Free Republic

A recent interdisciplinary study has revealed the copper mining practices of the Argaric societies during the Bronze Age (2200–1550 BCE), highlighting a decentralized and diversified network of resource exploitation.Researchers from the University of Granada (UGR), in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and other institutions, analyzed archaeological samples from southern Spain's Betic Mountain Range, particularly the Guadix-Baza basin, to better understand the metallurgical landscape of the time...Through lead-isotope and trace-element analyses, researchers identified inland mining regions, particularly the Betic Cordillera from Granada to Baza, as critical sources of copper, surpassing the importance of earlier coastal deposits in the...

It's one of the most lavish burials of the European Bronze Age; and, although the woman was buried with a man, most of the expensive grave goods were hers, suggesting that she was of much higher social status.By comparing her grave to that of other El Argar women, researchers led by archaeologist Vicente Lull of the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain have concluded that women in this culture could have played a more important political role than we previously knew.The grave itself, a large ceramic jar named grave 38, was discovered in 2014, at the La Almoloya archaeological site...

Eco-ruin 'felled early society' The Argaric culture was an early urban society One of Western Europe's earliest known urban societies may have sown the seeds of its own downfall, a study suggests. Mystery surrounded the fall of the Bronze Age Argaric people in south-east Spain - Europe's driest area. Data suggests the early civilisation exhausted precious natural resources, helping bring about its own ruin. The study provides early evidence for cultural collapse caused - at least in part - by humans meddling with the environment, say researchers. It could also provide lessons for modern populations living in water-stressed regions. The...