The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera (Málaga): introduction to the settlement patterns and social dynamics

© Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 ISSN: 0514-7336 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14201/zephyrus2016783565 THE COPPER AGE IN THE LANDS OF ANTEQUERA (MÁLAGA): INTRODUCTION TO THE SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS La Edad del Cobre en las Tierras de Antequera (Málaga): introducción a los patrones de asentamiento y dinámicas sociales Leonardo García Sanjuán*, María del Carmen Moreno Escobar**, Joaquín Márquez Pérez*** y David W. Wheatley** * Dpto. de Prehistoria y Arqueología. Facultad de Geografía e Historia. C/ María de Padilla, s/n. 41004 Sevilla. E-mail: [email protected] ** Dpt. of Archaeology. Faculty of Humanities. Avenue Campus, Highfield. Southampton so17 1bf. United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] *** Dpto. de Geografía Física y Análisis Geográfico Regional. Facultad de Geografía e Historia. C/ María de Padilla, s/n. 41004 Sevilla. E-mail: [email protected] Recepción: 26/05/2016; Revisión: 16/07/2016; Aceptación: 6/10/2016 Abstract: Antequera (Málaga) is home to one of the most important Neolithic and Copper Age megalithic landscapes in Europe, as proven by its recent declaration as a World Heritage Site by unesco on July 15th 2016. This declaration highlights the need to push ahead in the research of the Neolithic and Copper Age periods, when the megalithic phenomenon developed and the three large Antequera megaliths, Menga, Viera and El Romeral, were built. In this paper, stemming from an on-going research project, we present a synthesis of the evidence available for the study of the Copper Age settlement patterns and social dynamics in the Lands of Antequera. Departing from a comprehensive review of the existing literature an assessment is made of the settlement patterns, subsistence economy, exploitation and exchange of abiotic resources, monumentality and burial practices of this time period. The aim is to formulate a preliminary framework of analysis of the cultural and social context in which the construction of El Romeral, the largest tholos monument known in Iberia, took place. Key words: Chalcolithic; Spatial Analysis; social organisation; subsistence economy; abiotic resources; burial practices; Megalithic phenomenon. Resumen: Antequera (Málaga) alberga uno de los más importantes paisajes megalíticos del Neolítico y la Edad del Cobre en Europa, como lo demuestra su reciente declaración como Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la unesco el 15 de julio de 2016. Esta declaración pone el foco en la necesidad de avanzar en la investigación de los periodos Neolítico y Edad del Cobre, en los que se produce el apogeo del fenómeno megalítico y en cuyo contexto se construyen los tres grandes megalitos antequeranos, Menga, Viera y El Romeral. En este artículo, que deriva de un proyecto de investigación actualmente en curso, se presenta una síntesis de los datos disponibles para el conocimiento de las pautas de asentamiento y las dinámicas sociales de la Edad del Cobre en Tierras de Antequera. Partiendo de una exhaustiva síntesis de la literatura existente, se realiza un ensayo de valoración de los patrones de asentamiento, la economía subsistencial, la explotación e intercambio de recursos abióticos, la monumentalidad y las prácticas funerarias en este periodo. Con ello se persigue formular un marco preliminar 36 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 de análisis del contexto cultural y social en el que se dio la construcción de El Romeral, el mayor tholos conocido en Iberia. Palabras clave: Calcolítico; análisis espacial; organización social; economía de subsistencia; recursos abióticos; prácticas funerarias; Megalitismo. 1. Introduction1 Antequera (Málaga) is home to one of the most important Neolithic and Copper Age megalithic landscapes in Europe, as proven by its recent declaration as a unesco World Heritage Site on July 15th 2016. The Antequera megalithic landscape is structured around two major ‘natural monuments’ –La Peña de los Enamorados mountain and El Torcal karstic landscape– and three remarkable megalithic monuments built in the Late Neolithic –Menga and Viera–, and the Copper Age –El Romeral–. Despite a long history of research that goes back to the first half of the 19th century ad, however, surprisingly little is known about the settlements used by the builders and users of those monuments, their spatial organisation and landscape patterns as well as their social dynamics, all of which have fundamental importance to understand the processes that led to the creation of what is one of Europe’s most extraordinary prehistoric monumental landscapes. This article is the first attempt at a synthesis looking at the settlement patters and social dynamics of the Copper Age in the Lands of Antequera. The evidence used for this synthesis comes from the existing literature –both published and grey– and the data set available in the arca database –Archivo de Contextos Arqueológicos in its Spanish acronym-Ar- chaeological Contexts Archive–, created by the 1 We would like to thank P. Cantalejo Duarte, L. E. Fernández Rodríguez, E. García Alfonso, I. Marqués Merelo, J. E. Márquez Romero and V. Pérez Nebreda for providing some of the photos included in this paper. This study has been conducted as part of two projects: Nature, Society and Monumentality: High-Resolution Archaeological Research into the Megalithic Landscape of Antequera (har2013-45149-p) (2014-2017), part of the national r + d plan of the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and Societies, Territories and Landscapes in the Prehistory of the Lands of Antequera (Málaga), (2013-2018) approved by the Andalusian Regional Government. authors to collate the enormous inventory of sites recorded in this region (Moreno Escobar and García Sanjuán, 2013). The overall aim of this summary is to evaluate the available archaeological record in order to make a preliminary assessment of the settlement dynamics, economy and social organisation of the Copper Age societies in the region, hence providing a better understanding of the context in which the Antequera megaliths developed. 