Bell Beaker enclosure found in Spain

Angela

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It's near Seville, and it's dated to 2600 to 2200 BCE.

See:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160809095145.htm

[FONT=&quot]"The complex of concentric rings may have been used for holding rituals; such earthwork enclosures have previously only been found in the northern half of Europe."

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"[FONT=&quot]The nearby settlement of Valencina was supported by farming and stockraising on the fertile coastal plain. It is Spain's largest known Copper Age settlement -- of over 400 hectares. Grave goods found at the site show that the people of Valencina traded with Copper Age cultures far away: items include exotic luxury wares such as elephant tusks from Africa and the Middle East, and amber beads from northern Europe."[/FONT][FONT=&quot]In return, it is likely they traded copper ore from the mountains behind Valencina. It is uncertain to what extent the city traded with areas further inland and exactly where trade routes and migrations ran. "

"Just what the site was used for is still a mystery. It consists of several circular trenches with entrance-like openings at regular intervals. In the center was a deep, circular hole some 19 meters wide. In it, the archaeologists found large clay bricks with burn marks on it which may have served a ritual purpose. But they did not find human remains or indications of continuous settlement after the Copper Age -- suggesting the site was used intensively for a relatively short period."

"Javier Escudero Carrillo, says "the structure is very unusual for Spain, other circular earthworks like this are only found north of the Alps; but most are more than a thousand years older than this site. The stony ground here is not good for farming, but the site is strategically located near an ancient fort on the Guadalquivir River near the ore-rich Sierra Morena mountains, where copper and other valuable minerals were mined. Trails link the site with the fertile plain of Carmona, so that we may assume it was used by many passing through. That fits well with the interpretation of a site used for religious purposes.""[/FONT]
 
very interesting
if I understand correctly Valencina was pré-BB chalocolithic with a trade network reminiscint to Los Millares and pré-BB Zambujal
this BB site is 50 km east of Valencina
interesting are those concentric rings only found much more north ; is this a backmigration ?
strategically near trade routes and near copper ores, typical BB

On my way to Sevilla, I spent the night once in a small village on a hilltop near Carmona.
At night the cows were still driven to the stables in the village on the hilltop, and in the morning they drove them back in the surrounding lowlands.

800px-Carmona_landscape.jpg


IMO 1st BB people near Zambujal came from far away, the Aegean or Balkans or even Pontic Steppe.
They were attracted to Iberia because they had heard of the wealth collected by the pré-BB chalcolithic Iberian elite.
 

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