The Age of Bronze

In this area of the Spanish southeast, the age of bronze, from 2.000 to 1.500 years B.C., is also known as “The Culture Argar". The geographical situation of Lorca and the discovery of the great mineral wealth of the territory makes it a privileged place.

Cereals such as wheat and barley, grapevine and vegetables are cultivated. The grain is kept in vessels of storage and it was transformed into flour with the mills of hand. They also raised sheep, goats and horses and they continued hunting. The metallurgical activity of the copper and bronze, mainly tin and cooper must reach a great development. Moreover, these people possibly interchanged products with other towns.

The argarian towns were established in natural elevations or in evenness.

• The settlings on hills were strengthened with walls that could dispose of quadrangular towers leaned as in ‘Cerro de las Viñas’ in Coy or ‘El Barranco de la Viuda in Hinojar. We can also mention other towns in height such as Felí, ‘El Castillico’ in La Paca, Cañada de Mena in La Hoya, Zapata in Ramonete, Cabezo de las Piedras in Almendricos, Peñas de Béjar, el Castellón in Béjar and the own city of Lorca. In the inside of these towns, the houses were affixed to the wall and opened to narrow streets.

• In the valley of the Guadalentín it highlights a model of settling composed by big towns about which nucleuses of a minor entity were distributed. They dedicated mainly to agriculture. These towns were established in plain areas and without defence, with houses near rivers and streams as ‘El Rincón de Amendricos in Almendricos. There are also other sites distributed for the lorquian field: Los Cipreses in Torrecilla, La Alcanara, Los Derramadores in Aguaderas and La Torrecilla.

The plant of the argarian house was rectangular, square, apsidal, trapezoidal, semicircular or oval. They delimited the space with walls of stone reinforced in its perimeter with posts of wood. They were separated and the walls were plastered sometimes ripened them with ‘laguena’ land that gave a violet colour to waterproof them. The houses served as housing and as place of work and warehouse.

The proper burial of the argarian culture is the individual one inside of the towns, in the subsoil of the houses or next to them. There are several types of tombs such as ‘covacha’, graves, cist and urn. The corpse was buried in a bended position and dress. They also introduced trousseau composed for metal objects, pottery, or objects of personal adornment and foods.

Covacha. It is a burial in crack or hollow of the rock.

Urns. They are big recipients of ceramics in a globular shape with different sizes, which are covered with a bowl of ceramics or a stone slab. They served to bury a corpse.

Cists. They are sepulchres built with four lateral stones sides. One served as base and other one to lid. They are introduced in a grave.

Grave. It is a hole in the earth to bury a corpse. Sometimes, the graves were delimited bys tones.