2. Empirical record Research into Late Prehistory in the Lands of Antequera2 goes a long way back, to the mid-19th century, when R. Mitjana y Ardison published an opuscule in which he presented the results of his excavations at Menga (Mitjana y Ardison, 1847). As J. I. Sánchez-Cuenca’s work (2011) showed recently, from that moment on, Menga became an international benchmark for the study of the megalithic phenomenon world-wide. Within the Iberian context, the Late Prehistory of Antequera became all the more relevant after the discovery in 1903 of Viera and El Romeral, the other two major megalithic monuments of the region (Velázquez, 1905; Gómez-Moreno, 1905; Mergelina, 1922; Hemp, 1934). The Spanish civil war and subsequent post-war era was a time of relative inactivity. Nevertheless, during this period, the Alcaide necropolis of artificial 2 The region of the Lands of Antequera, with a total area of 2,640 km2, includes the municipalities of Alameda, Alfarnate, Alfarnatejo, Almargen, Almogía, Antequera, Archidona, Ardales, Campillos, Cañete la Real, Carratraca, Casabermeja, Colmenar, Cuevas Bajas, Cuevas del Becerro, Cuevas de San Marcos, Fuente de Piedra, Humilladero, Mollina, Periana, Sierra de Yeguas, Teba, Valle de Abdalajís, Villanueva de Algaidas, Villanueva de Tapia, Villanueva del Rosario and Villanueva del Trabuco. © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 37 caves was discovered and excavated (Giménez Reyna, 1946, 1953; and Berdichewsky, 1964: 100- 128). From the second half of the 1970s onwards, late prehistoric research in the region intensified thanks to the substantial work carried out by the University of Málaga, which had been founded in 1974. Excavations and studies were undertaken on the Antequeran megaliths themselves (Ferrer, 1997a, 1997b), as well as on other sites such as Las Palomas (Ferrer and Marqués, 1978; Aguado and Baldomero, 1979; Ferrer and Fernández Ruiz, 1987), Marimacho (Leiva and Ruiz González, 1977a; Ferrer et al., 1988; Marqués et al., 2004), Alcaide (Marqués, 1983, 1987, 1990; Marqués and Ferrer, 1979, 1983; Marqués et al., 1992; Aguado et al., 1997, 2002; Tovar et al., 2014) and El Tardón (Ferrer et al., 1987; Fernández Ruiz et al., 1997). In addition to these archaeological studies, since the end of the 1990s, numerous rescue excavations and surveys have been carried out in the region due to major public infrastructure work –particularly in connection with new roads and railways–. Consequently, various new Late Prehistoric sites have come to light, including Cortijo de San Miguel (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1996, 1997, 1999a), Rodahuevos (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1999b), Cortijo Quemado (Fernández Rodríguez, 2005a), Yacimiento 129 (Fernández Rodríguez, 2005b), El Site Municipality chronology type Source BiBliog. referenceS (Selection) Alameda Alameda ca settlement excavation Márquez et al., 1999 Alcaide Antequera ca/ba settlement/ burial excavation Aguado et al., 1997, 2002; Marqués, 1983, 1987, 1990; Marqués and Ferrer, 1979, 1983; Marqués et al., 1992; Márquez and Marqués, 1997; Tovar et al., 2014 Aratispi Antequera ca/ba ia settlement excavation Perdiguero, 1990 Ardales Ardales ca burial (cave) survey Sanchidrián et al., 1989 Arroyo Saladillo Antequera ne/ca settlement excavation unpublished Castillo del Turón Ardales ca settlement survey Ramos et al., 1986 Cerro del Comandante Antequera ca burial excavation Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2014a Cerro García Casabermeja ca settlement survey Marqués, 1985 Chaperas Casabermeja ca burial excavation Marqués et al., 2000 Cortijo Quemado Antequera lne/ca settlement excavation Fernández Rodríguez, 2005a Cortijo San Miguel Ardales ca settlement excavation Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1996, 1997, 1999 El Castillejo Almogía ca settlement excavation Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995 El Cuchillo Antequera ca burial excavation unpublished* El Romeral Antequera ca burial/ritual excavation Márquez and Fernández Ruiz, 2009; Ruiz González, 2009; etc. El Silillo Antequera ca settlement excavation Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2011, 2014a El Toro Antequera ne/ca/lba settlement (cave) excavation Martín Socas et al., 2004 La Capellanía Periana ne/ca/ba/ia settlement excavation Martín Córdoba and Recio, 2004 La Curra Carratraca ca burial (cave) survey Sanchidrián, 1985 La Galeota Ardales ca/ba settlement/ lithic workshop survey Espejo and Cantalejo, 1990 * Cf. tia (Taller de Investigaciones Arqueológicas): Excavación Arqueológica de Urgencia lav Antequera-Granada, Tramo Nudo de Bobadilla Fase ii (Antequera, Málaga). Intervención Arqueológica de Urgencia en la Necrópolis Megalítica de Cerro del Cuchillo. Memoria Preliminar. Málaga, informe inédito realizado en 2011. 38 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 Silillo (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2011, 2014), and Arroyo Saladillo and Huerta del Ciprés3 to mention those that have been published. As a result, at present, there is quite an extensive literature available for the Late Prehistory of the Lands of Antequera, including 15 monographs –essentially corresponding to Antequera’s megaliths and the Ardales cave and its surrounding area– and some 350 articles published in scientific journals, edited books and conference proceedings. Furthermore, there is also a significant amount of grey literature, particularly unpublished reports of rescue archaeological interventions –both excavations and surveys–, as well as various unpublished phd and degree theses. 3 Paper presented by L. E. Fernández Rodríguez and M. Cisneros in the 3rd Andalusian Prehistory Congress (Antequera, 23-25 October 2014), entitled “Aportaciones de la arqueología preventiva al conocimiento de la Prehistoria Reciente en Antequera: Arroyo Saladillo y Huerta del Ciprés (Antequera, Málaga)”. Regarding the Copper Age, to this date, there are 290 sites recorded in the arca database, which represents an average density of 0.11 sites per km2, in other words, than in the Neolithic period. This is a reflection of the demographic and economic expansion that the region’s communities underwent during this time period. Of these 290 sites, a total of 33 have been explored archaeologically (Figs. 1 and 2). With regard to their basic functional configuration, these sites can be broken down as follows: • Atotalof16areopen-airsettlements:Alameda, Aratispi, Arroyo Saladillo, Castillo del Turón, Cerro García, Cortijo Quemado, Cortijo San Miguel, El Castillejo, El Silillo, La Capellanía, La Galeota, La Huerta del Ciprés, La Peña de Ardales, La Peña de los Enamorados, Marimacho and Peñón del Oso. Site Municipality chronology type Source BiBliog. referenceS (Selection) La Higuera Mollina ne/ca settlement (cave) excavation Márquez, 1987 La Huerta del Ciprés Antequera lne/ca settlement