Expressions of inequality: settlement patterns, economy and social organization in the southwest Iberian Bronze Age.

SanJuan, Leonardo Garcia

If there's no meaning in it, that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any. And yet I don't know, I seem to see some meaning in them after all.

L. CARROLL Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Introduction

One of the most intensively debated research themes within contemporary archaeology revolves around the causes, processes and consequences of the rise of complex forms of social inequalities in prehistory. This general issue, often referred to as the analysis of early social complexity, has for 30 years comprised three main subjects.

Firstly, it has involved the definition and shaping of key, and often conflicting, conceptual categories derived from separate theoretical traditions, mainly Marxism and cultural evolutionism. Early seminal notions have been discussed, criticized and reformed according to the growing amount of new empirical evidence and new theoretical approaches. Secondly, to a lesser extent, it has conveyed the discussion of how those concepts, drawn originally from ethnography, can be translated into archaeologically readable terms; or in other words, how they can be articulated in the form of middle-range theories.

Thirdly, it has involved the analysis of concrete regional sequences as a means of testing specific theories and hypotheses. In the case of European prehistory, discrete case-studies have framed and supported approaches emphasizing different causal processes of early social complexity during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. Agricultural intensification as well as management, redistribution and exchange of subsistence goods have played a central role in the analysis of social evolution in the Aegean region; alternatively, exchange and consumption of prestige goods has been considered critical in the increase of social inequalities in southern Scandinavia. As debated and mutually conflicting as these approaches may be, they have made possible the construction of a broader picture of the rise of highly inegalitarian societies throughout the European continent during late prehistory. Furthermore, the task of analysing the variability involved in the origins and early evolution of complex societies is inextricably dependent upon the available number of detailed and methodologically comprehensive regional investigations.

Fundamentals of a regional investigation of social complexity

The regional analysis of the evolutionary trajectories of social complexity in later Iberian prehistory remains at present rather uneven, as some recent contributions suggest (Diaz 1993; 1995; Lillios 1995; Oliveira 1996). In areas such as the southeast (or its peripheral regions of La Mancha and the Upper Guadalquivir valley), current knowledge of the demographic, territorial, economic and social dimensions of those trajectories has been greatly enriched in the light of theoretical approaches based on a wider availability of empirical evidence (Lull 1983; Chapman 1990; Gilman 1976; 1981; 1987; Gilman & Thornes 1985; Arteaga 1992; Nocete 1989; 1994; etc.). Arguably, the set of research strategies deployed in the southeast during the last two decades has also encouraged innovation within other Iberian regions (Chapman 1997: 286). However, the resulting knowledge of the regional variability of social modes of organization during the Copper and Bronze Age is limited and unsatisfactory. This is the case of the southwest, where not only a significant part of current prehistoric research remains detached from the discussion of concepts and problems relating to social evolution, but also where the set of available data displays limitations for the key issue of empirical testing.

The data-set for this study concentrates on the Sierra de Huelva (covering 5027 sq. km), located at the western extreme of the Sierra Morena mountains [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED], in the Iberian southwest. The chronological focus is the Early and Middle Bronze Age, with reference to both the preceding Copper Age period (c. 2500-1700 BC) and subsequent Late Bronze Age (c. 1100750 BC). Three spatial modules of analysis have been designed within this region [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 3 & 4 OMITTED]. These are named as Module i or upper course of the river Rivera de Huelva (413 sq. km), Module 2 or upper course of the river Rivera del Chanza (416 sq. km) and Module 3 or upper course of the river Murtigas (183 sq. km).

Since this article discusses whether the range of social complexity involved in those Bronze Age communities selected fell within the domain of moderate inequalities or reached the point of extreme ones, some form of conceptual definition is needed. The theoretical standpoint assumed here departs from a notion of social ranking and social stratification based on the definitions given by Fried (1967). However, the notions of stratified and class society (which are used interchangeably) are regarded as equivalent of the State itself following a Marxist definition (Engels 1983 [1884]; Hindess & Hirst 1975; Harvey 1978). The transition from social ranking into social stratification involves the insertion within the structure of social relations of production, of extreme levels of inequality (based on factors other than the sex and age status of individuals). These factors express themselves through differential access to the basic means of subsistence production (most importantly land), as well as through mechanisms (namely tributes re-inforced by coercive means) by which the majority of the components of the social unit is forced to transfer its labour and production to an elite class.

