54 62

1.16 0.97 2.28 2.34 1.43 1.67 0.39

15 10 58 63 23 31 2

Almerfa Malaga

63 64

0.054 0.49

33 270

Granada Granada

64 65

0.28 0.24

8.9 0.61

0.22 1.4

Granada Granada

69 77

0.13 0.034

0.18 0.013

0.043 0.0033

3.8 2.6 14 14 5.8 7.9 0.42 0.0083 4.0

T ab le 4.5 Estimated excess water production (mm) from 1 h storm with K t= 0 using the stormevent (Scoging-Thornes) model. K t is the outflow from the base o f the soil profile. Storm intensity

limestone (L) mica-schist (MS) mixed metamorphics (MM) conglomerates (C) calichified conglomerates (CC) marls (M) chalk (CH) volcanics (V)

60 mm h 1

120 mm h ~1

12.7 3.5 21.4 3.6 0.09 31.65 35.3 2.8

72.7 63.5 81.4 63.6 60.1 91.5 95.3 62.8

SOIL EROSION

61

ranges reported by the literature for sim ilar environm ents. Thus, the figure o f 380 tonne k m ~ 2 y r _1 given by H olcm an (1968) for the C olorado River basin is com parable to the annual m odel for unvegetated slopes. The rates quoted by Y oun g (1974) for surface w ash in environm ents com parable to those o f south­ east Spain arc 1000 tonne k m ~ 2 y r_1 (from Schum m 1964) and 450 tonne k m _ 2 y r_1 (from C am pbell 1970). The expected sedim ent yields for climatic conditions like those o f our study area predicted by the Langbein and Schum m (1958) curve range from 200 to 400 tonne k m _ 2 y r_1. For the G uadix basin, estim ates o f sedim ent yield using the m odels o f Fournier (1960), C arson and K irkby (1972) and Jensen and Painter (1974) cluster around 25 tonne k m “ 2 y r- 1 . M easured rates based on the very lim ited data on suspendedsedim ent yields available from several river gau ging stations in the region show values o f about 16 tonne k m _ 2 y r_1, with a range between 7 and 72. One o f these stations is located in the Culantrillo site territory where the annual m odel predicts that erosion rates for marls will range from 0.00005 tonne k m _ 2 y r_1 on vegetated ungullied slopes to 500 tonne k m ” 2 y r_1 on bare gullied slopes. Since only a little over h alf the Culantrillo territory con­ sists o f m arls and only sm all areas o f the m arls are both unvegetated and gullied, the predictions o f our m odels are o f a sim ilar order o f m agnitude to actual sedim ent yields. All the rates calculated from the various em pirical indices, from the lim ited available observations and from the ‘vegetated’ m odels outlined above indi­ cate quite low rates o f erosion for low -m agnitude, high-frequency events in the south-east o f Spain. This is consistent with the recently held general belief that in sem i-arid environm ents virtually all the w ork on the landscape is done in extrem e events. O nly in highly localised, heavily gullied settings or under high-m agnitude, low -frequency events do the rates reach significant propor­ tions. In the great 1973 flood (with a recurrence o f m ore than 500 years), T orre (1973) estim ated ground losses o f between 56 and 420 m m on m icaschists in the A lpujarras, the mean value o f 41 locations being 151 m m . The values for m ica-schists in the N erja area for the 60 m m storm m odel are about 440 m m on gullied slopes. A lthough the m odel appears to overestim ate the erosion rate, som e o f the discrepancies m ay be accounted for by the non­ universality o f gullying, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by the steepness o f slopes in the N erja site territory (at 48% , much steeper than those in the A lpujarras). We reiterate the point m ade earlier: extrem e cases o f erosion are associated with intensive gully developm ent on low -storage lith­ ologies. O ther rates are generally low and indicate only m oderate am ounts o f erosion, m ainly because o f the relative paucity o f runoff. This result is contrary to the expectations we held before our w ork and contrary to the first im pression created by the visual im pact o f the landscape, and we shall return to it. First, how ever, we m ust address the question o f the nature and age o f gully grow th in the region.

62

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIO NS

Studies of individual site settings In the previous section w e assessed the potential erosion losses on the various lithologies within the site territories under study. T his analysis indicates that the areas that m ight be expected to have suffered the highest erosional losses w ould be the m arls. H ere the com bination o f a fairly susceptible lith ology with extrem ely low storage and correspondingly high ru n o ff potential favours the m axim u m possible erosion. T he typical badlands m orp h ology o f m uch o f the m arls - high drainage densities, steep slopes, often with little vegetation cover and extensive gullying - supports the notion that erosion on low -storage lithologies has been catastrophic. It is surprising, therefore, to find reasonably intact archaeological sites in these areas, with in situ m aterial 3500 to 6000 years old. T he location o f these sites along ridge tops and on river bluffs leaves little d oubt that, although som e erosion has taken place since they w ere occupied, the gro ss m orp h ology o f the landscape can have changed very little. In order to investigate this further, detailed studies w ere carried out in the vicinity o f six o f these sites. Three o f them , C erro del Gallo, C uesta del N e g ro and El C ulantrillo, are located in the vast badlands o f the G uadix basin; the other three, La G erundia, El A rgar and El Garcel, are located near Antas in the Vera basin. A t each site, geom orph ological m aps (F ig s4.5, 4.6, 4.8 & 4.10) were prepared at a scale o f ca. 1: 2500 in order to illustrate the relationship betw een the archaeological deposits and the landform s. A t the three G uadix basin sites, topographical m aps w ere also constructed using accurately surveyed spot heights interpolated with the aid o f air photographs. In the geom orp h ological m aps, sym b ols based on the system o f Savigear (1965) represent the form o f the land surface, with no im plications regarding its form ation or developm ent. B reaks o f slope w ere m apped first and identified as either sharp or sm ooth and either convex or concave. R id ge tops (alw ays convex) were m apped using a slightly different sym bol. Steep free faces and gully backw alls w ere also separately m apped since they constitute a distinctive and im portant elem ent within the landscape. O ther sym bols, based in part on those o f C o o k e and D oo rn k am p (1974), distinguish various erosional processes (erosion by flow ing water, especially on hill slopes) and various types o f m ass m ovem ent. Surface m aterials w ere also m apped to distinguish between erosional and depositional surfaces. R iver terraces and pedim ents are also identified. Guadix basin sites T he three sites in our sam ple that are located in the G u adix area (Fig. 4.4) were selected for detailed study because that region show s som e o f the m ost intensive erosional topograph y in Spain and, indeed, the w orld. It is w idely assum ed that rates o f erosion in the G uadix badlands are exceptionally high. A s a result, here, if anywhere, there should have been appreciable change in the distribution o f land available for agriculture. T h e T ertiary basin to the north o f the city o f G uadix lies betw een the Sierra N ev ad a to the south, the Sierra H arana to the north-w est and the Sierra de G o r

kilo m e tre s 10 -1----------------1 ★ Archaeological site 0

u.

^

-f

; v { '■ /

f r i ■" n

» o'c 0 o

•

. • v > i

> * 1 M ^ V T h ". . * /* ^ „

{

i f

\fe

L

*Torre-Cardela\. J J r EI C

u l a n t r i I ° /

°

^ ^ x ^ tG o ra fe ; (•

‘ • cW > * ■ -/'

>.cr- Neogene < QL LLl Palaeogene I-

Triassic Jurassic

Glacis deposits Conglomerate and Caliche Tertiary depositional basin: marls, silts and sands with conglomerate beds Volcamcs Marls, limestone and marly limestone Overthrust

Figure 4.4

}

» Benalua d e j ^Guadix 0 / S. « « 1

Geological map o f the Guadix basin.

Betic Zone ALPUJARRIDE COMPLEX Triassic Limestone Permo-Triassic Micaschist, phyllites and quartzites Cambrian NEVADO-FILABRIDE COMPLEX Triassic Micaschist, amphibolites, gneisses and quartzites Cambrian MALAGUIDE COMPLEX Limestone, greywackes, Permo-Triassic phyllites, sandstones Cambrian and quartzites

64

GEO MO RPH OLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

to the east (Fig. 4.4). The basin fill com prises m arls and sands w ith con glom er­ ate beds. Progressive subsidence has allow ed the Tertiary fill to reach a thickness o f several hundred m etres (Vera 1970). T he basin fill is capped by extensive caliche deposits presum ed to be o f Q uaternary age. The long-term denudational history o f the basin has been discussed by B irot and Sole Sabaris (1959), w ho conclude that it w as closed until the breaching o f the northern divide by the G uadiana M enor River in the upper Tertiary. T his is thought to have initiated the w ave o f erosion that dissected the Tertiary basin. Three types o f terrain can be distinguished within the basin as a whole: (a) (b)

(c)

the hills and m ountains o f the Betic fold system the gently sloping upper surface o f the Tertiary fill, which passes m argi­ nally onto pediplains cut across folded lim estones and m etam orphic rocks, and is extensively calichified the m arl badlands form ed by the dissection o f the T ertiary fill

D rainage densities in this area are everyw here very high, but the form o f the slopes varies from the escarpm ent edge (where the available relief is high and near-vertical free faces are the dom inant shape form ), to the m ajor channels (where the relief becom es progressively m ore subdued and the slopes m ore convex), to the river valleys (where conical marl hills em erge from the allu­ vium ). T he three sites are located in a full range o f these environm ents. C u esta del N e g ro is near the edge o f the escarpm ent, E l C ulantrillo in the m iddle o f the badlands and C erro del G allo near the valley axis. Rainfall within the G uadix basin is about 300 m m y r- 1 , but it rises rapidly to 500 m m or m ore on the edges. T em peratures show large diurnal and seasonal ranges o f about 25°C , and sum m er evaporation rates are very high. C lim atic data su gg est that som e 17.8% o f the rainfall appears as ru n o ff (m ainly in winter), a figure in reasonable agreem ent with the records from gau gin g stations (N egratm , 14.6% ; Posito, 17.1% ). ‘Effective’ rainfall for the basin edges is about 30% o f the total. Rainfall intensities can be crudely estim ated for stations near each o f the archaeological sites. For a 30 min storm w ith a 2.33 year return rate, they are about 18 to 2 0 m m h _1, and for a 100 year return storm about 90 to 1 5 0 m m h _1 (IC O N A 1979). U sin g the techniques outlined earlier, the estim ated volum etric storage o f the m arls is about 28 m m and o f the calichified pedim ent about 58 m m . T his su ggests that saturated overland flow s m ay occur, at least sporadically, m ost w inters. Stream sedim ent load figures are, as w e have noted on p. 61, low , the dom inant transport m ode being by solution (which is about eight tim es the suspended-load transport). Cuesta del Negro T he site (Fig. 4.5) lies on a long spur descending from the flat plain east o f D iezm a dow n to the Fardes River. T he plain itself, w ith thick caliche horizons at its surface, represents the alm ost unbroken top o f the T ertiary fill o f the basin. T he surface is diachronous and im possible to date.

Minor

Residual hill

Smooth ridge top

Sharp ridge top

Free face I Gully backwall

Smooth break of slope

Sharp break of slope

F i g u r e 4.5

Mud flow

Flow slide

Debris chute

•

''.OW'-mP. El A rg a r

K nw I

/fG a E‘ XT rcelm y It:: : / T r r r ,

Archaeological deposits 0

F ig u r e 4.10

metres

200

G e o m o rp h o lo g ical m ap o f El A rgar, La G erundia and El G arcel.

