2250 -1450 BC Southeast Iberia

Argaric culture

This period is characterized here by complex urbanism with central settlements which sometimes develop defensive systems with walls, bastions and towers. The houses are situated on terraced hillsides and have square shaped rooms and internal divisions. They consist of a stone base and walls made of vegetal material with horizontal or slightly sloping roofs. Inside there are structured areas of textile production and storage, banks, mills and homes.

Its economy was based on agriculture and livestock and metallurgical production, with the alloy of copper and tin, i.e. bronze, as key raw material for the manufacture of objects.

In this period there are substantial changes in funerary rituals. They consisted of individual burials (sometimes also double or triple ones) within the urban area usually under the floor of the houses. The grave goods vary greatly between different graves and allow to suggest the existence of different social identities, depending on the status, gender or age.