Bronze Age Frontiers and Pottery Circulation

Political and Economic Relations at the Northern Fringes of El Argar, Southeast Iberia, ca. 2200–1550 BCE

Bibliographic Data

ID6432939
AuthorsAdrià Moreno Gil (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, corresponding author), C Garcia (0009-0008-6258-6584, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona), Carla Garrido García, Bárbara Bonora Soriano (0000-0002-9047-3674, Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen), David Gómez‐gra (0000-0002-8539-5739, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona), David Gómez-Gras, Roberto Risch (0000-0001-8534-5806, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona)
Year2025
Volume32
Issue2
Publication date2025-03-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Archaeological Method and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1072-5369 • E-ISSN: 1573-7764
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10816-025-09702-y
OpenAlexW4408492768
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited31

This paper explores the nature and dynamics of economic and political borders emerging in Later Prehistory between highly centralised and exploitative societies and their much more dispersed and small-scale neighbours. While increasing evidence indicates that Early Bronze Age entities such as El Argar, Únětice or Minoan Crete reached highly complex economic and political forms around 1850–1750 BCE, the processes by which their relations and borders with adjacent, less hierarchical groups were established and maintained still remain poorly understood. To identify such economic and political borders and asymmetric interactions in archaeology, a specific methodological approach was developed which combined extensive field survey, pottery petrography, and spatial modelling of pottery production and circulation areas. Our research focuses on the middle and upper Segura River valley, a largely unexplored borderland between distinct geographic and cultural zones of the Iberian Peninsula. While El Argar expanded over the semi-arid Southeast, adjacent regions—La Mancha and the Spanish Levant—were home to smaller-scale socio-economic entities, known as La Mancha or Las Motillas and the Valencian Bronze Age cultures. At the junction of these three groups, we surveyed 61 settlements across 4800 km 2 and analyzed 1643 pottery sherds, conducting the largest petrographic study of Iberian Bronze Age ceramics. Spatial modeling of the results traced pottery production and circulation, offering insights into economic exchanges, social boundaries and the articulation of borderland spaces. By mapping distinct pottery-making practices, we reveal interactions between El Argar’s core regions and its neighbours, demonstrating the potential of ceramic analysis for understanding Bronze Age border dynamics. Comparable studies in other regions are expected to lead to a better understanding of the role of borders in shaping prehistoric societies and inter-group relations

Ancient history · Archaeology · Bronze · Bronze Age · Circulation (fluid dynamics · Geography · Political science · Politics · Pottery · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Archaeological and Historical Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History

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