excavation unpublished La Lentejuela Teba ca? burial excavation Baldomero et al., 2005 La Peña de Ardales Ardales ca/ba/ia settlement survey Martín Córdoba et al., 1992 La Peña de los Enamorados Antequera ca/ba settlement survey Moreno and Ramos, 1983; Rodríguez Vinceiro et al., 1992; Suárez Padilla et al., 1995 La Pulsera Antequera ne/ca/ba burial (cave) survey Leiva Riojano and Ruiz González, 1977b Las Mezquitas Periana ca settlement (cave) survey Ramos Muñoz, 1985 Las Palomas Teba ca settlement (cave) excavation Ferrer and Marqués, 1978; Ferrer and Fernández Ruiz, 1987; Weniger and Ramos, 2014 Los Porqueros Mollina ne/ca settlement (cave) survey Márquez, 1988 Marimacho Antequera ca settlement excavation Leiva and Ruiz González, 1977a; Ferrer et al., 1988; Marqués et al., 2004 Peñas Prietas Archidona ca burial survey García Serrano, 1980 Peñón del Oso Villanueva del Rosario ca settlement excavation Morales et al., 1983; Moreno, 1987; Márquez, 2004 Tajillo del Moro Casabermeja ca burial excavation Ferrer et al., 1980 Viera Antequera lne/ca/ba burial/ritual excavation Márquez and Fernández Ruiz, 2009; Ruiz González, 2009; Aranda et al., 2013; etc. Fig. 1. Table of Copper Age sites in Lands of Antequera. Only those excavated or studied through intensive surface survey and/ or artefact studies are included. Chronology: ne (Neolithic); ca (Copper Age); ba (Bronze Age); lba (Late Bronze Age); ia (Iron Age). © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 39 Fig. 2. Distribution of excavated or studied Copper Age sites in the Lands of Antequera. 40 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 Site Municipality Bp laB reference SaMple Bc (2 σ) type BiBliog. reference La Capellanía Periana 4340 ± 110 ly-4421 not available 3350-2650 settlement Rodríguez Vinceiro and Márquez, 2003 La Capellanía Periana 4180 ± 80 ly-4422 not available 2920-2490 settlement Rodríguez Vinceiro and Márquez, 2003 El Toro Antequera 4120 ± 120 i-17553 charred material 3050-2300 natural cave Martín Socas et al., 2004 Viera Antequera 4090 ± 30 Beta-353820 animal bone 2860-2500 megalith Aranda et al., 2013 El Castillejo Almogía 4085 ± 45 gra-20691 not available 2870-2480 settlement Rodríguez Vinceiro and Márquez, 2003 Las Palomas Teba 4032 ± 39 col-2013 human bone 2836-2468 natural cave Kehl et al., 2013; Bayle, 2014 Alcaide (Cueva n.º 19) Antequera 4030 ± 110 grn-16062 human bone 2900-2200 hypogeum Marqués et al., 2004 El Castillejo Almogía 3980 ± 80 gra -20661 charred material 2859-2210 settlement Rodríguez Vinceiro and Márquez, 2003 El Silillo Antequera 3980 ± 40 ua-35081 charred material 2618-2346 settlement Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2011 El Silillo Antequera 3965 ± 40 ua-35082 charred material 2577-2344 settlement Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2011 Ardales Ardales 3885 ± 36 col-1636 not available 2471-2212 natural cave Rethemeyer, 2014 Alcaide (Cueva n.º 20) Antequera 3830 ± 180 grn -19198 human bone 2900-1700 hypogeum Marqués et al., 2004 El Silillo Antequera 3775 ± 40 Ua-35080 charred material 2339-2039 settlement Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2011 Alcaide (Cueva n.º 20) Antequera 3755 ± 210 grn -19197 human bone 2862-1659 hypogeum Marqués et al., 2004 Fig. 3. Published radiocarbon dates for Copper Age sites at the Lands of Antequera. • Another5sitesaresettlementoractivityareas in caves and rock-shelters: El Toro, Las Mezquitas, Las Palomas, La Higuera and Los Porqueros. • A further 11 sites are funerary locations: the Ardales, La Pulsera and La Curra caves, the El Romeral, Viera, Chaperas, Tajillo del Moro, El Cuchillo and La Lentejuela megalithic monuments, and the Cerro del Comandante and Peñas Prietas hypogea. The site of Alcaide presents evidence of burial as well as domestic (or residential) activity. Of the 33 explored sites, 12 came to light through surface survey and/or artefactual studies (Castillo del Turón, Cerro García, Cueva de Ardales, La Curra, La Galeota, Las Mezquitas, La Peña de Ardales, La Peña de los Enamorados, La Pulsera, Los Porqueros, La Lentejuela and Peñas Prietas), whilst the other 21 were excavated (Alameda, Alcaide, Aratispi, Arroyo Saladillo, Chaperas, Cerro del Comandante, Cortijo Quemado, Cortijo San Miguel, El Castillejo, El Cuchillo, El Romeral, El Silillo, El Toro, La Capellanía, La Higuera, La Huerta del Ciprés, Las Palomas, Marimacho, Peñón del Oso, Tajillo del Moro and Viera). Whatever southern Iberian region these figures are compared with, Lands of Antequera stands out because of the very high number of studied Chalcolithic sites, especially with regard to excavated ones. At present, there are only 14 published radiocarbon dates for this Copper Age date set (Fig. 3), 10 © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 41 of which date settlement areas –La Capellanía, El Castillejo, Las Palomas, El Toro and El Silillo– while four date funerary locations –the Viera dolmen and Alcaide hypogea number 19 and 20–4. These 14 radiocarbon dates are nowhere near sufficient to provide an understanding of the very complex patterns of temporality of the large number of excavated sites and the even more complex sequence of social processes they were part of. The main characteristics of the excavated sites are summarised in Fig. 4. 3. Settlement Patterns The vast majority –30 out of 33– of the Copper Age sites excavated or surveyed in the Lands of Antequera are located in low-lying areas. Only three of them are in topographically-prominent places: La Capellanía, Aratispi and El Castillejo. Of these three, the former two were occupied for a long period of time which went beyond the Copper Age into the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. La Capellanía is on a limestone ridge, some 254 m above sea level, bordered by the Guaro River to its east and south, on a naturally well-defended location and with a commanding view of the surrounding area, which includes different ecological niches and abundant natural resources (Martín Córdoba, 1994: 6; Martín Córdoba and Recio, 2004: 342). Aratispi, on the other hand is located in a very strategic position at the foot of the Las Pedrizas mountain pass, a natural route that connects the coast of Málaga with the Antequera plain and, further north, towards the Guadalquivir valley, Andalusia’s natural East-West corridor. Although Aratispi does not enjoy a particularly remarkable visual control of its surrounding area, its strategic value explains –like is the case with La Capellanía– its long occupation, well into Roman times. Lastly, El Castillejo is located 4 From the information