S T U D I E S OF I N D I V I D U A L S I T E S E T T I N G S

73

against the m ountains, but have been breached by the drainage system s o f the Rivers A lm anzora, Antas and A guas. T o w ard s the centre o f the basin this conglom erate has been largely rem oved and rem ains only in sm all patches capping residual hills. Elsew here the land­ scape is dom inated by marl slopes, som etim es intensely dissected to form badlands. N ear the site the Low er M iocene m arls and conglom erates are steeply folded into m onoclinal ridges but the U p per M iocene, Pliocene and Q uaternary deposits are less deform ed. The U p per M iocene m arls here are fine textured and with poorly developed bedding characteristic o f deposition in relatively still water. T o the south o f the site is a well developed escarpm ent o f Pliocene conglom erates (e.g. V olk 1967) which sheds coarse debris to the north tow ards the V era-H uercal O vera road. These colluvial materials are heavily calichified. The south- and southeastern-facing scarp and glacis are well defined, the latter form ing a well developed and probably diachronous surface truncated tow ards the axis o f the depression by the River Antas and dissected by a dense netw ork o f gullies cut into the m arl glacis. The sites (Fig. 4.10) are placed on the glacis between the Antas and the ridge o f uplifted m arls to the north-east in the area o f deep dissection. Elsew here in this part o f the basin the m arls have a very subdued relief with sm ooth convexo-concave slopes. The badlands near the sites have steep-w alled flat-floored gullies w hose slopes becom e m ore gentle tow ards the Antas. The steep faces at the head o f the ramblas m ay exceed 15 m in height and are dom inated by piping and m ass m ovem ent. T ow ard s the A ntas, slopes range from 25° to 40° and are characterised by rilling and slope w ash. A t the m ouths o f the gullies their alluvium grades into a terrace a few m etres above the contem porary bed o f the R iver Antas. T he ridge tops on which the sites lie are surrounded on all sides by steep slopes show ing clear evidence o f rilling and m ass m ovem ent. The sides border­ ing the stream are near-vertical and are clearly being trim m ed at the base by the R io A ntas. T he sites o f La Gerundia and El A rgar are separated by a divide form ed by the headw ards erosion o f a steep gully draining into the Antas. The sites o f El A rgar and El Garcel are separated by the m outh o f the main rambla o f the badland drainage system . Each site contains distinct archaeological assem ­ blages belonging to different phases o f the prehistoric sequence. The archaeo­ logical evidence, excavated by Siret and Siret (1887), is review ed on p. 105. El Garcel dates to the Late N eolithic and/or Early C op p er A ge, La Gerundia to the later C o p p er A ge, and El A rgar to the Bronze A ge (o f which it is the regional type site). T hus, the sites date to the fourth, third and second millennia B C , respectively. Given the proxim ity o f these sites, it seem s unlikely that the m aterials from each m illennium should be largely segregated on separate hilltops unless the hilltops were separated, as they are now , at the tim e o f the sites’ occupations. The lack o f any archaeological deposits on any o f the nearby hilltops sim ilarly suggests that the rambla system behind the sites w as present when they were occupied. T hus, the archaeological evidence from these sites

74

GEO MO RPH OLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

su ggests that the gross m orp h ology o f this badland area has changed very little since the occupation o f the site at E l Garcel som e 6000 years ago. A t this point w e m ay sum m arise the evidence. First, there is the visual appearance o f the spectacular m arl badlands o f the G uadix and other Tertiary depositional basins in south-east Spain. Their high drainage densities and steep, sparsely vegetated valley side slopes, coupled with the sem i-arid climate, lead one to expect very rapid rates o f erosion. The estim ates o f erosion rates and the lim ited available sedim ent load data indicate, how ever, erosion rates that are quite m odest in global term s (Fournier 1960). In the G uadix basin they are o f the order o f only 25 tonne k m -2 y r- 1 . The in situ archaeological deposits also im p ly greater slope stability and less rapid erosion than the visual evidence su ggests. T he four core areas o f site territories that we have studied in detail are not isolated exam ples by any m eans. T res C abezos and C am p o s, T errera Ventura, C erro de la V irgen, La B astida and C erro de la Encina are other sites located on m arl bluffs and prom ontories defined by highly dissected drainages. T he position ing o f the rem ains at all o f these sites su ggests the considerable geom orp h ological stability o f their surroundings. T h e sparse vegetation cover resulting from a harsh climate and from overgrazing reveals clearly every geom orphic detail and thereby creates a m isleading im pression o f catastrophic erosion. The apparent contrast between the ‘hard’ Palaeozoic and M esozoic rocks and the T ertiary deposits reinforces this im pres­ sion although closer inspection reveals the m arls to be well cemented and capable o f m aintaining nearly vertical slopes. All the sam e, extrem ely high drainage densities and steep slopes appear difficult to reconcile with low erosion rates. T he sim plest explanation for this anom aly is that the erosion rates obtained by sim ulations and from available records are incorrect and should be higher. O b servation s are few in num ber, unreliable in quality, and recorded only for a short period. M oreover, hum an activities, such as the construction o f earth banks across ramblas to trap flood w ater and sedim ents, m ay have suppressed sedim ent yield figures below those which w ould occur naturally. (At the sam e tim e, how ever, the recent w idespread neglect o f terracing, a result o f the reduction o f rural population over the past 25 years, m ay have caused unusually high erosion rates in the period for which we have records o f sedim ent yields.) T h e estim ates based on our m odels agree very well with the published yield data in the G uadix area, but this m ay partly reflect the use o f the sam e basic param eters in all m odels. Furtherm ore, the m odels use param eters based on lon g-term clim atic m eans, whereas in south-east Spain the large variations that occur over the short term are probably m ore im portant. A second explanation is that rates were m uch higher in the past because the clim ate w as different. The m odels o f Langbein and Schum m (1958) and C arso n and K irk by (1972) are very sensitive to sm all changes in the values o f clim atic inputs under sem i-arid conditions. The lim ited available evidence on

S T U D I E S OF I N D I V I D U A L S I T E S E T T I N G S

75

past climates im plies, how ever, relatively stable conditions over the past several thousand years. T he argum ent that w idespread erosion in M editerranean lands is the result o f forest clearance and other such agricultural activities is incom patible with the archaeological evidence (see discussion in D avidson (1980)). T hus, if a change in climate is the explanation for higher erosion rates in the past, since the present patterns o f slopes, gullies and channels w as in existence before later prehistoric sites were occupied, the climatic changes responsible m ust have been Q uaternary in age. T he m ost likely explanation o f the low erosion rates in spectacularly eroded settings is the long-term denudational history o f basins in south-east Spain. In the G uadix area, the breaching o f the endorrheic basin in late Tertiary times, coupled with progressive uplift, m ay have led to outw ard propagation o f the netw ork from the principal channels by headw ard erosion. Parker (1977) has show n experim entally that this tends to occur by the addition o f first-order channels when there is continued basal incision. This addition tends to be cyclical, accom panied by alternately high and low sedim ent yields with an exponential decay in yields between the peaks. The present-day restriction o f erosion to m inor extensions in headw ater areas, the developm ent o f fills with only slight incision along the m ain valley axes, and the relative atrophy o f form s near the centre o f the basin appear consistent with the hypothesis that the G uadix drainage system is an ancient and m ature one. Even i f one assum es the pre-existence o f a netw ork that w as subsequently entrenched in the headwater areas with aggradation occurring dow nstream , the incision o f the high-density netw ork w ould lead to convex slopes with basal incision and rem oval o f deposits. These conditions are conducive to slopes that are stable in response to ru n o ff events and unlikely to be dissected (Sm ith & Bretherton 1972, K irkby 1980b). This explanation is consistent with the observation that uplift has occurred over the entire G uadix basin since Pliocene times. It is also in agreem ent with observations elsewhere in the region that the im pact o f the 1973 flood w as predom inantly on the channel m argins, through land slides, or (in upland areas) in the channels them selves (Thornes 1976), which suggests that coupling o f hillslope and channel erosion is poor. If we accept that a long history o f denudation explains the low erosion rates in the G uadix badlands, how likely is it that other areas o f extensive badlands in south-east Spain are sim ilarly undergoing only m odest change at the present and recently? O bservation s at som e reservoirs certainly indicate a high rate o f sedim entation (Lopez Berm udez 1973, Lopez Berm udez & Gutierrez Escudo 1982), although this m ight be due to channel trenching rather than hillslope dissection. The historical-em pirical record alone is unlikely ever to be com ­ plete enough to resolve these problem s conclusively for every area o f south­ east Spain. For the m om ent we have show n that, in the G uadix and Vera basins, m ajor developm ent o f gullies occurred before sites were occupied several thousand years ago. Here, and probably elsewhere, subsequent adjust­ ments have been through local headw ard erosion and som e channel incision

76

GEO M O RPH OLOG ICAL INVESTIGATIONS

rather than by hillslope dissection and m ajor gully developm ent and exten­ sion.

Erosion: conclusions O u r in vestigations concerning the m agnitude o f erosion in south-east Spain in form our reconstruction o f prehistoric land use in tw o w ays. First, they indicate that the overall p roportions o f landform s within the site territories has been fairly stable over the past several thousand years. Flat or gently sloping interfluves suitable for farm ing have not been lost on any large scale to the progressive encroachm ent o f badland gullies, even on lithologies w h ose low m oisture storage/h igh ru n o ff potentials m ake them particularly susceptible to erosion. E ven i f w e set aside the findings suggested by our detailed exam ination o f the settings o f archaeological sites in badland areas, it w ou ld be difficult to envisage great changes in landform s as a result o f regolith loss. O n the assu m ption that the escarpm ent at the top o f a slope is level, the retreat o f the escarpm ent m ay be estim ated by: R = Dx/sin /

i

N

x

> u-— , 1 vS ; ; \ F f— V L p \ t

’S s Site Location 1. C a m p ic o de Le b o r 2 La B as tida

E le va tio n s in m ete rs

M onte (non-arable) Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farm ing 0

i

1______________ 2 km

Irrigated

Figure 5.4 Land-use potential w ithin the overlapp in g 1 h territories o f La B astida and E l C am p ico de L ebor. territory, and w e have adjusted the distribution o f regadio by elim inating areas on the Guadalentin plain furthest dow n stream along the principal w ater source, the R am bla de los M olinos. We have retained, how ever, the evidently palaeotechnic irrigated area now out o f use at the m outh o f the Lebor. The regadio on the Guadalentin plain in the southw estern sector o f the territories, an area receiving its irrigation water from the above-m entioned reservoirs, has been m apped at its 1956 extent. In the absence o f upstream dam m ing, the G uadalentin (which now only has flow s during very large storm events) w ould carry large w inter flow s, which w ould be available for irrigation in the southern peripheries o f the site territories (Fig. 5.3). A t the sam e time, short o f an exhaustive analysis o f the m assive Respuesta Particular for all o f the very large m unicipal territory o f Lorca (within which the irrigated area under consider­ ation lies), an accurate assessm ent o f the extent o f pre-reservoir regadio within the site territories is im possible. Since any reduction o f the extent o f irrigated land in the peripheral areas o f the site territories w ould tend to favour our hypothesis (that C op p er and B ronze A ge sites in the arid zone o f south-east Spain w ere located so as to exploit irrigable land) by increasing the relative p roportion o f irrigated land in the core areas o f the territories, we have m apped

THE M A Z A R R O N SI TES

91

the regadio in the southw estern sector at its 1956 extent. For the sam e reason, we have not added boquera land along the Lebor: only exhaustive analysis o f the T o tan a-A led o Relation General w ould perm it determ ination o f the extent o f boquera-fed land near the sites, and any arbitrary addition o f boquera area to the core o f the territories w ould favour our hypothesis. Because both C am p ico and B astida are located in an area o f marl badlands, monte is the predom inant land-use category in the core o f their territories (see Fig. 5.4): it form s 56% o f the C am p ico and 82% o f the Bastida 3 0 min territories, but only 30% and 39% respectively o f the 2 h territories as wholes. B y the sam e token, the proportion o f m ost agricultural land-use categories increases as one m oves aw ay from the sites. T he exception is terraced land, which is m ore abundant in the 30 min territories (8% o f the total area at C am p ico, 14% at Bastida) than in the 2 h territories (5% and 6% respectively). T his occurs because the principal lithology near the site is marl, on which terracing is particularly necessary to check soil loss. The R am bla de Lebor, along which both sites are situated, is (as Fig. 5.3 indicates) one o f the three principal sources o f w ater in the territories, but the narrow canyon through which it flow s provides little land for irrigation above the point where the stream reaches the Guadalentm plain. T he Guadalentm R iver in the southern periphery o f the site territories has far m ore abundant flow s (although a large ephem eral stream w andering across its floodplain during highly irregular events m ay have been difficult to control w ith prehistoric technology). The R am bla de los M olinos in the north-east sector o f the territories not only has m ore water than the Lebor (besides its estim ated winter w ater yield o f 19 to 22 I s -1 , it is fed by springs with an aggregate and year-round flow o f 141 s -1 ), but also has m ore land accessible to gravity-fed irrigation. While C am pico and B astida are located in the vicinity o f significant hydraulic resources (which have been m ore heavily used in the recent past than they are now ), it is clear that the overall distribution o f land and w ater w ould m ake other locations in the area even m ore suitable for irrigation agriculture. N ear the sites dry-farm ed land (preferably terraced) is the dom inant potential land use.