Settlement patterns: coping with limitations Population distribution

Environmentally, the Sierra de Huelva region is characterized by predominantly metamorphic terrains with relatively small sedimentary zones along the main water-courses. Soils are scarcely developed and acidic, and not suitable for agriculture. The average altitude is between 400 and 700 m above sea level, rising to just above 1000 m in the centre of the region, and decreasing southwards towards the Guadalquivir valley. The combined effect of the steep slopes, predominance of metamorphic rocks and underdeveloped soils results in a low agricultural capability.

Considering both the number and size of settlements across the region, it becomes apparent that from c. 1700 BC onwards there was a demographic increase as well as a tendency towards the concentration of the population within a smaller number of larger sites. Thus, from a total number of 38 settlements (7.84 ha) during the Copper Age, there was a marked shift during the Bronze Age as the overall number of settlements decreased to 21, the total amount of inhabited surface, however, rising to 54.6 ha - see FIGURE 5 and TABLE 1.

This demographic shift between Copper and Bronze Ages seems to be correlated with a change in the territorial distribution of the population. During the Copper Age, the most densely populated area was Module 2 (Ribera del Chanza), where most of the available fertile, sedimentary soils and arable land of the region are concentrated. In this Module, three or four major settlements surrounded by a number of minor ones, as well as a number of megalithic structures, can be identified. However, only one Copper Age settlement has been identified in Module I (Ribera de Huelva). During the Bronze Age, Module 1 was the most densely inhabited of the three modules, whereas virtually no settlement (nor indeed funerary remains) have been identified in Module 2 [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 6 OMITTED]. In Module 3 there seems to be a steady pattern of occupation in both periods, with a decrease in [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] the number of settlements and an increase in their size in the Bronze Age.

The pattern of association between the location of Copper and Bronze Age settlements and different environmental variables suggest a number of trends. As far as lithology is concerned, the statistical evidence suggests a meaningful difference between the number of Copper and Bronze Age settlements that have a proportion of more than 85% of metamorphic terrain within their surrounding area. Considering the overall limited availability of sedimentary soils in the region, this might well suggest a different settlement strategy, with Bronze Age communities depending less than Copper Age communities on the close proximity to these soils. Indeed, the distribution of both Copper and Bronze age settlements throughout current land-use classes reinforces this trend. It is only when cross-tabulating both sets of settlements according to whether more or less than a third of their surrounding area is arable, that the statistical evidence reaches a level very close to the significance level.

Further quantitative evidence suggests that Bronze Age communities had an underlying tendency to settle at comparatively higher altitude than Copper Age ones - see data on relative altitude coefficient(1) in TABLE 1. Thus, they had a higher visual control of the surroundings and were easier to defend (although in consequence they became less accessible and were further removed from the main water courses, therefore controlling a smaller proportion of sedimentary terrains).

In addition, Bronze Age settlements also have a stronger tendency to be enclosed by perimeter walls, possibly defensive in nature, which further suggests a higher degree of inter-community tensions during this period. In La Papua, a settlement with a high altitude coefficient, a perimeter wall enclosed an area of 14 ha with two massive bastions protecting the main entrance. The size and the presence of this clearly defensive structure suggests that La Papua might have played a some form of central role within the inter-settlement network of the region. In El Trastejon, a settlement with a lower altitude coefficient, massive hill terracing was carried out around the 16th century BC. Although this work aimed primarily at increasing the available horizontal space for productive purposes, the massive front wall of the lower terrace (7 m high at some points), may have had a secondary defensive function.

Theoretical relations of territoriality

The theoretical relations of territoriality among these communities have been explored on the basis of the assumption held by the X-TENT Model, according to which size and political status of settlements tend to correlate positively. Therefore, if that political status is projected onto the space, peripheral, secondary settlements will fall under the influence of larger centres (see Renfrew & Level 1979:145 for a description of the method and Webster 1990: 339-41 and Wason 1994:129 for ethnographic evidence in favour of its underlying assumption).

During the Copper Age, at least one larger settlement in Module 2 was surrounded by a number of smaller ones. In addition, both in this settlement and in another located to the west, a series of megalithic structures can be found arranged around the boundaries of what emerges as the periphery of their theoretical areas of influence. Nevertheless, it is among the Bronze Age subset of settlements in Module 1 that it is possible to identify a more specific hierarchical spatial pattern [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 7 OMITTED]. Here, La Papua seems to project its influence onto a series of smaller settlements and a large number of funerary locations. One problem associated with the interpretation of this pattern, however, is that La Papua's stratigraphic deposit has been badly damaged by erosion, and therefore it is difficult to assess the function of large parts of the area enclosed by the walls.