published about a date recently obtained from a sample of unspecified material discovered at the entrance of the Ardales cave (Rethmeyer, 2014: 83) it is not clear whether the cave was used as a dwelling or a funerary location in this time period. on a flat-topped hill surrounded by a meander of the Campanillas River on three sides, which affords it a good natural defence (Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995: 61). A much larger group of open-air Chalcolithic settlements are located on flat or slightly elevated areas, lacking good conditions for natural defence or visual control of the surrounding areas. This would appear to be specially the case of sites located in the Antequera plain and neighbouring sectors, including Alameda, Alcaide, Cortijo Quemado, Cortijo San Miguel, Marimacho, El Silillo, Arroyo Saladillo and Huerta del Ciprés5. All these sites are notable for being well connected with each other and having immediate access to land with high –or very high– agricultural potential. The impression that good natural defence was not a key factor in establishing settlement locations tallies with the absence of substantial stone-walled structures that could have had a defensive character. Alcaide is a good example of this. The fact that the residential area is located on a low-lying, flat area lacking natural defensive conditions, led the excavators to suggest that no defensive concerns were taken into account when the place was first inhabited (Aguado et al., 2002: 371-372). In this respect, a rather remarkable feature of the Copper Age in the Lands of Antequera is that, to this date, there is an almost complete absence of Los Millares-type walled enclosures6. There is scant data available on the size of the Chalcolithic settlements of the Lands of Antequera. Estimates have only been published for El Silillo –9 ha– and Cortijo Quemado –0.2 ha–, which prevents any sort of generalisation being made. It has been suggested that Arroyo Saladillo would have 5 The same could be said of Cerro de El Comandante, for which ‘domestic’ structures have been mentioned (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2014a), although the description given is rather generic, which is why this site has not been included in this summary. 6 In fact, only one stone-walled enclosure has been found so far: La Capellanía. Surveys carried out at El Torcal described El Parque as a ‘fortified’ settlement (Moreno et al., 2004), although no excavation data exist regarding its precise chronology. 42 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 Site Size nuMBer of StructureS DeScription of StructureS aBove-Surface reSiDential StructureS WalleD encloSureS Metallurgy Bell Beaker La Capellanía (Early Copper Age) not available not available “weak” structures (perishable materials) not available none no no La Capellanía (Middle Copper Age) not available not available “huts associated with stone and sun-dried mud” not available none no yes La Capellanía (Late Copper Age) not available not available not available not available yes natural copper no La Peña de los Enamorados not available not available “hut structures, circular in plan and with a central post” not available none two daggers with rivets, one punch with square section, plus a dozen fragments of metal items with old fractures and a crucible yes La Peña de Ardales not available not available not available not available not available not available na Arroyo Saladillo not available 152 negative structures “of multifunctional character” none none not available no El Silillo 9 ha 58 negative structures none none fragments of a sickle blade, a saw blade and a crucible or mould, as well as a whole nozzle no Cortijo Quemado 0,2 ha (2052 m 2 ) 30 negative structures none none no no Alameda not available 28 negative structures none none no no Cortijo de San Miguel not available 20 negative structures none none no no Alcaide not available 1 sun-dried mud floors and wall-lining material none none no no Peñón del Oso not available 1 hut floor with remains of sun-dried mud for wall-lining none none one Palmela arrowhead and one punch of square section yes La Higuera not available 0 none none no no yes Marimacho not available not available not available none none one punch and one chisel yes El Toro not available not available not available none none no yes Cerro García not available not available not available none none one Palmela arrowhead yes Las Mezquitas not available not available not available none none no no Castillo del Turón not available not available not available none none no no La Galeota not available not available not available None none no no Los Porqueros not available not available not available None none no no Aratispi not available 1 hut two stone walls associated to a hut; the first is 65 cm wide, presented 4 rows of stone and was made with medium-sized stones linked with mud mortar; the second had a preserved width of 50 cm and only two rows of stones none no no © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 43 Site Size nuMBer of StructureS DeScription of StructureS aBove-Surface reSiDential StructureS WalleD encloSureS Metallurgy Bell Beaker Huerta del Ciprés not available 70 negative structures wall: “wind-stopper” of 5.1 m in lenght and 1.05 m in width, made of blocks of stones held with mud none no yes El Castillejo not available 1 hut single row of stones of large size held with smaller stones, enclosing a largesized hut none one fragment of straight saw, one fragment of chisel, one drop of copper, three fragments of copper slag, one fragment of crucible and two fragments of copper mineral (malachite on sandstone) yes? Fig. 4. Synthesis of available data for Copper Age settlements in the Lands of Antequera. Descriptions are from the original publications (English translation by the authors). covered an area of 124 ha7, had the ditch found at this site formed a full circular enclosure, a point as yet unconfirmed8. In Alcaide’s case, its excavators pointed that it must have housed a small community (Aguado et al., 2002: 371-372), although no data were provided on estimated inhabited area. In an overwhelming majority of cases, these settlements present only negative features –underground or semi-underground structures–. Among the excavated ones, Arroyo Saladillo stands out with 152 features –although only 125 were excavated–, followed by Huerta del Ciprés –70–, El Silillo –58–, Cortijo Quemado –30–, Alameda –28– and Cortijo San Miguel (20). In all the other excavated settlements –Aratispi, Alcaide, El Castillejo and Peñón del Oso– just a single structure has been identified in each of them. Therefore, 262 Chalcolithic negative features have been identified in the Lands of Antequera to date –the number of them that have been excavated would be a little lower–. These counts cannot, however, be taken directly as an indication of settlement size. Firstly, the sites with the highest count 7 Paper presented by L. E. Fernández Rodríguez and M. Cisneros in the 3rd Andalusian Prehistory Congress (Antequera, 23-25 October 2014), entitled “Aportaciones de la arqueología preventiva al conocimiento de la Prehistoria Reciente en Antequera: Arroyo Saladillo y Huerta del Ciprés (Antequera, Málaga)”. 