Argaric culture

The Argaric culture, named from the type site El Argar near the town of Antas, in what is now the province of Almería in southeastern Spain, is an Early Bronze Age culture which flourished between c. 2200 BC and 1550 BC. The Argaric culture was characterised by its early adoption of bronze, which briefly allowed this tribe local dominance over other, Copper Age peoples. El Argar also developed sophisticated pottery and ceramic techniques, which they traded with other Mediterranean tribes. The center of this civilization is displaced to the north and its extension and influence is clearly greater than that of its ancestor. Their mining and metallurgy were quite advanced, with bronze, silver and gold being mined and worked for weapons and jewelry. Pollen analysis in a peat deposit in the Cañada del Gitano basin high in the Sierra de Baza suggests that the Argaric exhausted precious natural resources, helping bring about its own ruin. The deciduous oak forest that covered the region's slopes were burned off, leaving a tell-tale carbon layer, and replaced by the fire-tolerant, and fire-prone, Mediterranean scrub familiar under the names garrigue and maquis. El Argar: irregularly shaped (280 x 90 m). Fuente Vermeja: small fortified site, 3 km north of El Argar Lugarico Viejo: larger town very close to Fuente Vermeja. La Bastida de Totana: larger fortified site. La Almoloya (Pliego, Murcia): in the top of a plateau. Puntarrón Chico: in the top of a small hill, near Beniaján (Murcia) Ifre (Murcia): on a rocky elevation. Zapata (Murcia): 4 km. west of Ifre, fortified. Cabezo Redondo (Villena, Alicante): one of the biggest settlements, on a rocky elevation next to an old lagoon and salt evaporation pond. Gatas (4 km west of Mojácar, Almería): fortified town on a hill with remarkable water canalizations. El Oficio (9 km north of Villaricos, Almería): atop of a well defended hill, strongly fortified, especially towards the sea. Cerro de las Viñas, Coy, Spain Fuente Álamo (7 km north of Cuevas de Almazora, Almería): the citadel is atop a hill, while the houses are terraced in its southern slope.