A common feature shared by both Copper and Bronze Age settlements is that they are usually surrounded by a number of funerary structures. Typically, Bronze Age settlements have between two and five clusters of individual cists distributed in their surroundings, each normally consisting of no more than 10 cists (only three larger groups with up to 30-35 cists have been identified). Further evidence, which reinforces the pre-eminent territorial role of La Papua, is the concentration of luxury grave goods (a bronze dagger and two silver armrings and a diadem) in a cluster of cists belonging to this settlement.

Economy: from farming to the metal rush?

Basic subsistence

Some of the locational preferences mentioned above are in themselves indicative of the orientation assumed by the economic production of these communities. As stated above, from c. 1700 BC onwards the availability of sedimentary, arable soils around settlements seem to become a less important factor determining settlement location than the defence factor. This trend suggest that some communities had a more secure and predictable supply of subsistence goods, which made them less dependent on the local availability of fertile land.

At El Trastejon, grains of barley, wheat and beans were identified. Wheat grains were found separated from chaff or weeds, which suggests that they were not part of a stored harvest, but a deposit of grain processed and ready for consumption. In addition, both barley and wheat are totally absent in the palynological record obtained from La Papua and El Trastejon, where a wide predominance of pasture vegetation, with little or virtually no presence of cereals and other cultivated species, is found. This evidence may suggest that the cultivation of crops near the settlements either took place on a very small scale or was virtually absent. Contemporary pollen data from the Bronze Age sites of El Acebron (Stevenson & Harrison 1992) and Guadajira (Hurtado & Garcia 1996), located in the neighbouring alluvial plains of the Guadalquivir and Guadiana rivers (to the south and north of the Sierra de Huelva region respectively), show higher percentages of cultivated grain than El Trastejon and La Papua.

This is consistent with the historical evidence concerning the pre-industrial economy of the region. Between the 15th and 19th centuries AD, wheat production in the Sierra de Huelva was largely insufficient to satisfy the local demand, so that extra supplies were periodically imported from either of the two neighbouring alluvial regions. Therefore, the existence of either functional specialisation among settlements, or networks of exchange of subsistence goods among late prehistoric communities of the Sierra de Huelva region and neighbouring areas, should not be ruled out altogether.

The lack of osteological evidence from La Papua and El Trastejon is an important handicap in assessing the extent and importance of animal husbandry, historically an essential sector of the local economy. This absence of evidence is caused principally by the same extreme soil acidity that also affects the preservation of human bones within funerary structures. However, soil samples from El Trastejon suggested that some of the light architectural structures identified on the upper terrace could have served as barns, as the phosphates concentrations reached levels near the conventionally accepted threshold of stabling.

Mining and metallurgy

Although stronger evidence has been found in neighbouring areas (in some cases where natural resources are absent), mining and metallurgy seem to have played a very limited role among Copper Age communities settled in the Sierra de Huelva. It was only from c. 1700 BC onwards that mining and metallurgy became increasingly important elements within the local economy. First, all the relevant indicators (presence of slags, furnaces and means of production such as mining hammers, crucibles and moulds) seem to undergo an explosion across several settlements in the region. Second, during this period, and particularly within Module 1, there is also a sharp relative increase of the use of metal prestige items (weapons and ornaments) in funerary deposits. Third, the comparative distributions of Copper and Bronze Age settlements against copper ores [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 8 & 9 OMITTED] show that Module 2 (with the highest Copper Age population density), lacks any of these ores, whereas Module 1 (which underwent a demographic increase from c. 1700 BC) has a very high concentration of copper ores. Thus, the shift of the territorial demographic balance seems to be associated with the growing economic importance of metal production.

What seems clear, however, is that metal production in the central area of the Sierra (Module 1) took off around the 18th century BC, with virtually no local precedents. It is probable that the increase of mining and metallurgy had an environmental effect in the landscape of the region. As palynological data from La Papua and El Trastejon suggest, towards the end of the period c. 1700-1100 BC the pressure of human economic activities is seen in the form of alterations to the vegetational landscape. The same process seems to be taking place some 150 km southwards, towards the coastal alluviums of Huelva, where a large series of pollen analyses point towards extensive landscape clearance by the end of the second and beginning of the 1st millennium BC, as a consequence of agriculture and forest exploitation (Stevenson & Harrison 1992: 242).