8 Fernández Rodríguez y Cisneros, op. cit. n. 3. of identified structures are clearly those that have been excavated across a larger area in the context of major public works projects –especially railways–. Therefore, the number of identified structures cannot be interpreted directly with regard to the size –or hierarchical status– of each settlement. Secondly, given the crippling limitations of the available radiocarbon chronology, there is no way of knowing the extent of the diachronic changes each site underwent throughout the Late Neolithic and Copper Age. In fact, from an assessment based on the study of material culture, several sites have been interpreted by their excavators to have been in use for long periods of time. Therefore, any extrapolation of the number of identified structures in terms of the settlement size –or population– would be, in all probability, inaccurate. Although they are still rather insufficient, what these data do suggest is that the Antequera plain was fairly densely populated in the Copper Age, and that both small and large communities must have existed. With regard to their intrinsic characteristics, despite the large number of excavated Chalcolithic structures (Fig. 4), there are very few references to above-the-surface architecture. The only published references are as follows: • Aratispi: two small walls of 4 and 2 rows of medium-sized stones, which would have been part of a hut. 50 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 further complicated with the natural rainfall fluctuations in a Mediterranean region, may be connected to the fact that an extraordinary Neolithic monument such as Menga has a 20 m deep shaft reaching towards fresh water. The general lack of substantial residential architecture is in stark contrast with the presence in the region of what perhaps is the most formidable Copper Age megalithic monument ever built in Iberia: El Romeral tholos. It is unlikely that a monument of such magnitude and significance, located at a very short distance from all these settlements –at most 2 hours by foot– would have been built unless a significant demographic contingent lived in the region. El Romeral may have played a central role in the lives of the Copper Age communities of the Antequera plain, just like, presumably, Menga and Viera had done for the Late Neolithic communities –and perhaps also for the Copper Age ones–. Fig. 14. Combined viewsheds of some of the Copper Age sites discussed in the text plus Menga: a) El Romeral and Menga; b) El Silillo and Marimacho. a b © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 51 4. Social Dynamics 4.1. Subsistence Economy With regard to agriculture, no archaeobotanical study has been published for any of the 21 excavated Chalcolithic sites, the only available evidence being indirect in character. The excavators of Aratispi and El Castillejo highlighted the importance of cereal agriculture based on the discovery of lithic tools such as blades, fragments of sickle with polished edges and abundant grinding tools (Perdiguero, 1990: 67; Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995: 68). The excavators suggested that the pits found at Cortijo de San Miguel were silos that had later been used to dump domestic refuse (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1996: 52). The study of La Capellanía revealed a remarkable number of large-sized jars, which were thought to be storage containers connected with the intensification of agricultural production (Martín Córdoba and Recio, 2004: 348). Similarly, in the 27 underground structures identified and excavated at Huerta del Ciprés, a large number of grinding tools were found, which, according to the excavators, suggests that this site could have been used agricultural processing (Cisneros, 2013: 259-261). Site vieWSheD (ha) vieWSheD (%) prevailing orientation of vieWSheD MaxiMuM extent of vieWSheD (M) La Peña de los Enamorados 29750 23.7 nw, sw and se 20000 Menga 11921 10.5 nw 19000 El Perezón 10273 9.1 sw 19000 El Romeral 9377 8.3 nw 19000 Marimacho 8343 8.6 ne y nw 20000 El Silillo 8088 6.4 s 18500 Aratispi 1047 0.8 nw, sw and se 6500 Fig. 15. Viewshed parameters for a selection of Lands of Antequera Copper Age sites (plus Menga). Generally speaking, this indirect evidence has been taken to point to a greater productive capacity and more intensive agriculture in the Chalcolithic compared to the Neolithic period. In reality, however, such evidence is very ambiguous. The pits thought to be silos have not been studied from a geo-chemical, sedimentological or archaeobotanical perspective: it is far from clear whether those pits and their infill were formed as a result of the abandonment and re-filling of silos, or as a result of practices involving structured deposition; the lithic sickle blades with cereal lustre could have been used to reap wild plants; the grinding utensils could have equally been used for grinding wild nuts, fruit, etc. Therefore, in order to evaluate the nature and scope of agricultural production in the Lands of Antequera in the 3rd millennium bce the most sensible thing to do is to wait until there are direct quantifiable and reliable archaeobotanical data that allow generalisations about productive scales and agricultural intensification. In fact, the same can be said about animal husbandry. Out of the 21 excavated Chalcolithic sites, only for El Silillo are archaeozoological data available. Very few remains were found at this site, and only 51 of the 259 fragments could be identified, which gives a total mni of 10 (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 2014b). The domestic animals present include cows, sheep and pigs, but in such small quantities that they are not statistically significant. Of the other excavated sites, relatively generic evaluations of the identified fauna have been published, but there are no concrete quantitative data. Abundant ovicaprid, and to a