The Mazarron sites: La Cenuela, Ifre, Parazuelos, Cabezo Negro de Pastrana, Zapata T he sites o f the M azarron group are located in coastal M urcia province on the seaw ard side o f the Sierra de la Alm enara. La Cenuela (elevation 240 m) is located on a m arl hillock above the R am bla del Puntarron, and Parazuelos (elevation 88 m) on a conglom erate outcrop beside the R am bla de Ram onete. T hese tw o ramblas are, as Figure 5.5 indicates, tw o o f the principal stream s draining the A lm enara chain. Ifre (elevation 219 m ), Z apata (elevation 360 m) and C ab ezo N e g ro (elevation 360 m) are also located near stream s, but are on the su m m its o f calcareous ridges, outliers o f the sierra. There are no raingauge

' L a Cehuela A

C a be zo Negro If re Z a p a ta Parazuelos

0

kilometres

4

1-2

'

3 -5

Litres/second

7

8-11

21

802

F i g u r e 5.5 M ean w inter w ater yields w ithin the overlap p in g 2 h territories o f the M azarron sites.

THE M A Z A R R O N SI TES

93

stations within the site territory, but it is clear that along the im m ediate coast m ean annual precipitation w ould be under 200 m m : at A guilas, on the coast to the south-w est, m ean precipitation is 1 7 7 m m y r_1, while at C ab o T in o so to the east it is 1 5 1 m m y r _1 (Leon Llam azares et al. 1974). T otals w ou ld rise rapidly as one m oves up into the sierra, which reaches a height o f alm ost 900 m. T he area along the im m ediate coast w ould have a clim ax vegetation o f thorny bushes, a scrub com m unity including such species as the palm etto and the boxthorn. M o st o f the rest o f the site territories w ould be covered with a chaparral form ation like that described for the C am p ico -B astid a territories im m ediately to the north (p. 87). The lim its o f the Zapata and C abezo N eg ro 2 h territories reach the heights o f La Alm enara, where stands o f evergreen oak m ight be expected. While fairly intact areas o f scrub and chaparral are still present within the territories, m ost areas are either cleared for cultivation or overgrazed to a sparse cover o f arom atics. T he Sirets’ (1887, pp. 45-50, plates 6-8) excavations o f the 30 to 60 cm deep deposit at Parazuelos uncovered a large, subrectangular, stone-w alled structure (38 m X 16 m) and an artifact inventory o f residential debris (potsherds, querns) which included such M illaran elements as bifacially flaked points, large flint blades and a copper awl. The four other sites in this group are all A rgaric. Ifre, also excavated by the Sirets (1887, pp. 85-96, plates 17& 18), is located on a ridge tow ering over 100 m above the rambla at its base. The acropolis covers about 0.2 ha; the closely packed stone structures (walls were found standing to a height o f 1 m) and dom estic debris (ceramics, querns, loom w eights, bone awls, a possible bread oven) indicate that the site was used not ju st as a tem porary refuge but as a perm anent habitation. The ja r burials underneath the floors yielded classic Bronze A ge diagnostics (chalices, carinated vases, flat copper axes, and so on). Zapata, another o f the Sirets’ sites (1887, pp. 101-6, plates 19-21), is also located on a high hill, over 80 m above the R am bla del R io A m ir. T he sum m it has 1 to 2 m o f settlement debris, including hearths, pottery and loom w eights. C ist burials were found on the sum m it and also on the southern slopes o f the hill. Since A rgaric burials are typically located under house floors, the settlem ent m ay have covered m ore than the ca. 0.1 ha at the sum m it. The burials contained such typical A rgaric elements as chalices and riveted daggers. A t La Cenuela the Sirets (1887, p. 107) reported prehistoric m aterials from tw o low hillocks 100 m apart. Excavations in 1973-74 at the southern hillock by Z am ora C am ellada (1976) revealed tw o constructional levels o f stone-w alled houses with burnt w attle-and-daub from the collapsed roofs. N o burials were found, but the ceram ics from the site included fragm ents o f chalices; a flat copper axe also indicated an A rgaric age. C abezo N eg ro de Pastrana w as excavated in 1977 by a team from the U niversities o f Barcelona and M urcia (Aubet etal. 1979). The site covers the hill slope at the end o f the ridge separating the drainages o f the R am bla de Pastrana and the Barranco de la Canada. T est pits uncovered 1.5 m o f archaeological deposits with abundant dom estic debris (including ceram ics, querns and a raised

94

SITE TE RR IT ORI ES

silo with carbonised grain). The metal objects and the pottery clearly indicate an A rgaric occupation (cf. the intact chalice - A ubet et al. 1979, Fig. 3). T he various lithologies within the site territory are located in different topographic settings. T he sierra and its outliers consist o f lim estones, m icaschists, m ixed m etam orphics and volcanics. C on glom erates, som etim es calichified, form pedim ents at the base o f the ridges, while the valleys are filled with m arls and Q uaternary alluvium . N o n e o f these lithologies have m ore than m oderate erosion potential. This is because the hard rocks and conglom erates have relatively high infiltrabilities and the m arls have relatively low relief. O n the m arls, erosion is now checked by terracing along drainage lines (see Fig. 5.6). The agricultural landscape in these site territories has changed greatly in the past 25 years. T he absence o f frost in this coastal area has led to the w idespread g row in g o f winter vegetables for urban m arkets. Water for these farm ing operations has been obtained from deep wells, which have caused the w ater table to drop 50 to 100 m , so that springs throughout the area have dried up. In the m unicipality o f M azarron in the 1960s only five springs were still flow ing in the area covered by the site territories (N avarro A lvargonzalez & Figueras

La Cenuela

|

| Monte (non-arable)

|

| Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farming Irrigated Site Location E le va tion s in m ete rs

N 0 0

Figure 5.6

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f La Cenuela.

1

2 km 1 mi

THE M A ZA RR O N SITES

95

M olina, undated), and none are recorded in the current IG M E Inventario de Puntos de Agua. Fortunately, the destruction o f the hydraulic base o f the traditional irrigation in this area post-dates the 1956 air photographs, which still reveal the ‘m any farm houses with plots o f irrigated land thanks to the springs w hich com e from the nearby m ountains’ m entioned by M adoz (1846-50, X , p. 376), as well as the areas o f floodw ater farm ing traditional to the area (cf. M adoz 1846-50, X I, p. 322). It is clear that the area o f irrigation within the site territories m ust have increased greatly from the m id-18th to the m id-20th centuries, how ever: the 1757 Ensenada Respuesta General for M azarron reports only 21.7 ha o f regadio within a m unicipal territory larger than, but only partially overlapping with, the site territories. T he increase over the past tw o centuries took place entirely on the basis o f a traditional, gravity-fed technology, so that the expansion can be seen as a realisation o f irrigation potential during a period o f rapid population increase. A ccordingly, the distribution o f irrigated land in the 1956 air photographs (verified in the field by the on-the-spot inspection o f each place where a dark patch appeared on the air photographs) form s the basis o f our m apping o f regadio potential. Parazuelos is located im m ediately beside the R am bla de Ram onete. As Figure 5.7 show s, m ost categories o f arable land are m ore abundant in the core than in the periphery o f the site territory. Since the site is on an outcrop in the rambla floodplain at a distance from steeper, m ountainous slopes, monte form s only 33% o f the 30 min territory, but 61% o f the area between 30 min and 2 h distance. T he corresponding figures for secano are 54% and 33% , for boquera-fed land 6% and 3 % , and for regadio 5.5% and 0.7 % . Terraced land, m ore abundant on steeper slopes, is the only agricultural land use m ore abundant in the periphery (1.9% ) than in the core (1.5% ). Because the site is located alongside a m ajor w atercourse, regadio and boquera-fed land are m ore im portant than secano w ithin the 30 min territory. Irrigated and floodw ater-farm ed land together form 24% o f the land within 12 min o f the site, but only 9% o f the area between 12 and 30 min, the corresponding proportions for secano being 42% and 56% . It is clear, then, that the location o f this C op p er A ge site responds to climatic constraints and favours hydraulic over dry farm in g.2 Le Cenuela is located on a low m arl ridge at the base o f the Sierra de la A lm enara. Because the m arls near the site have a low er erosional base point than m arls at low er elevations, terracing is m ore im portant within the 30 min territory (25% ) than in the area from 30 min to 2 h distance (9% ) (see Fig. 5.6). Where the R am bla del Puntarron em erges from its narrow upper valley near the site, its flow s are diverted by boqueras; thus, floodw ater-farm ed land also is relatively m ore abundant in the 30 min territory (3.5% ) than in the peripheral zone (0.9% ). Secano, how ever, form s a higher proportion o f the land surface (66% ) at a distance from the site than in the 30 min territory (37% ). If the availability o f land for dry farm ing were the critical factor determ ining settlem ent placem ent, La C enuela’s settlers w ould have located their dw ellings elsewhere. Water for irrigation along the Guadalentm river to the north w ould

N

Figure 5.7

Parazuelos Zapata

P a ra z u e lo s Z a p a ta C a b e z o N e g ro Ifre

L an d -u se p oten tial w ith in the o v e rlap p in g 1 h territories o f P arazuelos and Z ap ata.

E le v a tio n s in m ete rs

1. 2 3. 4.

Site Location

Irrigated

Flood-water farm ing

Terraced

Secano (dry arable)

M onte (non-arable)

F i g u r e 5 .8

N

0

'

1

1 m,

L an d -u se poten tial w ith in the o v e rlap p in g 1 h territories o f Ifre and C ab e zo N e g r o de P astran a.