If the exchange of staple goods between the various communities of the region and their neighbours would compensate for the limited production of crops, the possible existence of exchange networks of prestige metal items between the Sierra de Huelva and other neighbouring regions is yet to be assessed. There are quantitative indications for prestige metal items being more frequent in Bronze Age funerary contexts which are located in areas with higher agricultural capability across the southwest (Garcia & Rodriguez 1996). This suggests an interesting relationship between communities settled in the mineral-rich mountainous areas with low agricultural potential, and those communities that occupied fertile alluvial plains deprived of mineral resources.

However, during the early 2nd millennium BC, exotic prestige items were very scarce among Bronze Age grave goods throughout the southwest and the whole Iberian Atlantic area (Harrison 1993; Ruiz 1992) whilst they were relatively frequent within the Argaric area (Gilman & Harrison 1977).

Social organization: from moderate towards high ranking

Indicators of social inequality from the settlement record, such as uneven distributions of storing devices, presence of intra-settlement walled divisions associated with differential complexity and wealth in the dwellings, or tombs associated with individual houses, are still scarce due to the lack of precise intra-site data from settlements other than El Trastejon and La Papua. In both these two settlements the massive terracing constructions carried out suggest a high degree of labour co-ordination, organization and specialization. The development of inter-settlement labour specialization during the period c. 1700-1100 BC in metallurgic activities is likely to have taken place, although can only be empirically confirmed from c. 1100 BC onwards (Late Bronze Age), when a number of small settlements operated as mining-camps specialized in the extraction of minerals. However, the spatial pattern of inter-settlement hierarchization emerging from Module 1 suggests that perhaps some sites like El Trastejon were more functionally (economically) specialized than others, and that La Papua played a central political role.

The indicators of the funerary record present a major problem, which derives from the lack of osteological record because of the soil acidity. This is a major drawback for the analysis of patterns of association between the biological dimension of the funerary ritual (sex and age categories as well as palaeonutritional or palaeopathological indicators) and its material dimension (cost and complexity of funerary structures and grave goods). Nevertheless, despite the loss of a critical set of indicators because of the scarcity of osteological data, it is possible to use other arguments to speculate about the nature of the social structure of Bronze Age communities in both southwestern Iberia and the Sierra de Huelva region.

Between c. 2500 and 1700 BC the predominant funerary pattern in the southwest revolved around communal burials containing a varying number of individuals (in some cases up to 150) buried together and showing little or no trace of status differentiation in terms of grave goods or features of the funerary construction. The non-existent or incipient character of the emphasis on specific individuals through the funerary ritual suggests that the functions of leadership within the communities were not yet very highly developed. Also, in some cases these tombs were linked to engraved anthropomorphic representations which lacked emphasis on personal attributes (especially weapons) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 10 OMITTED], and which have been interpreted as clan totems or collective representations of kinship (Barcelo 1991a).

During the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC, this funerary pattern evolved into a more ranked one. Collective burials were replaced by clusters of individual tombs (predominantly in the form of cists) with a stronger emphasis on the individual. In most cases, these groups of cists do not display much internal variation in terms of architectural complexity and prestige grave goods. In fact, in terms of funerary deposits they are generally poor, the frequency of metal weapons and ornaments being much lower than, for instance, the El Argar area, in southeastern Spain. In a number of cases (like the Portuguese necropolis of Atalaia, Provenca or Alfarrobeira), some of the tombs were surrounded with a complete ring of stones and covered by a tumulus, whereas others only have a tangent ring and a third class have no ring or tumulus at all [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 11 OMITTED]. This architectural differentiation of some burials does not, however, correlate to variations in the wealth of grave goods, which remain poor, prestige items being very scarce. Thus, even in those cases where a higher social status seems to be stressed by means of the funerary construction, there is no systematic correlation with the wealth of the personal belongings of the deceased (Garcia 1994).