far lesser extent suid and bovid remains, were found in Alameda (Márquez et al., 1999: 184-186). In El Castillejo, excavators noted significant livestock activity, which mainly involved ovicaprids and, to a lesser extent, bovids as well as 52 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 Fig. 17. Marimacho isochrone areas. Fig. 16. El Romeral isochrone areas. © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 53 an abundance of suids in the lower levels (Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995: 68). Livestock farming (mainly sheep, pigs and, to a lesser extent, cows) was considered to be the main basis for subsistence during La Capellanía’s “Middle Chalcolithic” phase (Martín Córdoba and Recio, 2004: 346); the faunal remains cited for Cortijo de San Miguel include bovids and ovicaprids, as well as a fair amount of bones of small canids (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1996: 52); in the unpublished report on Arroyo Saladillo, a large amount of domestic faunal remains are cited, especially in the trench infill, with bovid mandible remains, as well as long bones and ribcage remains, but ovicaprid and suid remains also being collected10; in contrast, the amount of domestic animal remains found in Huerta del Ciprés was very small, with scant remains of ovicaprids, pigs and possibly some type of equid (Cisneros, 2013: 313). There is substantial evidence of a significant land mammal-hunting economy in almost all the sites excavated. In El Silillo, the wild fauna would have consisted of deer and possibly horses; in El Castillejo bones from wild boar and deer, among others, were found (Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995: 68); there was a significant percentage of adult deer in La Capellanía in the “Middle Chalcolithic” phase (Martín Córdoba and Recio, 2004: 346); and the wild fauna hunted by the Arroyo Saladillo inhabitants included deer, wild boar and birds11. There are also numerous examples of the presence of marine molluscs, most probably originating from the coast of Málaga. Wedge clam shells were found in El Castillejo (Fernández Rodríguez and Rodríguez Vinceiro, 1995: 68); limpet and wedge clam shells were discovered at Cortijo San Miguel (Fernández Rodríguez et al., 1996: 52); it seems there was scant malacofauna in Arroyo Saladillo, although a perforated marine shell bead –Conus 10 Sánchez Voigt, L. (2014): Intervención arqueológica de urgencia en el yacimiento Arroyo Saladillo, Málaga. Memoria Final. Málaga: Taller de Investigaciones Arqueológicas sl, unpublished report, pp. 51-52. 11 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 12, pp. 51-52. mediterraneus– was counted amongst the findings12; samples of river and marine malacofauna were collected in Huerta del Ciprés (Cisneros, 2013: 313). Of course, both domestic and wild animals served to provide raw materials for a wide range of products for which there is scant archaeological evidence –horns, bones, leather, skins, etc.–. At Huerta del Ciprés small fragments of ivory –perhaps debris from a manufacturing process– were found (Capel et al., 2014), which is a rare find in the Lands of Antequera, adding to recent studies that have shed light on the circulation and use of this exotic raw material during the 3rd millennium bce in southern Iberia. 4.2. Exploitation and Exchange of Abiotic Resources and Copper Metallurgy Aside from subsistence production, an important economic and social feature of the region’s Chalcolithic communities was the exploitation, processing and exchange of abiotic resources –in particular, flint and copper–. Flint was obtained and processed at a number of sites. At Peñón del Oso, where a siliceous outcrop is available some 300 m away, evidence was found of the processing of assorted, generally low quality flint. The techno-morphological study of a collection of items from this site suggested that the processing of flint may have been specialised in the manufacture of sickle elements (Márquez, 1998: 290 and 295; 2004: 278). Also in the case of Alcaide a connection was made with a flint quarry located on the western slope of the neighbouring Loma del Viento (Márquez and Marqués, 1997; Aguado et al., 2002: 261). The studies on surface materials conducted on several sites in the Ardales area also indicate there were flint quarries and processing locations: this is the case with Castillo del Turón, thought to be a major workshop associated with a large outcrop of this raw material (Ramos et al., 1986: 98) and La Galeota (Ardales), described as a ‘quarry facies’ flint workshop (Espejo Herrerías 12 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 12, pp. 50-52. 54 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 and Cantalejo Duarte, 1990: 39-40). The knapped flint tools recovered from the two underground structures –a pit and a ditch– recently discovered at Marimacho have been linked to the flint of the Late Jurassic period in the External Zones of the Baetic System (García González et al., 2014: 252). Artefacts made of rare and exotic stone have been found at a small number of sites at Lands of Antequera. Fibrolite axes were identified in the funerary contexts of Tajillo del Moro and Cerro del Comandante, as well as in El Toro cave –although in this instance of more likely Neolithic chronology– (García González, 2014: 413). Evidence was found indicating that red pigments were ground up in both Arroyo Saladillo and Huerta del Ciprés, including a red-stained quern in the former and a possible ingot of red pigment in the latter (Cisneros, 2013: 268). Personal objects and body ornaments made of rare stones have also been documented in some sites. A green quartz bead and two smoky quartz monocrystals were found in Huerta del Ciprés (Cisneros, 2013: 296-300). Mergelina (1922: 88) mentioned an “obscure polyhedral shard of glass”, now lost, among the findings from the Viera dolmen a piece that, in light of the drawing provided by Mergelina himself, was very probably a prism of quartz or rock crystal (Costa et al., 2011: 267)13, although it is impossible to say whether the piece was deposited in the megalith in the Neolithic period, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age or even later. The presence of rocks such as flint, fibrolite and others show that the communities of the 4th and 3rd millennia bce in the Lands of Antequera exchanged their resources with other southern Iberian regions. Various studies have linked the siliceous raw materials of sedimentary-diagenetic origin that came from the Baetic mountains in Málaga with blade technology identified