0

Ifre C a b e z o N e g ro P a ra z u e lo s Z a p a ta

2 * rr

E le v a tio n s in m e te rs

1 2. 3 4

Site Location

Irrigated

Flood-w ater farm ing

Terraced

Secano (dry arable)

M onte (non-arable)

Ifre Cabezo Negro

98

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

be m uch m ore abundant, but harder to control (cf. p. 91). T hus, the location o f the site near a rambla with a sm aller, but significant, w ater diversion potential (the m ean w inter w ater yield o f 7 I s -1 indicated in Figure 5.5 w ould be concentrated in larger flow s capable o f w atering a large area thoroughly) m ay represent a m axim isation o f irrigation potential under palaeotechnic conditions. T h e rem aining B ronze A ge sites in the M azarron group are situated in extrem e defensive positions, so that least-cost access to agricultural land cannot have been a prim ary consideration in their placem ent. In all o f them, how ever, the location o f the site favours hydraulic m ore than dry farm ing. In the Ifre site territory (Fig. 5.8), the secano and terraced categories form a higher proportion o f the 30 min territory (66% and 3% , respectively) than in the rest o f the 2 h territory (34% and 2% ), while regadio and boquera-kd land is som ew h at less frequent in the core (1.5% and 2.6 % ) than in the periphery (2.3% and 3 .3 % ) o f the site territory. T he high ridge on which Ifre is located dom inates the R am bla de Pastrana, a stream w ith significant w inter flow s (see Fig. 5.5), ju st at a point where a bedrock bar across the stream bed produces a resurgence o f the w atercourse’s flow . (U ntil recently this w as the location o f a w ater mill, m entioned both by the Sirets (1887, p. 85) and in the 1757 Respuesta General for Lorca.) T hanks to this w ater source, the proportion o f regadio is higher w ithin the 12 m in territory than in any other m ore distant time zone o f the site territory. T h e irrigated land in its im m ediate vicinity w ould have provided the necessary base for secure agricultural production to meet the needs o f this sm all site’s inhabitants.3 In short, Ifre is appropriately situated for both hydraulic and (in the occasional rainy year) dry farm ing. Z apata is located on top o f a high hill near the m ain body o f the Sierra de la A lm enara and overlooking the R am bla del Rio A m ir. The broken topograph y in the site’s vicinity m eans that monte predom inates within the core o f the site territory: it form s 70% o f the land within 30 m in o f the site, but only 63% o f the area betw een 30 m in and 2 h distance. T he corresponding proportions o f land suitable for secano are 20% and 31% . A m o n g the agricultural land uses, terraced and regadio are both relatively m ore abundant in the core than in the periphery: they form 3.2% and 3 .7 % , respectively, o f the 30 m in territory, but 1.4% and 2.3% o f the m ore distant zone. Within the site territory as a whole, then, m any localities w ould be better placed for dry farm ing than Zapata. B y contrast, even though the site’s placem ent is ob viously governed by defensive considerations, the possibilities for hydraulic farm ing are still som ew hat better in Z ap ata’s vicinity than in the site territory as a whole. A t C ab ezo N e g ro de Pastrana, the proportions o f monte and secano in the core and the periphery o f the site territory are alm ost the sam e as those at Z apata, but the regadio potential in the site’s im m ediate vicinity is m uch higher. A s Figure 5.8 show s, the site is located at the end o f a ridge separating tw o ramblas, both o f which have som e irrigated land along their sides, as well as a huerta at their confluence. Monte form s 71% o f the 30 min territory and 60% o f the area betw een 30 m in and 2 h distance; the corresponding proportions o f secano are

VERA B A S I N SI TES

99

19% and 35% . Regadio, by contrast, form s 25% o f the area within 12 m in o f the site (6% o f the land within 30 min), but only 2% o f the peripheral zone. Here, then, the defensive considerations governing A rgaric site placem ent have been satisfied at little sacrifice to the potential for secure, irrigation-based farm ing.

Vera basin sites T he Vera basin lies between the M editerranean coast and the Sierras C abrera (to the south), de los Filabres (to the west), de A lm agro (to the north) and A lm agrera and de los Pinos (both to the north-east). T he low -lying areas betw een these elements o f the Betic fold system are filled w ith Tertiary m arine and Q uaternary alluvial-colluvial deposits. The climate o f the basin has been described on p. 71. A t C uevas, in its centre, mean annual rainfall is 255 m m , with a m edian o f 221 m m (Kleinpenning 1965, p. 26), but in the sierras rainfall is m uch higher. T he precipitation at higher elevations feeds the three m ajor stream s that cross the basin (Fig. 5.9): from north to south, the Rivers A lm anzora (with its tributary, the R am bla de Canalejas), A ntas and A guas. T h e Sirets w ere based at the m ines o f Herrerfas at the confluence o f the A lm anzora and Canalejas, so that the archaeological resources o f the basin were well canvassed early on. All nine sites in our sam ple were originally published in Les Premiers Ages du Metal (Siret & Siret 1887). Because o f the aridity o f the climate, evergreen forest w ould not form the clim ax vegetation anywhere within the site territories. Areas at low elevations (below 200 m) w ould be covered with thorny scrub (Freitag 1971, V olk 1973), while higher elevations (900 m is reached within the site territories) w ould be covered with a chaparral form ation. B oth com m unities have been described above. A lthough overgrazing and cultivation have degraded or elim inated the original vegetation over m uch o f the site territories, relict stands o f the clim ax com m unities still rem ain intact in several places within the site territories (Freitag 1971, pp. 254, 264). The acorns the Sirets report from Lugarico V iejo (1887, plate 16) su ggest that the kerm es oak element o f the chaparral form ation w as present in the low er areas o f the basin (from which it has been elim inated now ). T he im portance o f m astic tree, pine and olive in the sam ples o f charcoal fragm ents recovered from the recent excavations at Fuente A lam o indicate that the reconstructed clim ax vegetation o f chaparral w as in fact abundantly distributed in the hills around the Vera basin in Bronze A ge times (Scoch & Schw eingruber 1982). T he arid clim ate also contributes to the m oderate erosion potential o f the principal lithologies within the site territories. T he hard-rock lithologies o f the m ountains ringing the basin and the conglom erate pedim ents extending from them all have high infiltrabilities, but even on the relatively im perm eable m arls erosion potential is not catastrophic, essentially because ru n o ff sufficient to accom plish extensive w ork on slopes occurs on few occasions and slopes are

100

SITE T E R R I T O R I E S

El Officio .Fuente Alamo

. C am p os

Tres C ab ezos

Fuente Vermeja l

WL u g a r ic o \ Viejo

La Gerundia El Argar A . El Garcel

A

G atas

T s'-T 'T G T

94-102

118-

w- I f ;

Litres/second

Figure 5.9

Mean winter water yields in the overlapping 2h territories of sites in the

Vera basin. low . O n bare, gullied slopes our estim ates o f annual soil loss w ould lead to an escarpm ent retreat o f only a few m etres per m illennium (cf. equation 4.7). This finding su ggests w hy, in spite o f the fact that soils th roughout the basin consist o f relic C horizons (V olk 1973, p. 273), the siting o f ancient settlem ents can su gg est that the general configuration o f the landscape has changed little over the past several m illennia (cf. pp. 71-74). E l O ficio (elevation 235 m) is located on the southernm ost extension o f the

949

VER A B A S I N S I T E S

101

Sierra de los Pinos and dom inates the plain at its base by 100 m. T he Sirets (1887, pp. 179-97, plates 60-63) reported 1.5 m o f deposits am id the rectangular structures at the sum m it. The stone buildings, abundant ceram ics, querns and loom w eights found in the acropolis su ggest its use as a perm anent habitation. T he Sirets also reported som e (unexcavated) structures on the gentler, eastern slope o f the hill, so that the total size o f the settlement m ay have been larger than the 0.25 ha at the top. The cist and ja r burials found beneath the house floors yielded a classic A rgaric inventory including halberds, riveted daggers, chalices, and so on. The El O ficio site territory is in the northern portion o f the Vera basin and com prises the northern portion o f the m unicipality o f C uevas and the southern portion o f Pulpf, form erly part o f Vera, the tow n south-w est o f C uevas. K leinpennin g’s (1965) detailed review o f agricultural practice within C uevas m akes it clear that, apart from som e 230 ha o f new irrigated land watered by artesian wells as o f 1961, farm ing in the northern sector o f the m unicipality w as entirely traditional in character. A few springs at the base o f Sierra de A lm agro and the surface and subsurface flow s along the Ram bla de Canalejas provided som e irrigated and floodw ater-farm ed land, but the rest w as either monte or secano (often terraced). T he 1956 air photographs provide, then, a reliable guide to traditional land uses within the El O ficio site territory.4 Because o f El O fic io ’s extrem e defensive position, monte form s a higher proportion o f the 30 m in territory (67% ) than o f the area between 30 m in and 2 h distance (53% ). A t the sam e time, as Figure 5.10 show s, the proportion o f agricultural land-use categories increases as one m oves aw ay from the site. Irrigated land is som ew hat m ore abundant in the core than in the periphery (1.2% vs 0 .7 % ), but the highest proportion o f regadio occurs in the 30 min to 1 h zone (2.7% ), at a considerable distance from the site. Secano, terraced and boquera-fed land are all m ore abundant in the periphery o f the site territory. The defensive preoccupations that led the inhabitants to settle on a site which, on its m ost approachable side, m ust alm ost be scaled, clearly were m ore im portant than any consideration o f least-cost access to farm land. Within the 30 min territory, how ever, the m ost abundant land-use category is secano. C am p o s and T res C abezos (elevation 100 m) are located on a dissected terrace 20 m above the floodplain o f the A lm anzora River im m ediately opposite the tow n o f C uevas. B oth sites were excavated by the Sirets (1887, pp. 21-8, 53-61, plates 3 & 9 - 1 1 ). C am p o s has been re-excavated by M artin Socas in 1976, 1977 and 1980 (M inisterio de C ultura 1981, p. 38). The Sirets’ excavations at C am p o s revealed a fortified structure with bastions at the end o f the dissected terrace. (This position ing suggests, o f course, that the ravines cutting through the 20 m terrace antedate the site). T he interior o f the bastion structure contained 1.5 m o f deposits with m iscellaneous occupational debris (ceramics, bone aw ls, p ost­ holes, burnt fragm ents o f wattle-and-daub). The recent cam paigns at the site have revealed round hut floors. T he lithic industry o f bifacially flaked points and large blades, the phalange idol, and the copper im plem ents illustrated by the

102

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

El Oficio

tf'cy ?;>

|

| Monte (non-arable)

|

j

j||jjp j

Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farming Irrigated Spring

N

„tjp

Site Location

-poo.

E le va tio n s in m ete rs

0

0

1

'

2 km

1 mi

Figure 5.10 Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f El Oficio.

Sirets, as well as the painted and incised objects reported from the m ost recent excavations, point clearly to a C op p er A ge date for the site. T he Sirets’ excavations at T res C abezos (across the ravine from the C am p os bastion structure) revealed 10 shallow pits w ith dark soil. These yielded plain pottery and groun d stone axes. T he absence o f m etal or other chronologically diagnostic artifacts led the Sirets to assign the site to the N eolithic. It is possible, how ever, that the lack o f distinctive pieces m ay reflect a functional, rather than a tem poral, contrast to the C am p o s series. W ithin the past 15 years, the sinking o f deep wells to tap the Ballabona aquifer south-w est o f C uevas has perm itted irrigation to be extended to areas pre­ viously secano throughout the centre o f the Vera basin. T his expansion o f regadio post-dates K leinpennin g’s (1965) study o f agriculture within C uevas, as well as the 1956-57 air p hotographs for the area. While it is easy to control the effects o f this recent m odernisation, it is m ore difficult to assess the extent o f recent changes in traditional farm ing. The huerta o f the A lm anzora is now divided into tw o areas (Kleinpenning 1965, pp. 30-7). T he tierras de huerta receive about 1001 s -1 year-round from the ‘Fuente de O v e ra’, a spring 1 7km up the A lm anzora, and from the ‘A lum bram iento del C eb o llar’, a 3 km long under­

103

VERA B A S I N SI TE S

groun d gallery tapping the A lm an zora’s subsurface flow. The tierras de rio, a larger area dow n stream from the tierras de huerta, is fed by the A lm an zora’s periodic surface flow s, captured by large boqueras. A lthough it is not possible to arrive at quantitative estim ates o f 18th-century land uses along the A lm an zora,5 the 1752 Ensenada Respuesta General for C uevas m akes the distinction between tierras de huerta and de rio. O n the one hand, it is obvious that the developm ent o f the O vera and C ebollar water sources w ould have been beyond prehistoric technical com petences and investm ent levels. O n the other hand, the 1 0 0 I s -1 flow from these sources is relatively sm all com pared to the mean w inter w ater yields w e have estim ated for the low er A lm anzora (over 8 0 0 1 s-1 ) (Fig. 5.9). T hus, while the O vera and C ebollar w ater sources provide stability in the w ater supply, the overall area o f land that m ight be usefully prepared for hydraulic farm ing has not been greatly increased by their construction. Within the site territories w e have counted the tierras de huerta as regadio and the tierras de rio as boquera-fed land in token o f the degree o f perm anence o f their w ater sources, but it is clear that any prehistoric hydraulic farm ing w ould have used the occasional surface flow s only, so that for our purposes the tw o categories m ust be considered together.

