Juan Andrs Garca Martn

Instituto de Humanidades. Universidad

Rey Juan Carlos
HISTORY AND CULTURE
OF SPAIN
Topic 1:Prehistory of the Iberian
Peninsula
a)Stone Age
I. Paleolithic
II. Epipaleolithic
III. Neolithic
IV. Stone Age art
b) The Copper Age
c) The Bronze Age
Neolithic (5.000-2.500 BC)
Neolithic revolution: productive economy, agriculture,
settlements and villages, social differences, sedentary habits
Epipaleolithic: transition (10.000-5.000 BC)
Beginning of productive economy, Levantine art
Paleolithic
Early (2000000-
80000 BC)
Middle (90000-
35000 BC)
Late (40.000-10.000
BC)
Homo,
2500000 BC.
Ethiopia.
Homo habilis.
1800000 BC
Homo erectus,
1500000
Homo sapiens
400000-250000
Homo sapiens
sapiens, Homo
sapiens
antecessor,
Homo
heidelbergensis
a) Stone Age
I. Paleolithic
The origins of modern humans
are in Africa, specifically in the so
called Horn of Africa.
El Aculadero (Cadiz)
Early Paleolithic cultures
2000000-80000 BC
Homo antecessor and Homo erectus
Rolling stones:
Chopper: one face
Chopping tool: two faces
2000000-700000 BC
Acheulean:
700000-90000 BC
Small groups: 10-15 people
Cannibalism
Not religious paintings
Hunters: traps and wells, in small groups,
using spears
First humans in Iberian Peninsula
were located in Atapuerca, 800000
BC.
86 bones, that belonged to 6
humans, were found in la Gran
Dolina
Atapuerca paleontological sites, in Burgos.
13000 bones were found
in La Sima de los Huesos
(1974). They belonged to
pre-neanderthal humans.
How were the humans at Atapuerca?
H. antecessor was about 1.6-1.8 m
Brain sizes were roughly 1,000
1,150 cm, smaller than the 1,350 cm
average of modern humans
1200000-800000 BC
90 kg.
May have practised cannibalism
Homo antecessor, which
means explorer or pioneer,
was quite near to Homo
heidelbergensis (picture on
the top).
Torralba y Ambrona paleontological
sites, in Soria. 400000 BC
Middle Paleolithic cultures
90000-35000 BC
Homo neanderthal and Homo
sapiens
It corresponded with
Mousterien. They used
Levallois technique
They used caves for a living
Instruments are smaller and
improved
Extended use of wooden and
bone tools. They knew fire. As
they had burials, they had
some consciousness after
death
Economy: hunters and nomad
Medium groups: 30-40 people
Up, Mousterian
and Levallois
technique.
Down, hunters
Homo neanderthalensis area of expansion. 95000 BC
Homo sapiens, 4000-35000 BC. This subspecie shared physical
features with current humans. He could made complex tools and he
had religious beliefs.
Upper Paleolithic cultures
35000-10000 BC. Following this periodization:
Aurignician-Perigordian: 35000-19000 BC. It is associated with
Homo Sapiens. Two stages:
Chatelperronian
Gravettian
Solutrean: 19000-15000 BC. Typical in Valencia, north of
Catalonia, Cantabria and even some places in Madrid. It is also
found in Murcia, Mediterranean Andalusia and Lower Tagus
(Portugal). Main site in Las Caldas.
Magdalenian: 15000-8000 BC.
They were specialist on stone and bone tools: pin, needles,
badge, case, rattles, arrows
Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens
Paintings: black, ochre and brown. Maybe colourant?
They are hunters specialised in big mammals such as deers,
reindeers and goats
Reindeers, deers and
goats were the favourite
preys of hunters by this
period.
Up, Cave of Altamira (18000-14000 BC)
is a cave in Spain famous for its cave
paintings featuring drawings and
polychrome rock paintings of wild
mammals and human hands. Up right,
Tito Bustillo cave paintings (Asturias):
22000-10000 BC.
Down right, Parpall Cave (Valencia),
29000-11000 BC.
This needle and this hook are a very
good example of the new and
complex toolds that are developed
during the Upper Paleolithic.
II. Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic
Mesolithic
10000-5000 BC
New climate: warmer than
Paleolithic
New and smaller fauna: rabbits,
goats, birds, snails
According to new fauna, hunters
needed new and smaller tools: slex
and small stone sheets
Settlers became sedentary. Humans
started to make small communities
Their economic activies were
hunting, harvest and fishing (even
seafood)
A new fauna demanded new tools to
hunt with.
Up, mesolithic flint tools; down,
transverse arrowheads mounted on
arrow shaft.