in the Los Millares necropolis (Almería) (Lozano et al., 2010: 293; Afonso et al., 2011: 311, 13 M. J. Walker (1995: 123) included this piece among the possible faience or vitreous paste-related prehistoric finds of southern Spain. Fig. 18. El Silillo isochrone areas. © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 55 fig. 9), which suggests the existence of long-distance networks for the exchange of these raw materials. The presence of ivory, fibrolite and rock crystal puts Lands of Antequera in line with the intensification of exchange dynamics that occurred in southern Spain in this time period (Costa et al., 2011). With regard to metallurgy, evidence of copper mineral processing has been found at six of the 16 settlements and two of the six burial sites excavated in the Lands of Antequera. A total of 13 metallic objects –or fragments of objects– can be dated to the Copper Age in the Lands of Antequera. This count excludes the finds from La Peña de los Enamorados14, which lack known contexts, and the punch from Viera, for whose chronology there is no reliable evidence either. Overall, considering the size of the region under study, the large number of sites excavated and the long time period evaluated –around a thousand years–, it is clearly a small tally. Remains of copper mineral processing have only been identified at El Silillo and El Castillejo. The sites with a greater number of excavated structures, such as Arroyo Saladillo, Huerta del Ciprés, Alameda, Cortijo Quemado and Cortijo de San Miguel have not yielded metallic objects nor traces of metallurgy, wich is partly connected to the fact that they witnessed intense occupation during the pre-metallurgical Late Neolithic. 4.3. Monumentality and Burial Practices A number of funerary constructions found in the Lands of Antequera have been dated to the Copper Age. Apart from the Viera dolmen and the artificial caves of Alcaide, in all other cases no radiocarbon dates support this chronological attribution –and even in the case of Alcaide the available dates are not particularly helpful–. 14 According to the information published, two rivet daggers, a punch with a quadrilateral section and more than a dozen fragments of other metallic items as well as a crucible were found at La Peña de los Enamorados (Rodríguez Vinceiro et al., 1992: 227). It is not known whether these materials are from the Copper Age or the Bronze Age, a period during which this major archaeological site was also occupied. El Romeral is undoubtedly the most majestic monument attributed to the 3rd millennium bce in the Lands of Antequera. The largest tholos known in Iberia, El Romeral consists of a 26.5 m-long and 1.5 m-wide access corridor made of stone masonry and megalithic capstones, a main chamber built through corbelling with a diameter of 5.2 m and a maximum height of 4 m, and a 2.3 m-wide and 2.4 m-tall secondary chamber, separated from the previous one by a short corridor raised around 70 cm above ground level (Fig. 20). Unfortunately, almost nothing is known of this monument which has never been studied using modern scientific methods. The description published by M. Gómez-Moreno (1905: 91-92), the earliest available and the closest to the moment of is discovery, does not provide sufficient details to know how El Romeral was used during the Copper Age. Viera was also used or frequented during the Copper Age, as recently proven by a radiocarbon date (Aranda et al., 2013). Just like El Romeral, when it was discovered in 1903, Viera was rather devoid of findings. The small collection of materials attributed to this megalith currently held in the Museum of Málaga, includes an 8 cmlong copper punch or awl, a handmade pottery recipient (bowl), a fragment of handmade rough pottery, 12 lithic blade utensils, two polished axes, a stone with a concave cavity –possibly resulting from it being used for grinding– and two animal bone fragments –one of them being a fragment of horn–. Several of these materials were published in G. and V. Leisner’s summary (1943: 182-185 and plate 58). The copper punch or awl could mean the monument was used during the Copper Age, though identically shaped punches are also common in the Early Bronze Age. Other megalithic monuments, far smaller than El Romeral and Viera, were built or frequented during the Copper Age. This is the case of Chaperas 1 (Marqués, 1979), Chaperas 2 (Marqués et al., 2000) and Tajillo del Moro (Ferrer et al., 1980), located in the municipality of Casabermeja (Málaga). The approximate chronology of use of these three megaliths was established by their excavators through the 56 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 study of material culture, as no radiocarbon dates exist. In all three cases, highly fragmented human remains were found in secondary position, which suggested to the excavators that they had been part of sequential primary or collective secondary burials –no anthropological study into these remains has been published–. Together with the megalithic monuments, there are a significant number of Chalcolithic funerary deposits in rock-cut –hypogea– tombs. The best known of them is the Alcaide necropolis, where 21 hypogeal structures excavated in the Miocene sandstone are currently known, to which two smaller pits can be added. The chronology of these structures spans both the Copper Age and the Bronze Age (Marqués et al., Fig. 19. Lands of Antequera toponyms referrering to salty water. Fig. 20. El Romeral: Corridor (photograph: M. Á. Blanco de la Rubia). © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 57 2004: 252; Marqués and Aguado, 2012: 41, 45 and 52; Tovar et al., 2014). Therefore, this is a similar case to that of the great megalithic monuments of Menga, Viera and El Romeral, in that it is not immediately obvious which part of the burial practices correspond to the Copper Age and which part to the Bronze Age. In any case, a recent review by the excavators themselves suggests that the finds of tombs n.