Within the Sierra de Huelva region, almost all necropoleis are simple clusters of monotonously similar cists that display no evidence of highly ranked patterns of association in grave goods and architecture. It is only in the necropolis of La Traviesa that some stronger indications of ranking can be identified within the domain of the funerary ideology. There, among 28 other conventional cist burials, there was a tomb much larger in size, surrounded by a ring of slabs vertically stuck in the ground and partly covered by a tumulus of stones. The individual buried in it was a male of 30-40 years of age who was provided with one bronze halberd and two pots. La Traviesa is therefore the only Bronze Age necropolis in the Sierra de Huelva region that displays evidence of a deliberate attempt to stress leadership. One individual had the power to concentrate a larger material investment in order to express his social status [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 11 OMITTED].

Another feature that seems to emphasize the social importance of some specific individuals during the Bronze Age is some stone slabs carved with representations of weapons such as halberds, swords and daggers that appear covering or marking certain tombs [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 12 OMITTED], as opposed to the collective, attribute-less representations from the Copper Age. However even where the cists were found intact, the actual weapons depicted on the slabs were not found among the grave goods accompanying the deceased, which suggests that the social power of the individuals associated to such type of military prestige metal items was rather limited (Barcelo 1991a).

Linking up: social complexity and the Bronze Age of southwest Iberia

The previous discussion suggests a number of trends concerning the general economic and social organization of Bronze Age communities in the Iberian southwest. These trends are:

1 demographic growth,

2 population concentration on a smaller number of larger settlements,

3 diminishing dependence upon locally available fertile land, perhaps suggesting forms of co-operation for the supply of agricultural subsistence goods,

4 a more diversified economic system including a stronger emphasis on mining and metallurgy,

5 more inter-group tensions,

6 inter-settlement political hierarchization,

7 likely inter-settlement functional specialization,

8 increasing emphasis on the representation of status and leadership in the funerary domain,

9 increasing association of leadership to military roles.

How can this be interpreted in terms of the extent and scope of the inequalities underlying the structure of social relations of production? In other words, how can the trajectory towards social complexity during the Bronze Age be assessed according to the basic categories mentioned above, that is, social ranking and social stratification?

The level of social complexity during the Copper Age in southwest Iberia has been defined as communal ranking (Garcia & Hurtado 1997). Elements from the funerary record such as the absence of material emphasis of specific individuals within burials, or the preference for abstract representations (lacking personal attributes) within the funerary domain, suggest that the elite group has not yet developed the power to concentrate significant material investments in its own ideological glorification. Furthermore, indicators of the settlement organization, such as the existence of communal storing areas for subsistence goods, rather than individual storing devices associated with individual dwellings (or groups of them), suggests a collective organization of economic production.

It has been pointed out that the social evolutionary trajectory observed among social formations in the Iberian southwest between the Copper and Bronze Age (c. 2500-1100 BC) bears little resemblance to that observed in the southeast, that led to social stratification within the first half of the 2nd millennium BC (Gilman 1976; Barcelo 1991a; 1991b; Diaz 1993). The amplification of inequalities is less developed within the southwest than within the southeast.

In fact, according to the evidence discussed in this paper, communities settled in the Sierra de Huelva region during the Bronze Age could hardly be described as socially stratified. The evidence suggests that the overall internal ranking increases and that leadership roles become stronger and more military in character. However, the analysis of the available funerary record does not point towards a stratified pattern of association between the different sets of variables of the funerary ideology (constructions, artefacts, biological status of the individuals and semi-micro spatial variations). Stratified funerary patterns do not even occur in those necropoleis where the strongest material indications of higher ranking are found. Within the Sierra the Huelva region, only one tomb (out of more than 300) displays these indications.

Bronze Age communities seem to embody a significant increase in the degree of internal ranking without this implying the appearance of social stratification. The increase of status inequalities may involve the appearance of forms of coercion previously unknown, but this does not necessarily imply class exploitation (i.e. exploitation on basis other than sex and age status of the individual in those terms described above). On the contrary, even within highly ranked societies the coercive power of the elite and the leaders is strongly limited by the representation they hold for the collective interest of the community (Fried 1967; Friedman 1975; Hindess & Hirst 1975; Sahlins 1974). The case of representations of weapons on tomb-slabs could perhaps represent a ritual similar to that found among some pre-stratified Melanesian groups where prestige items were displayed near the tomb of a deceased big man only for the period of mourning, but were not deposited inside the tomb for good because of their high social (communal) value (Brunton 1975; Strathern 1981).

In conclusion, from c. 1700 onwards there is, in the Iberian southwest, a steady process of internal social ranking that breaks and disaggregates the predominantly communalist and clan-based social structure of the Copper Age. Bronze Age communities, however, do not seem to cross the threshold of social stratification: the expanding evolutionary trajectory of social inequalities continues during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, where the transition into class society took place.

