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

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1745-1744|80|309|646-657

ISSN: 0003-598x

Source: Antiquity, Vol.80, Iss.309, 2006-09, pp. : 646-657

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

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