Fuente Alamo Tres Cabezos/ \ Campos I

U I

Monte (non-arable) n

»

X

Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farming Irrigated Spring

| i b/ N

P v'

Site Location 1.F ue nte A la m o 2a. Tres C a be zo s 2b. C a m p o s E le va tio n s in m e te rs

N

0 0

1

2 km 1 mi

Figure 5.11 Land-use potential within the overlapping lh territories o f Tres Cabezos-Campos and Fuente Alamo.

104

SITE TE RR IT ORI ES

C am p o s and T res C abezos are well situated to exploit w ater diversion potential. ‘. . . T his is a site location where one o f the three m ain rivers is entering the Vera basin; in fact, about 2 km above the prehistoric sites, the river em erges from narrow er, m ore deeply incised reaches to w iden out form in g over 1 km o f alluvium at C uevas before changing direction to flow dow n to the coast’ (C h ap m an 1978, p. 270). A s Figure 5.11 show s, within the 30 m in territory 45% o f the land is irrigated or floodw ater-farm ed (the latter includes som e tierra de rio, but is m ostly land fed by sm all boqueras along the ramblas leading dow n from the Sierra de A lm agro to the north). T his percentage is higher than that o f any other land-use category in the core o f the site territory, and m uch higher than the p rop ortion o f regadio and boquera-fed land in the area between 30 m in and 2 h distance from the site (11% ). B y contrast, the proportions o f the land surface devoted to monte, secano and terraced land increase as one m oves from core to periphery o f the sites’ territories. T he arid climate dem ands that the grain, w hich w e kn ow w as grow n by the inhabitants o f these sites (Siret Sc Siret 1887, plate 11), be irrigated, and the location o f the sites m axim ises the potential for doing so. Fuente A lam o (elevation 250 m) is located on a hilltop at the base o f Sierra de A lm agro . T he top o f the site is 65 m above the spring o f the sam e nam e. T h e flow o f 0.51 s _1 (in the Sirets’ time) has fed a sm all, irrigated area below the site. First excavated by the Sirets (1887, pp. 199-209, plates 64—68), Fuente A lam o has been the object o f extensive w ork in 1977 and 1979 by the D eutsches A rchaologisches Institut (Schubart Sc A rteaga 1978, 1980). T he acropolis at the top o f the hill has an area o f 0.2 ha w ith settlem ent debris up to 4 m thick. T he south-facing slope o f the hill is covered with rubble, so that the total area o f this unquestion­ able settlem ent m ay be 1 ha. The site is a classic A rgaric locality w ith cist and ja r burials containing grave goo d s such as silver jew ellery, riveted daggers, chalices, and so on. T he faience beads from T o m b 9 provided one o f the principal pre-radiocarbon dating points for the Bronze A ge o f south-east Spain (Siret Sc Siret 1887, p. 205). T he recent excavations have isolated a post-A rgaric, Late Bron ze A ge com ponent at the sum m it o f the stratigraphic sequence; the precise ch ron ology o f the A rgaric com ponents has yet to be w orked out. T he Fuente A lam o site territory overlaps substantially, as Figure 5.11 indi­ cates, w ith that o f C am p o s and T res C abezos. It is clear that the placem ent o f this site w as a response prim arily to defensive considerations. Irrigated land (along the A lm anzora), floodw ater-farm ed land (along the A lm anzora and dow n stream along the ramblas draining Sierra de A lm agro) and terraced land all are relatively m ore frequent as one m oves from the 30 min territory to the areas at a greater distance from the site. Potential secano form s a som ew hat higher p rop ortion o f the 30 m in territory (20% ) than o f the peripheral zones (11% ), but, as K leinpenning (1965) m akes clear, such land w as o f very little w orth before w ater from the B allabona aquifer becam e available. T he spring at the site provid es for som e lim ited hydraulic agriculture, but unless it flow ed m uch m ore abundantly in prehistoric than in recent tim es, the population o f the site, which

VERA B A S I N SI TES

105

m ust have num bered in the hundreds, cannot have supported itself on the agricultural resources in its im m ediate vicinity. D ry-farm ed land, the m ost abundant type o f land near the site, w ould not have been reliable enough. E l A rgar, E l Garcel, La Gerundia, Fuente Verm eja and L ugarico V iejo are located along the River Antas, which drains the eastern portion o f the Sierra de los Filabres. The first three o f these sites are so close to one another that they m ay be seen as having essentially identical site territories. All three are located at an elevation o f 100 m on dissected marl m esas ju st below where the R am bla de C ajete jo in s the Antas. T he site’s location and its geom orph ological significance have been discussed on pp. 71-74. Fuente V erm eja (elevation 190 m) is located 3.5 k m w est o f these sites on a slope descending from the conglom erate pedim ent through which the Antas has cut its bed. T he site is im m ediately above both the river and the spring that gives the locality its nam e (and which in 1973 produced a flow o f 2 1 s ' 1). Lugarico V iejo (elevation 210m ) is 0 .7 5 k m further up stream , on the gently sloping sum m it o f a hill im m ediately above the river. All five o f the Antas River sites were first excavated by the Sirets (1887, pp. 1-9, 71-83, 111-64, plates 1, 13-16 & 22-56). Som e o f Louis Siret’s post1887 finds at E l A rgar and El Garcel have been published (by R uiz-G alvez (1977) and G osse (1941), respectively). Further excavations conducted at El Garcel in 1973 have been described only briefly (Acosta 1976). E l Garcel, like La Gerundia and El A rgar, is on top o f a m arl m esa defined by drainage lines descending from the north to the Antas. A rchaeological m aterials w ere found in a layer o f dark soil at the surface (Siret & Siret 1887, p. 3) and in pits sunk into the m arl subsoil (G osse 1941). Q uerns, pottery and plant rem ains indicate that the locality w as a settlement (the surface o f the m esa is 0.4 ha). The presence o f geom etric m icroliths (an archaic, ‘M esolithic’ trait) and o f abundant undecorated pottery led the Sirets to place the site’s occupation in the N eolithic (although the presence o f copper slag suggests continued use o f the locality into later tim es). Since this attribution, like that for Tres C abezos, depends m ore on the absence o f C op p er A ge type fossils than on the presence o f distinctively N eolithic features, som e authorities, such as A costa (1976), interpret E l Garcel as an im poverished C op p er A ge habitation site. It is clear, how ever, that at least the El Garcel lithic series is quite unlike the stone tool assem blages from unquestionable C op p er A ge localities. T he m esa top o f La Gerundia covers 0.9 ha. A rchaeological finds were concentrated in the dark topsoil. The Sirets reported no structures, but the finds include such settlem ent debris as potsherds and ground stone loom w eights and axes. T an ged copper points, bifacially flaked points and Beaker sherds are clear C o p p er A ge diagnostics. E l A rgar covers 1.5 ha. T he Sirets excavated deposits up to 2.5 m thick with rectangular structures (Siret & Siret 1887, Fig. X V ) and abundant occupational debris o f all kinds. T he (m ore than 1000) earth, cist an d jar burials provided a full p anoply o f the distinctive artifacts that m ake this the type site o f the Bronze A ge

106

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

Lugarico ViejoJ Fuente Vermeja< s

Monte (non-arable) '“ " “ S

'

Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farming Irrigated • Spring a

- 300--

y

Site Location E le va tio n s in m ete rs

i

3b % 1. L u g a ric o V ie jo 2. F u e n te V erm eja 3a. El G arc el 3b. La G e ru n d ia 3c. El A rg a r

: 3a

8 N 0 0

1 '

2 km 1 m i.

Figure 5.12 Land-use potential within the overlapping 1 h territories o f Lugarico Viejo and Fuente Vermeja. in south-east Spain. A few Beaker sherds (Siret & Siret 1887, Fig. X V II/10) su ggest, how ever, that occupation o f the locality m ay have begun in the preceding period. C h ap m an (1981a) has dem onstrated that the Siret collection procedures at L os M illares involved the careful retention o f a full range o f the stylistically distinctive fraction o f the assem blages. Each o f these three localities, located only a few hundred m etres from one another, produced m aterials w hose central stylistic tendencies are entirely distinct from those o f the other tw o. U nless the Sirets were m uch m ore biased in their selection procedures in their early w ork than they were later on, it seem s clear that the three localities belong to successive stages o f the south-east’s prehistory. T he slopes on which the site o f Fuente V erm eja is situated covers about 0.8 ha. T he Sirets excavated rectangular stone structures with abundant potsherds, querns and other dom estic debris. Burials from the site yielded riveted daggers, carinated vessels and other typical, A rgaric m aterials. T he hilltop o f L ugarico V iejo covers about 1.3 ha, o f which the Sirets excavated only a sm all portion. Their w ork uncovered occupational debris potsherds, querns, loom w eights, storage vessels w ith carbonised grain - and

107

VERA BA SIN SITES

burials with riveted d aggers and other A rgaric elements. The ceram ics include incised w ares o f Late Bronze A ge character, so that the occupations o f Lugarico V iejo and Fuente V erm eja m ay not have been entirely contem poraneous. T he drilling o f deep wells to exploit the B allabona aquifer has transform ed farm ing in the A ntas valley. O n the one hand, the pum ped w ater has perm itted irrigation to expand onto previous secano and to be intensified on existent regadio. O n the other hand, the consequent drop in the w ater table has elim inated m any traditional w ater sources. Three galleries along the Antas betw een Fuente V erm eja and E l A rgar produced 1 001s-1 o f flow in 1973 and are now dry. N o t all changes are so recent, how ever. Water from one o f these galleries (indicated as a spring on Figures 5.12 and 5.13) w as brou gh t by aqueducts across the R am bla de C ajete to w ide areas w est and south o f the tow n o f Vera and across the A ntas to areas south o f the tow n o f the sam e name. T his is clearly a 19th-century elaboration o f irrigation: the 1752 Respuestas Generates for A ntas and Vera (including the now separated tow nships o f Pulpi and L os G allardos) report only 193 ha o f regadio , far less than w ould have been fed by the aqueducts. We have m apped as regadio only those areas im m ediately beside springs and along the A ntas floodplain where relatively sm all-scale w ork s suffice to supply

El Garcel/La Gerundia/EI Argar

|

| Monte (non-arable)

j

| Secano (dry arable)

["

| Terraced Flood-water farm ing Irrigated

V

Spring

3

2

Site Location 1a 1b. 1c 2. 3

w

El G a rc e l La G e ru n d ia El A rg a r L u g a ric o V ie jo F ue nte V erm eja

E le v a tio n s in m e te rs

m

N

Figure 5.13 El Argar.