Mesolithic way of life
Neolithic home and furniture
III. Neolithic
Neolithic
Europe: 10000-3000 BC
Three stages: Early Neolithic, Medium Neolithic and Late
Neolithic
Iberian Peninsula: 5000-3000 BC
Aeas: Catalonia, Levante, Andalusia and Central plateau
Discovery of agriculture y taming
Creation of knitting (cloth), pottery and basketmaking
Productive economy based on agriculture (wheat and barley),
ranching and taming of wild animals (wildboar, cow, goat, pig,
rabbit and dog)
Not any more nomadism: sedentarian habits
Personal property
Paintings with shells
Early Neolithic
Mountains near the
Mediterranean coast
Caves for living
Ranching and cattle
over agriculture
Art: Pottery
Main site: Cueva de
lOr (Alicante)
Cardium (pottery) and Cueva de lOr
as it is and as it could have been
Medium Neolithic
Catalonia
Burials in necropolis. The
grave is surrounded by
stone. There are pottery,
small tools, gifts and
necklaces
Small villages with circular
cabins
Discovery of mining
Main site: Tintoret de Gav
Late Neolithic
Across all Europe
Development of
villages of farmers
Megalithic
monuments: collective
tombs such as menhir
and dolmen
Main site: Cueva de
Menga (Mlaga)
Dolmen del
Mellizo
(Cceres)
Up, dolmen del Mellizo
(Cceres); Down right,
Menga Cave (Mlaga);
menhir da Meada
(Castelo da Vide,
Portugal), is the biggest
menhir in the Iberian
Peninsula.
IV. Stone Age art
Main paleolithic art sites in Europe.
Prehistoric art
Cantabria and
North faade
Animals alone,
Ice Age fauna
Naturalism
Polychrome
Mediterranean
coast
Warm weather
fauna
Narrative scenes
(harvest or
hunting)
Human
representation
Paleolithic
On walls or small tools
It appeared around 35000 BC. There are five stages
Topic about:
Deer, goat, mammoth, bison
No human representation
Hands
What colours?: Ochre, brown, black
Where? In caves, it could have a religious meaning
The Cave of Altamira (Cantabria,
16500-14000 BC): the
polychrome Ceiling is the most
impressive feature of the cave,
depicting a herd of
extinct steppe bison in different
poses, two horses, a large doe,
and possibly a wild boar.
Post-paleolithic
So called Iberian-Mediterranean basin and cave art
Iberian-Mediterranean:
Where? South of Aragon, North of Castelln,
Albarracn, Valencia, Albacete, Murcia and
Alicante
When? 6000-1200 BC
How? Painting: red, white and black.
Monochrome
What? Human representation, animals and
geometrical lines:
Hunting, harvest, war, agriculture, religious
Cave art
Around the whole Iberian Peninsula
More simplified
Religious meaning
Representation of animals and human
Painting of honey
extraction in Parall
Caves (Valencia)
b) The Copper Age
Copper Age or Chalcolithic
The earliest phase
of metallurgy
3000- 2000 BC
social complexity and
stratification
extense exchange networks
that would reach to the
Baltic (ambar) and Africa
(ivory and ostrich-eggs)
Main sites:
Los Millares (Almeria)
Vila Nova de Sao Pedro,
Villa Nova de Foz Coa and
Zambujal (Portugal)
Bell beaker culture
Copper Age
Los Millares
(Almera)
3.200-2.200 BC
Vila Nova de
Sao Pedro
(Portugal)
2.600-1.300 BC
Bell beaker
culture (Tagus,
Catalonia
and Madrid-
Ciempozuelos)
2.900-1.800 BC
Bell beaker culture
What? Specific fashion in some
European cultures
Where? Western and Central
Europe
Origin? Maybe Egypt.
Coetaneous to Metaliths
What for? Funerary device in
caves or emerging villages
Funerary trousseau: bell beaker
glass, pot and bowl. Besides,
arrows, spears and bracelet.
Three subgroups:
Continental: Tagus-Douro
Catalonia
Maritime (Portugal)
The bell beaker
culture accross
Europe
Los Millares (Almeria)
2400 BC
Copper mining
Villages surrounded by walls in hills
Oval houses, grain storages and
furnace for mineral
Megalithic burials
c) Bronze Age
Bronze = copper + tin
It begins around 2000 BC
Where? Regionalization: South East-El Argar, Valencia, Region of La
Mancha, North West-Atlantic region and Balearic Islands
Economy: agriculture more important, hunting less and ranching.
Development of metallurgy and mining
Main site: El Argar (Almeria) 1700-1300 BC
Evolution of
Bronze Age
in Iberian
Peninsula
Bronze Age
1800-1000-750 BC
El Argar
Almeria, Granada
and Murcia
Bronze from La
Mancha
Albacete and
Ciudad Real
Talayots Balearic Islands
Urnfields
Catalonia (from
Europe)
During El Argar
culture, there are
not more
collective burials,
like in the third
millennium. From
then on, there
are individual
graves.
Talayots or deffensive
towers, taulas and navetas in
Balearic Islands and urnfields
in Catalonia
Ms informacin en:
Instituto de Humanidades
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Campus de Viclvaro
Paseo de Artilleros S/N
Despachos 081 y 091
28032, Madrid
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