º 7 –previously numbered 12–, 9, 14 and 15 and the two pits –referred to as a and b– are of Bronze Age date, whilst the others showed signs of use in the Copper Age (Tovar et al., 2014). The rescue excavation carried out in Marimacho in 1997 brought about the discovery of two rockcut chambers. An individual inhumation found at the base of one of them was associated with some pottery that the excavators considered “of very little significance” (Marqués et al., 2004: 246). As well as the megalithic monuments and rockcut tombs, a significant amount of Copper Age funerary activity took place inside natural caves. This is evidenced at La Curra cave –also known as Los Murciélagos–, in Carratraca, a 48 m cavity with two vertical shafts 14 and 6 m in depth respectively. The biggest concentration of human remains can be found at the base of the second shaft and in the subsequent gallery and it includes also pottery, knapped lithic tools, polished stone and ornamental objects –three necklace beads and a pendant made from a shell– (Sanchidrián, 1985: 230). In the walls and speleothems surrounding these deposits, there are traces of red and black paintings, of which the only distinguishable motif is an anthropomorphic motif. Also, in upper galleries of the Ardales cave evidence has been found of its use as a funerary space, with numerous secondary burials, small stone enclosures and hand prints (Cantalejo and Maura, 2015) (Fig. 21). This material has not been subject to any monographic study as yet, but a radiocarbon Fig. 21. Ardales cave: human remains from Galerías Altas (photograph: Pedro Cantalejo Duarte). 58 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera... © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 date recently obtained suggests that some of this funerary activity could have taken place during the 3rd millennium bce (Rethemeyer, 2014). The last set of known funerary practices in the Lands of Antequera Copper Age is pit burials. This practice has been extensively documented at Arroyo Saladillo, where several instances were identified, including pits number 20, 72, 86, 90, 94, 95 and 107. In pits 72, 86 and 107, the individuals were buried in the foetal position. In structure 20, two infants were identified in a “stretched out or slightly bent” position, one of which –possibly female– was associated with an adze, a bone punch and unidentified animal remains15. In structure 72 a subadult individual –of unspecified sex– was found under the remains of a what was possibly a small tumulus, associated with an entire sheep or goat skeleton, as well as other faunal bone fragments, lithic tools, pottery and grinding stones16. In structures 90, 94 and 95, individual pit burials were discovered in a line parallel to the pit, inside the inhabited area. In structure 90, which was covered by a small cairn made of pebbles and stone blocks of varying sizes, including a large block of limestone, an individual burial was found (Fig. 22). This individual had been laid on their left-hand side, very curled up, with no grave goods – although pieces of ochre were found near the head and upper 15 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 8, p. 62. 16 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 8, p. 62. Fig. 22. Arroyo Saladillo: burial 90 (photograph: L. E. Fernández Rodríguez). Fig. 23. Arroyo Saladillo: burial 95 (photograph: L. E. Fernández Rodríguez). © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, LXXVIII, julio-diciembre 2016, 35-65 L. García Sanjuán, M.ª C. Moreno, J. Márquez y D. W. Wheatley / The Copper Age in the lands of Antequera.. 59 extremities. In structure 94, which was made of large slabs and completely covered by a subcircular tumulus made of pebbles and blocks –its excavators wondered whether it should be considered ‘protomegalithic’– an individual had been laid on their left-hand side, on a crouched position, again with no grave goods, although pieces of ochre were also recovered near the head and upper extremities17. Lastly, in structure 95 (Fig. 23), which was also covered by a cairn made of pebbles and blocks of varying sizes, an individual burial was found where the individual had been laid on a crouched position on their left-hand side, with a single grave good consisting of a small ceramic pot which had been placed in their lap. Finally, inside the ditch found at the southern sector of the site, a fractured human femur diaphysis, possibly belonging to a young male individual of short stature, was found, associated with a slate cruciform idol18. The small rescue excavation carried out in 2014 in Marimacho led to the finding of human bone fragments within a pit: a very slender, probably pre-adult humerus diaphysis and a skull fragment (García González et al., 2014). Overall, the available empirical record suggests that Copper Age communities of the Lands of Antequera engaged in a wide range of burial practices which took place against a backdrop of morphological and architectural diversity, from the magnificent El Romeral tholos, perhaps the most 17 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 8, p. 63. 18 Sánchez Voigt, op. cit. n. 9. majestic Iberian Copper Age megalith, to simple pits, through far smaller megaliths, perhaps built ‘ex novo’ or possibly erected in the Neolithic period and still used during the Copper Age. The use of natural caves like La Curra and Ardales as burial grounds and the significance of the artificial caves, the best examples of which is found in Alcaide, further underline this impression of social and cultural diversity. Unfortunately, the limitations of the radiocarbon chronology and the dearth of anthropological studies make it impossible to approach this range of funerary practices in terms of social complexity, diversity of identities and diachrony. 5. Discussion As it was stated at the start of this paper, several factors hamper the analysis of the Lands of Antequera during the Copper Age. Inasmuch as the existing data may be somewhat assessed in terms of settlement patterns and social dynamics, it is however possible to attempt some generalisations. Firstly, with regard to settlement patterns, throughout the 4th and especially at the start of the 3rd millennium bce, the farming economy seems to have experienced a significant expansion, the local populations acquiring a new capacity for productive intensification. Seen on a diachronic perspective, the spatial-temporal density of the occupation of perioD SiteS in arca StuDieD SiteS (excavateD + SurveyeD) Site DenSity (per Sq kM) Site DenSity (per century) Site DenSity Space-tiMe Paleolithic 33 2 (2+0) 0.01 -- -- Neolithic 54 14 (6+8) 0.02 2.34 0.04 Copper Age 290 33 (22+11) 0.11 28.70 3.11 Bronze Age 180 18 (14+4) 0.06 13.33 0.90 Iron Age 211 18 (12+6) 0.07 32.46 2.59 Antiquity 956 -- 0.36 106.22 38.46 Fig. 24. Space-time density of sites in the Lands of Antequera (2640 sq km). The standard duration for each period considered is as follows: Neolithic (c. 5500-3200 cal bc): 23 centuries; Copper Age (c. 3200-2200 cal bc): 10 centuries; Bronze Age (c. 2200-850 cal bc): 13.5 centuries; Iron Age (c. 850-200 cal bc): 6.5 centuries; Antiquity: (c. 200 cal bc-700 ad) 9 centuries.