0

^

1________________ 2 km

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f El Garcel, La Gerundia and

108

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

w ater to the fields. The total regadio area for the L ugarico V iejo territory, which overlaps with m ost o f the A ntas and Vera m unicipalities, is 266.75 ha. T his su g g ests that our regadio total is still larger than the am ount irrigated in the 18th century. T h e expansion o f irrigation during the 19th century involved not ju s t the construction o f large-scale w orks like the aqueducts, but the expansion o f sm all-scale operations as well. A s show n in Figures 5.12 and 5.13, the distribution o f land uses w ithin all three site territories indicates that the sites were situated to exploit hydraulic resources preferentially. T his is sim ply because all o f the sites are located along one o f the Vera basin ’s m ajor w atercourses.6 A s a result, the p roportion o f regadio in each o f the 30 m in territories is higher than in the area betw een 30 m in and 2 h distance: at L ugarico V iejo 6% vs 1 % ; Fuente V erm eja 6% vs 3 % ; E l A rgar and nearby sites 5% vs 4% . T he lessening m agnitude o f the contrast as one m oves d ow n the A ntas valley is due to the fact that the dow nstream sites’ 2 h territories reach the irrigated area o f the A lm anzora valley to the north-east. T h e percentage o f irrigated land in the E l A rgar site territory is only 1 % in the 30 m in to 1 h tim e zone, but rises to 4.7% in the area beyond 1 h from the site. Boqueras are used in these site territories partly to exploit the hydraulic opportunities along sm aller stream s. T hey are also used in the areas furthest d ow n stream along the A ntas, which w ould only be reached by larger, less frequent flow s (the w ater from lesser events having been com pletely captured up stream ). T h u s, boquera-fed land increases steadily as one m oves from core to periphery o f each o f the site territories. Terraced land in these territories is located along drainage lines on m arls so as to check erosion and retain m oisture. M arls are m ore frequent in the low er-lying central areas o f the basin. For this reason, the proportion o f terraced land is higher at a distance from the sites than closer to them and highest overall in the E l A rgar site territory, the low est and m ost central o f the three. T he sam e topographical considerations govern the relative p roportion s o f monte and secano. L ugarico V iejo is the w esternm ost o f the sites, located in the foothills at the edge o f the basin. T hus, monte decreases as one m oves aw ay from the site (from 72% in the 30 min territory to 53% in the peripheral zones), while secano increases (the corresponding proportions are 21% and 3 6% ). In the territory o f E l A rgar and its neighbours, closer to the centre o f the basin and w ith a less precipitous top ograp h y in its vicinity, the proportions o f secano and monte in the 30 m in territories are 60% and 24% , respectively; in the peripheral zones the corresponding proportions are 35% and 43% . In the E l A rgar site territory, then, secano, as well as regadio, is em phasised within the core. If, how ever, one excludes from consideration the 1 to 2 h zone o f the site territory, the relatively better location o f the E l A rgar group o f sites for hydraulic than for dry-farm ing becom es apparent. Regadio is 12% o f the 12 m in zone, 4% o f the 12 to 30 m in zone and 1% o f the 30 m in to 1 h zone; secano's corresponding p roportion s are 39% , 63% and 41% . Q uite sim ply, the Q uaternary terraces north and south o f the A ntas valley provide better dry-farm ing opportunities

109

VERA B A S I N SI TE S

than the A ntas valley, in which the sites are situated. T o sum up, none o f the A ntas sites are in extrem e defensive positions; all o f them have easy access to arable land. A t Lugarico V iejo and Fuente Verm eja, regadio is the m ost favoured agricultural land-use category. Within the site territory o f the El A rgar cluster, both potential regadio and potential secano are favoured in the core. G atas (elevation 230 m) is located on the sloping top o f a lim estone hill at the foot o f Sierra C abrera at the southern edge o f the Vera basin. The site w as subjected to lim ited excavation by the Sirets (1887, pp. 165-77, plates 57-59). T he 0.7 ha surface o f the slope is covered w ith the rubble o f stone structures, and the finds reported by the Sirets - potsherds, querns and so on - clearly indicate the site's settlem ent function. Several burials revealed m aterials o f A rgaric character: one urn, for exam ple, included a silver diadem and a riveted dagger as grave goo ds. T he southern portion o f the Vera basin, distant from the Ballabona aquifer, has undergone no great changes in agricultural exploitation patterns in the past 25 years. C ultivation is still palaeotechnic in character and the sam e land-use distributions are present today as in the 1956-57 air photographs. In the 18th century, the site territory w as included w ithin the m unicipal ju risd iction s o f

Gatas |

| Monte (non-arable)

|

j Secano (dry arable)

H I Terraced P llil| Flood-water farming

BUB 4'

•

Irrigated Spring Site Location

a

E le va tion s in m ete rs

V-'V' \V N

0

_

1_____________ 2 km

0

F igure 5.14

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f Gatas.

1 mi

110

SITE T E R R I T O R I E S

Vera, T urre and M ojacar. Since it is apparent that m unicipal boundaries today are not those reported in the Ensenada survey, and since the 1752 land-use m easure for T urre w as the variably sizedfanega depuno ,7 it is difficult to estim ate precisely h ow m uch irrigation has expanded over the past tw o centuries. M o jac ar’s Respuesta General reports 39 ha o f regadio, com pared to about 155 ha now . A t any rate, the large increase in irrigation that no doubt took place w as achieved by the addition o f sm all-scale, essentially palaeotechnic, hydraulic w ork s, so that we feel ju stified in taking the present-day situation as a fairly com plete realisation o f traditional irrigation potential. T he lim estone m a ssif o f the Sierra C abrera produces a num ber o f springs, all o f which are used to irrigate larger or sm aller areas. Within the Gatas 30 m in territory there are 12 springs and short galleries, which together produce a flow o f 1 2 1 s- 1 . T h us, as Figure 5.14 show s, regadio form s 14% o f the 30 m in territory (36% o f the area within 12 m in o f the site). In the area betw een 30 m in and 2 h distance, the proportion o f regadio is only 3% . B y contrast the p ro p o r­ tion o f secano increases as one m oves aw ay from the site (12% o f the 30 m in territory, 30% o f the peripheral zones). Terracing is used within the territory both to extend cultivation to the steeper slopes o f Sierra C abrera and to check erosion and retain m oisture along drainage lines in the m arls o f the northern portion o f the territory, closer to the centre o f the basin. T erracing is present, therefore, in sim ilar proportions in both core and periphery (17% and 14% , respectively). Boquera-fed land is located m ainly along the R iver A guas. O f the land in the peripheral zones o f the G atas territory, 7% is floodw ater farm ed, but there is no floodw ater farm ing in the 30 min territory. Clearly, then, G atas is a B ron ze A ge site in which defensive considerations were able to be satisfied in a m anner com patible with rational exploitation o f agricultural resources. T h is is an arid-zone site w hose location m axim ises hydraulic potential.

Terrera Ventura T errera V entura (elevation 370 m) is located at the southw estern extrem ity o f the C am p o de Tabernas, the plain betw een the Sierras Alham illa and de los Filabres, w hich respectively lim it the site territory to the south and to the north. In 1951-59 m ean rainfall at Tabernas, 1 k m north-east o f the site, w as 2 5 0 m m y r - 1 , w ith a m edian o f 222 m m ,8 but precipitation w ould be m uch m ore abundant at greater elevations (the site territory reaches the 1000 m contour in Sierra Alham illa). Because o f the low rainfall, the bulk o f the site territory w ou ld be covered with a chaparral form ation o f the kind described ab ove (cf. Freitag 1971). A s D riesch and M orales (1977, pp. 29-33) point out, the abundance and variety o f w ild species in the T errera V entura faunal series confirm the w idespread presence o f such a plant com m unity at the tim e o f the site’s occupation. Som e Quercus ilex forest still survives on the heights o f the sierras. For the m ost part, where the natural vegetation has not been replaced by

TERRERA V EN T U R A

111

cultivation, it has been overgrazed and cut to a degraded scrub, which in turn accentuates the desert quality o f the landscape. T he lithologies over m ost o f the site territory - lim estones, m ica-schists, m etam orphics and conglom erates o f the sierras and their outliers; the Q uater­ nary alluvium o f the C am p o de Tabernas - have m oderate to negligible erosion potential, either because o f their high infiltrabilities or low slopes. Even the relatively im perm eable T ertiary m arls in the southw estern quadrant o f the Terrera Ventura territory lack potential for catastrophic change, essentially for the sam e reasons discussed in reference to the Vera basin m arls: low rainfall leads to few flow s capable o f perform ing extensive w ork on slopes. Terrera Ventura itself is located on top o f a m arl b lu ff 80 m above the R am bla de los M olinos. While the escarpm ent m ay have retreated since the site’s occupation by som e m etres (G u sijen e r (1975, p. 312) estim ates 10 m), Terrera V entura’s placem ent su ggests that the 6 to 8 m o f escarpm ent retreat per m illennium above bare, gullied m arl slopes indicated by equation 4.7 overestim ates the am ount o f change in the distribution o f landform s caused by erosion. Severe regolith loss has occurred on all lithologies, o f course, but not to the extent o f affecting our m apping o f land-use categories. Terrera Ventura has been excavated in 1950 by C uadrado Ruiz (T op p & A rribas 1965), in 1961 by M artinez Santa Olalla (unpublished) and in 1973-74 by G u sije n e r (1975, 1976). The site covers 0.8 ha (and m ay have m easured 1 ha before the retreat o f the bluff). G u sije n e r’s stratigraphic excavation o f the 2.5 m o f deposits revealed four successive levels. The basal layer (I) has som e red w are sim ilar to the almagra pottery o f the Cultura de las C uevas N eolithic. The u p perm ost layer (IV) has Beaker sherds and a few metal pieces, as well as bifacially flaked points. The intervening layers (II, III) contain undecorated pottery and few stylistically distinctive elements (apart from som e ‘id o ls’ reported from III). R ound structures in layers I and II are replaced by rectilinear structures in layer III. The precise associations o f the 3rd m illennium B C radiocarbon determ inations obtained by G u sijen er (cf. p. 19) have not yet been published. T he almagra ware from the basal level o f the G u sije n e r excavations and the early 4th m illennium B C radiocarbon date taken from the section o f the C u ad rad o Ruiz or M artinez Santa O lalla excavations (cf. p. 19) are the m ost solid evidence available for assigning any site in the arid south-east to a pre-M illaran, Late N eolithic phase.9 It w ould appear, then, that the occupation o f Terrera Ventura spans the period between 4000 and 2000 B C . The site territory o f Terrera Ventura coincides fairly closely with the m uni­ cipal territory o f Tabernas. T he 1752 Ensenada Respuesta General for Tabernas reported 212 fanegas depuno o f regadio and 5000 o f secano (cultivated on a threeto nine-year fallow cycle) in a total o f 12000 fanegas in the m unicipality as a whole. T he proportions o f regadio: secano: monte ( 2 :4 2 :5 7 ) are quite sim ilar to the proportions o f (regadio and boquera-fe d ): (terraced and secano): monte within the site territory ( 2 :3 9 :5 9 ), which w e have obtained from air photographs and fieldw ork. T he essential lim itation on farm ing in this extrem ely arid sector is the

112

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

0

k ilo m e t r e s

4

Terr era Ventura

1-9

10-16

1

Litres/second Figure 5.15

26-41

r—

53-56

62

Mean winter water yields within the 2h territory o f Terrera Ventura.

lack o f water: there are very few springs within the site territory (only one o f which produces as m uch as 5 I s -1) and rambla flow s are so sporadic (and subsurface flow s so sparse) that they can only be exploited by boqueras. T h e possibilities for hydraulic farm ing are so lim ited that even in the 18th century they seem to have been fully exploited. Since the 1956-57 air photographs w ere taken, a few deep wells have been sunk in the northeastern quadrant o f the site territory and now irrigate parts o f the C am p o de Tabernas, but these entirely m odern operations are easily discounted from the potential palaeotechnic total. T errera Ventura is located above the R am bla de los M olinos near the point w here it is jo in ed by several other dry w ashes (see Fig. 5.15). A s a result, boquera-fe d land form s a higher proportion o f the 30 m in territory (6% ) than in the area betw een 30 m in and 2 h distance (2% ). A spring at the southeastern edge o f the 30 m in territory (see Fig. 5.16) feeds a sm all irrigated area, so that regadio (although negligible in all areas o f the territory) is also som ew h at m ore abundant in the core than in the periphery (0.8% vs 0 .1 % ). T erracing is used in the T abernas territory, as in other areas o f the arid south-east, to retain m oisture

113

TERRERA V ENT URA

in dry-farm ed fields and to check soil loss. T he concentration o f terracing in the core o f the T errera Ventura territory (where it form s 28% o f the land area vs 3% in the peripheral zones) is due, how ever, to the ancient site’s proxim ity to the m odern village o f Tabernas. Least-cost considerations have led the recent inhabitants to build terraces near their hom es and, thus, near the site as well. B o th monte and unterraced secano increase as one m oves aw ay from the site. Clearly, in as arid a territory as that o f Terrera Ventura, capital intensification in the form o f terracing or hydraulic w orks is essential to successful agricultural production. T he concentration o f terracing in the core o f the site territory is an artifact o f T errera V entura’s closeness to a present-day settlement. It is the hydraulic aspect o f intensification which, therefore, m ust be given m ost im portance in the site’s placem ent. The fauna from Terrera V entura tends to confirm the im portance o f hydraulic farm ing to the site’s inhabitants. Sheep and goats, capable o f exploiting the arid rangeland near the site, form 34% o f the assem blage, but cattle and pigs, both o f which w ould require considerably m ore water, form 30.5% and 18% respectively (Driesch & M orales 1977; see T able 2.2). T he faunal series supports the notion that the inhabitants o f Terrera V entura practised an intensive agriculture for which hydraulic operations w ould be essential and for which the settlem ent’s location w as well suited.

Terrera Ventura

J Monte (non-arable) j Secano (dry arable) I Terraced | Flood-water farm ing | Irrigated Spring Site Location E le v a tio n s in m e te rs

N 0 0

F igure 5.16

1______________ 2 km '

1 mi

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f Terrera Ventura.

114

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

Los Millares, Cerro Enmedio L os M illares (elevation 250 m) is located on a p rom ontory som e 60 m above the river A ndarax, w here it is jo in ed by the R am bla de Huechar. T he site has been excavated, in 1891-92 by Louis Siret’s forem an, Pedro Flores (Siret 1893), in 1953-56 (A lm agro B asch & A rribas 1963) and since 1979 by a U n iversity o f G ranada team (A rribas et al. 1979). T he L os M illares site has three parts. T he tip o f the p rom on to ry, enclosed by a wall with bastions (A lm agro Basch & A rribas 1963, pp. 34, 273), covers an area o f about 5 ha. T he 1950s excavations cleared a sm all portion o f the area inside the wall and uncovered curvilinear structures and rather nondescript occupational debris (querns, undecorated potsherds, and so on) (ibid., pp. 39-46). T he extent o f contem poraneous occupation o f the settlem ent area is undeterm ined, how ever: the U niversity o f G ranada exca­ vations have revealed a second line o f fortifications (and possibly a third) inside the first. T he over 2 m o f deposits uncovered by these later investigations m ay help clarify the ch ronology o f the settlem ent’s occupation, which m ust have been well under w ay by 3000 B C (see our discussion o f L os M illares’ radio­ carbon dates on p. 20). D istributed over the base o f the p rom on tory outside the wall is a m egalithic cem etery o f at least 85 tom bs (C hapm an 1981a): 75 o f these, excavated by Flores, were published by the Leisners (1943); 21 w ere excavated (or re-excavated) by A lm agro Basch and A rribas. T h e tom bs have produced the range o f characteristic m aterials that m ake L os M illares the type site o f the C o p p er A ge o f south-east Spain. Finally, Siret reported four T o rts’ on hills overlookin g the p rom on tory from the south, and recent w ork by the U n iversity o f Granada team has identified m ore possible lookou t tow ers on heights east o f the R am bla de H uechar (Arribas et al. 1979, Fig. 1). The surface o f the largest o f the forts has been cleared to reveal its layout during the m ost recent cam paign and the m aterial collected during the process o f that w ork indicate the structure’s contem poraneity with the settlement (Arribas & M olina 1982). L os M illares is, thus, the largest and m ost com plex prehistoric settlem ent and burial com plex in south-east Spain (and, in its time, w estern Europe), and understand­ ably has com e to be regarded as the ‘central place’ o f Spanish C op p er A ge. C erro de E nm edio (elevation 400 m) is a lim estone hill at the base o f Sierra A lham illa, where the lim estones and m ica-schists o f the m ountain range m eet the m arls and conglom erates o f the low er A ndarax basin. T he hilltop, protected by cliffs to the south and east, is enclosed by w alls on the north and w est. T h e 0.6 ha w ithin the walls w as surveyed by a U niversity o f G ranada team and reveals rectangular structures at the surface (M olina et al. 1980). A m ateur exca­ vations in the 1950s produced carinated vessels, an archer’s w ristgu ard and a tanged point, m aterials which Schubart (1980) attributed to the ‘A ’ phase o f the E l A rgar C ulture. T he low er A ndarax valley, in which the overlapping territories o f both these sites are situated, is a region o f extrem ely arid climate. A lm eria city, outside the territories to the south, has a m ean annual rainfall total o f 223 m m ; R ioja

L OS M I L L A R E S , C E R R O E N M E D I O

115

(elevation 125 m ), along the A ndarax m idw ay between the sites, receives a mean o f 2 1 5 m m y r -1 (Saenz Lorite 1977, pp. 377, 385). As one m oves up into the Sierra Alham illa (north o f Enm edio) and the Sierra de G ador (south-w est o f Los M illares), rainfall rises rapidly: A lham a (elevation 520 m ), in the southern portion o f the L os M illares territory, receives 2 7 4 m m y r -1 and the highest elevations within the territories (1340 m in Sierra Alhamilla) m ust receive over 4 0 0 m m y r -1 . Because o f the dry climate, areas below about 300 m within the territories w ould have a clim ax vegetation consisting o f Freitag’s (1971) Mediterrane Trockenbusch (thorny scrub) form ation. At higher elevations, the clim ax form ation w ould be a chaparral com m unity, and encinar is still present at the su m m it o f Sierra Alham illa. This, how ever, is all the natural vegetation that still survives several millennia o f grazing and charcoal burning. In these site territories, as in others in the arid sector o f the south-east, our m odelling o f erosional potential suggests that there have been no catastrophic changes in landform s (and thus in the land uses they m ay support) since later prehistoric tim es. The m ica-schists, lim estones and conglom erates (som etim es calichified), which predom inate within the site territories, all have high infiltrabilities and low potential for regolith loss. For the sam e reasons as in other arid-sector site territories (the lack o f a sufficient num ber o f large flow s), even the m arls, which on the north side o f the A ndarax dow nstream from Los M illares are dissected into badlands, cannot have changed significantly since the sites’ occupations. Large am ounts o f surface m aterials have been rem oved from all lithologies, but nowhere in sufficient quantities to change m easurably the distribution o f cultivable surfaces. Indeed, at Los M illares itself, the positioning o f the tow n wall with respect to the ravines cutting into the p rom ontory clearly indicates that the latter antedate the form er (Chapm an 1978, p. 270). A s Saenz Lorite (1977) m akes clear, the principal recent changes in agricultu­ ral practices in the low er A ndarax all involve the introduction o f techniques to expand the extent o f irrigation for m arket-oriented farm ing. In the past 25 years the sinking o f deep wells at the base o f Sierra de G ador has perm itted irrigation to be extended to previously dry-farm ed terraces descending to the A ndarax. T he developm ent o f a foreign m arket for O hanes table grapes goes back to the early 19th century, how ever, so that the expansion o f irrigation is not sim ply a recent phenom enon. In G ador, a m unicipality 2.5 km dow n stream from L os M illares, regadio expanded from 121 ha in 1752 to 382 ha in 1932 and 385 ha in 1973 (Saenz Lorite 1973, p. 689). C om p arison o f the am ounts o f regadio reported in the Ensenada Respuestas Generates for other tow nships along the low er A ndarax (Benahadux, Pechina, Rioja, Santa Fe de M ondujar) with the extent o f irrigated land visible in the 1956-57 air photographs indicates a sim ilar increase. T his expansion is the result o f the construction o f galleries in the bed o f the A ndarax to tap its subsurface flow. A ccording to the IG M E Inventario de Puntos de A gua, between L os M illares and the dow nstream lim it o f the territories, seven galleries up to 4 km long together produce a flow o f 10401s-1 . This is a substantial proportion o f the 1700 to 18001 s -1 o f mean winter water yield that

116

SITE TE RR IT O RIE S

i

0

k ilo m e t r e s

■

i

4

Los M illares

i

1-7

i

r

12-9- 7715-5 88

Litres/second

~

627628

10581059

1691- 18071719 1812

Figure 5.17 Mean winter water yields within the 2h territory o f Los Millares. w e estim ate for that stretch o f the river (see Figs 5.17 & 5.18). T his surface flow w ould, o f course, be irregular in w inter and absent in sum m er (when the galleries still produce 8 0 0 1 s-1 ). T he Respuestas Generates for the m unicipalities m entioned above and the Relacion Particular for Santa Fe de M ondujar (which w e have exam ined in detail) m ake it clear that in the m id-18th century all their regadio w as fed by the w inter flow s o f the A ndarax and its tributary ramblas and that practically no irrigation w ater w as available in sum m er. T hus, the con­ struction o f the galleries (a task beyond palaeotechnic capabilities) post-dates the 18th century and perm itted the expansion o f regadio. A ccordingly, within these m unicipalities w e have m apped irrigated land at its 1752 exten t.10 Within the core o f the L os M illares site territory, our detailed reconstruction o f the extent and distribution o f the various land uses from the plot-by-plot descriptions o f the Relacion Particular for Santa Fe de M ondujar (where the site is situated) form s the basis o f our m apping. M unicipalities upstream from L os M illares along the A ndarax (Alham a, A licun, A lso du x, Bentarique, H uecija, Terque) did not report the extent o f

LOS M I L L A R E S ,

117

C ERRO E N M E D I O

their various land uses in their responses to the Ensenada questionnaire. Here, as elsewhere in the arid south-east, there has also been expansion o f the extent o f irrigation since the 18th century. These tow nships are all situated in the western periphery o f the L os M illares site territory. Thus, any reduction (by an im ponderable am ount) o f the extent o f regadio in this sector w ould tend to favour our hypothesis that Los M illares, a C op p er A ge site in the arid south­ east, w as situated so as to exploit hydraulic potential. A ccordingly, up stream from Santa Fe we have m apped regadio at its 1956-57 extent. Besides the irrigated land along the A ndarax and its affluents, there are patches o f regadio near sprin gs at the base o f Sierra A lham illa (in the Enm edio territory) and the Sierra de G ador (in the Los M illares territory). The Ensenada data m ake clear that these springs were also exploited in the 18th century, and w e have m apped the extent o f regadio in their vicinity by the 1956-57 air photographs. T he A ndarax, which drains the northern slope o f the Sierra de G ador, the eastern face o f the Sierra N evad a and the southern slope o f the Sierra de los Filabres, is the largest stream in the arid sector o f our study area. The location o f Los M illares im m ediately above this river clearly favours the practice o f hydraulic farm ing. Indeed, as Figure 5.19 indicates, although the size and precipitousness o f the Los M illares prom ontory lim its the am ount o f regadio

0

k ilo m e t r e s

4

Cerro de Enmedio

0-5

......... 1-3

Litres/second Figure 5.18

18121813

18181821

Mean winter water yields within the 2h territory o f Cerro de Enmedio.

118

SITE TE RR IT ORI ES

Los Millares

Monte (non-arable) Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farm ing Irrigated Site Location E le va tio n s in m e te rs

N 0 0

Figure 5.19

1 '

2 km 1 mi

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory o f Los Millares.

w ithin 12 m in o f the site, regadio is the only agricultural land-use category m ore abundant w ithin the 30 m in territory (where it form s 9% o f the land surface) than within the area betw een 30 min and 2 h distance (where the proportion is 5% ). D ry farm ing (on the less steep interfluves) and floodw ater farm ing (along the sm aller drainages) are equally available in the core and the periphery, while terraced land (m ainly used to extend cultivation to the low er slopes o f the Sierra de G ador) increases in frequency at a distance from the site. A t the largest C o p p er A ge site in south-east Spain (and indeed w estern Europe), the irrigation hypothesis is clearly confirm ed. C erro de E nm edio is located near several im portant springs. The largest, indicated on Figure 5.20, produces a year-round flow o f 151 s ” 1, and additional sources (som e with short galleries) within the 30 m in territory produce a collective flow o f 1 2 .5 I s -1 (IG M E , Inventario de Puntos de Agua). A s a result, there is considerable irrigation potential in the im m ediate vicinity o f the site (18% o f the 30 m in territory is regadio), m ore than in the farther reaches o f the site territory (where the proportion o f irrigated land, m ostly located along the A ndarax over 1 h aw ay, is 6% ). All other agricultural land uses are p rop or­ tionally m ore frequent in the periphery than in the core o f the site territory.

119

EL T A R A J A L

Here, as at G atas, the defensive considerations that governed the placem ent o f A rgaric sites w as conveniently com bined with easy access to irrigable land.

El Tarajal The settlem ent o f El T arajal (elevation 40 m) and its associated m cgalithic cem etery, E l Barranquete, are located on opposite banks o f the R am bla de M orales, 1 km up stream from its confluence with the R am bla del H acho. M ean annual rainfall at C ab o de Gata (on the coast, 8 km to the south-w est) is 201 m m (Saenz Lorite 1977, p. 383), but m ore w ould be expected at higher elevations w ithin the site territory (which reach 435 m). The entirety o f the B arranqu eteTarajal site territory falls within the C am p o de N ijar, the core o f the N ijar D esert. A ll o f the plains w ould have a clim ax vegetation o f thorny scrub, with chaparral on the higher slopes o f the hills in the eastern and southern portions o f the site territory (Freitag 1971). The conglom erates and volcanic rocks, which are the basic lithologies over m ost o f the site territory, have low erosion potential.

Cerro De Enmedio Monte (non-arable) Secano (dry arable)

'i& f. /

J

J

/

Terraced

\

Flood-water farming

in) I!

Irrigated

m m *\

N

Figure 5.20

Spring

! i

Site Location

I

0 0

1 ’

2 km 1 mi

Land-use potential within the 1 h territory of Cerro de Enmedio.

120

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

A lm agro G orbea excavated the m egalithic tom bs in 1969-72 and the settlem ent (El Tarajal) in 1974 (A lm agro G orbea 1973, 1976, 1977). T he necropolis consists o f corbelled-vaulted, dry-stone-w alled passage graves very sim ilar to those at Los M illares and A lm izaraque (A lm agro G orbea 1965). T he 11 tom bs excavated yielded a C op p er A ge inventory including copper axes, geom etric m icroliths and bifacially flaked points, undecorated ceram ics and one B eaker bow l. Elem ents such as the riveted d agger from T o m b 4 and the chalice from T o m b 5 indicate that use o f the tom bs continued into A rgaric tim es. A s w e have seen (p. 20), radiocarbon dates place the construction o f T o m b 7 in the early third m illennium B C . Finds from the single test pit in the settlem ent have not been described in full, but include such characteristic C op p er A ge elem ents as painted pottery, bifacially flaked points and a tanged copper dagger. T h e over 3 m o f deposits contained several constructional levels. In 1975 the 0.3 ha terrace on which the settlem ent w as located w as bulldozed and converted to a tom ato field. In recent years, deep wells (which now produce an aggregate flow o f 1100 I s -1 ) have greatly increased the extent o f irrigation in the C am p o de N ijar: the irrigated, sand-m ulched vegetable fields alone now cover 3300 ha (Saenz L orite 1977, pp. 122, 255). B y contrast the Ensenada Respuesta for N ijar (within w hose lim its m ost o f the site territory falls) indicates that only 60 ha were irrigated in 1752 (20 000fanegas depuno were put to grain on a three- to nine-year fallow cycle, and 130000 w ere left uncultivated). It is apparent that, even before the m odern developm ent o f deep wells, the extent o f regadio had expanded considerably since 1752. We have included in the regadio total those areas that sh ow irrigation in the 1956-57 air photograph s and w hose w ater supply depends on sprin gs and w ater courses. The 350 ha o f regadio w e have m apped along the low er R am bla de M orales is, for exam ple, in reasonable correspon­ dence to the 1 801s-1 that w e estim ate as the M o rales’ w inter flow (Fig. 5.21). T w o centuries ago the inland settlem ent pattern o f this part o f the coast (Saenz L orite 1977, pp. 260-2) w ould have m ade intensive exploitation o f this area im practicable. A s the population o f N ijar increased from 2100 in 1752 to 5090 in 1850 and over 14000 in 1900 (ibid., pp. 280-301), the possibilities for traditional irrigation cam e to be fully exploited. It is clear, how ever, that areas now irrigated by non-traditional m eans w ould in the past have been either secano or uncultivated. The distribution o f land uses w ithin the site territory clearly indicates that El B arran q u ete-E l T arajal w as suitably located for irrigation farm ing (see Fig. 5.22). T he proportion o f regadio w ithin the 30 m in territory is 4 .7 % ; in the area beyond 30 m in distance it is 1.5% . Secano, how ever, is less frequent w ithin the 30 min territory than in the outer zone (44% vs 66% ). T hat land w atered by boqueras is only found in the periphery o f the site territory reflects the fact that B arran q u ete-T arajal is located along the m ain drainage in the C am p o de N ijar, the M o rales-H ach o, practically the only w ater source within the territory sufficiently abundant to support irrigation (see Fig. 5.21), while the boqueras take

121

EL T A R A J A L

El B arranquete

0

kilometres

4

i

1-7

i--------------1--------------1

11-31

Litres/second Figure 5.21

94-

106

132-

146

i

176-

180

M ean w inter w ater yields w ithin the 2 h territory o f El T a ra ja l-E l

B arran quete.

advantage o f the m uch sm aller and m ore infrequent flow s along sm all, peri­ pheral drainages. T he only available excavated evidence on subsistence is the anim al bones from the E l Barranquete tom bs (Driesch 1973b). The very high proportion o f cattle (50% o f the fragm ents from econom ically significant species) is no doubt due to the ritual context o f the finds, but this context also underlines th c perceived im portance o f cattle in the subsistence practices o f the to m b s’ users. T o maintain cattle in an environm ent as arid as the N ijar D esert w ould require that one grow fodder for them. Caprines, how ever, can graze on the available scrub. Given the lesser cost o f p roducing caprines than cattle and their equal value as sources o f

122

SITE TE RR IT ORI ES

El Tarajal

Monte (non-arable) Secano (dry arable) Terraced Flood-water farm ing 4^

Irrigated

4

Site Location

m

E le va tio n s in m ete rs

N 0 0

Figure 5.22

1 '

2 km 1 mi

L an d-use potential w ithin the 1 h territory o f E l T a ra ja l-E l Barranquete.

food, one m ust conclude that the im portance o f cattle to their husbanders (an im portance sufficient to w arrant ritual expression) w ould have been as sources o f traction pow er. T he im portance o f this ‘secondary p rod u ct’ (Sherratt 1981) can only be understood as part o f an intensive agriculture, for which the site’s location is well suited.

Cueva de Ambrosio This large rock shelter (elevation 1030 m) is located in a lim estone cliff im m edi­ ately above the A rroyo del M oral at the point where this sm all stream em erges from a narrow canyon. There are no rainfall stations within the site territory, but the m ean annual rainfall figures o f 404 m m for T opares (elevation 1196 m, 14 k m to the north-w est), 291 m m for the Valdeinfierno R eservoir (elevation 689 m , 14 km to the east) (Leon Llam azares et al. 1974) and 426 m m for Velez B lanco (elevation 1074 m, 18 k m to the south) probably give a representative range o f precipitation values. Given these fairly high rainfall totals, the clim ax vegetation over m ost o f the site territory w ould consist o f evergreen oak and A leppo pine forest, with deciduous oaks at higher elevations (1332 m within the

123

C U E V A DE A M B R O S I O

site territory), and chaparral at its lower, drier, eastern extrem ity. A lthough som e encinar survives here and there, m ost o f the territory is now converted to cultivation, reduced to scrub or reforested with pine. T he 0.04 ha interior o f the shelter contained a 60 cm N eolithic layer above the U p p e r Palaeolithic (Solutrean) deposits. The upper stratum w as excavated com pletely in 1944 by Jim enez N avarro (1962), and the Palaeolithic deposits w ere partly excavated in 1958 and 1960 by R ipoll Perello (1960-61). T he incised and punctated w ares found in the upper level affiliate its assem blage w ith the C ultura de las C uevas (cf. N avarrete Enciso 1 9 7 6 ,1, pp. 397-8). The upper level consisted o f a dark m idden with ash lenses, potsherds, animal bones (including rabbit, cattle, goat and deer: ibid.) and querns, all indicative o f a dom estic occupation. G eologically, the A m brosio territory consists o f strongly tilted calcareous deposits. T he harder lim estone bands with high infiltrabilities have only m oderate potential for erosion (see Appendices B and C ). Given the high rainfall levels, how ever, the m ore im perm eable, softer m arl and chalk horizons have the potential for catastrophic erosion (which the rapid filling o f the Valdeinfierno reservoir in the 19th century su ggests has been in part fulfilled). Equation 4.7

0

k ilo m e tre s

4

Cueva de Am brosio

7-9

14-21 58-91

Litres/second Figure 5.23

111125

166198

305322

Mean winter water yields within the 2 h territory o f Cueva de Ambrosio.

124

SI TE T E R R I T O R I E S

su ggests that a bare, gullied m arl slope w ould lose enough m aterial to cause its top edge to retreat about 250 m over a m illennium ; the corresponding figure on ungullied m arls is 100 m. Since the landscape show s extensive evidence o f ravining on the softer lithologies, and since south-facing slopes m ay reasonably be expected to have been stripped o f vegetation for as m uch as one m illennium o f the six since the site w as occupied, w e have m ade the above adjustm ents to the extent o f secano where topographically warranted. T he C u eva de A m b ro sio territory falls inside the boundaries o f the very large m unicipality o f Velez B lanco. A s far as one can tell from the Ensenada Respuesta G eneral , in 1752 intensive cultivation seem s to have been concentrated in the vicinity o f the tow n itself, with outlying districts com posed either o f secano (7800 ha) or monte (45 400 ha, o f which som e 300 0 0 w ere still forested). In this outlying district o f the m unicipality, the m ain changes in land use since 1752 in volve, on the one hand, extensive land clearance for cultivation (the ratio o f secano to monte is now about 1 : 2 instead o f 1 : 6) and, on the other hand, a lim ited developm en t o f regadio near sprin gs and along stream s. O ne such irrigated patch (which has fallen into disuse since our first visit to C u eva de A m b ro sio in 1974) is in the im m ediate vicinity o f the site. O n the whole, how ever, the considerable

Cueva De Ambrosio Monte (non-arable) Secano (dry arable) Terraced Irrigated

X -1200

Site Location

\ r~y\