Acknowledgements. This paper was originally discussed as a postgraduate seminar at the Departments of Archaeology of the Universities of Southampton and Reading. I would like to thank warmly Drs R. Chapman, V. Hurtado Perez, S.J. Keay & D.W. Wheatley, plus two anonymous referees, for their useful comments and feedback.

1 This coefficient combines the settlement altitude with the highest altitude available in the surroundings and assumes a value 1.0 when the settlement is located on the top altitude (Nocete 1989: 55).

References

ARTEAGA, O. 1992. Tribalizacion, Jerarquizacion y Estado en el territorio de El Argar, Spal. Bevista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia 1: 179-208.

BARCELO, J.A. 1991a. Arqueologia, Logica y Estadistica. Un analisis de las Estelas de la Edad del Bronce en la Peninsula Iberica. Barcelona: Publicaciones de la UAB.

1991b. El Bronce del Sudoeste y la cronologia de las estelas alentejanas, Arqueologia 21: 15-24.

BRUNTON, R. 1975. Why do the Trobriands have chiefs?, Man 10(5): 544-58.

CHAPMAN, R.W. 1990. Emerging complexity: The later prehistory of southeast Spain, Iberia and the West Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

1997. All change? A commentary on Iberian archaeology, in M. Diaz-Andreu & S. Keay (ed.), The archaeology of Iberia. The dynamics of change. London: Routledge.

DIAZ, M. 1993. Las sociedades complejas del Calcolitico y Edad del Bronce en la Peninsula Iberica, Actas del I Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular, Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 33(1-2): 245-63.

1995. Complex societies in Copper and Bronze Age Iberia: A reappraisal, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 14(1): 2339.

ENGELS, F. [1884] 1983. El Origen de la Familia, la Propiedad Privada y el Estado. Madrid: Sarpe.

FRIED, M.H. 1967. The evolution of political society: an essay in political anthropology. New York (NY): Random House.

FRIEDMAN, J. 1975. Tribes, states and transformations, in M. Bloch (ed): Marxist analyses and social anthropology: 161-202. New York (NY): Wiley.

GARCIA, L. 1994. Registro Funerario y Relaciones Sociales en el SO (1500-1100 a.n.e.): Indicadores Estadisticos Preliminares, in J. Campos, J.A. Perez & F. Gomez (ed.), Arqueologia en el Entorno del Bajo Guadiana. Actas del Encuentro Internacional de Arqueologia del Suroeste (Huelva, Marzo 1993): 209-38. Huelva: Junta de Andalucia.

GARCIA, L. & V. HURTADO. 1997. Los Inicios de la Jerarquizacion Social en el Suroeste de la Peninsula Iberica (c. 25001700 a.n.e.). Aspectos Conceptuales y Empiricos, Saguntum 30. Homenatge a la Profesora. Dra. Milagros Gil-Mascarell Bosca: 135-52. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia.

GARCIA, L. & J. RODRIGUEZ. 1996. Predicting the ritual? A suggested solution in archaeological forecasting through qualitative response models, in H. Kamermans & K. Fennema (ed.), Interfacing the past. Computer applications and quantitative methods in archaeology: 203-16. Leiden. University of Leiden. CAA95. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 28.

GILMAN, A. 1976. Bronze Age dynamics in Southeast Spain, Dialectical Anthropology 1: 307-19.

1981. The development of social stratification in Bronze Age Europe, Current Anthropology 22(1): 1-22.

1987. Unequal development in Copper Age Iberia, in E.M. Brumfiel & T.K. Earle (ed.), Specialization, exchange and complex societies: 22-9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

GILMAN, A. & J. THORNES. 1985. Land use and prehistory in southeastern Spain. London: Allen & Unwin.

HARRISON, R. 1993. La intensificacion economica y la integracion del modo pastoril durante la Edad del Bronce, in Actas do I Congresso de Arqueologia Peninsular (Porto, 12-18 Outubro de 1993): 293-99. Porto: Sociedade Portuguesa de Antropologia e Etnologia.

HARRISON, R. & A. GILMAN. 1977. Trade in the second and third millennia between the Maghreb and Iberia,in V. Markotic (ed), Ancient Europe and the Mediterranean: 91-104. Warminster: Aris & Charles. HARVEY, D. 1978. The Marxian theory of the State, Antipode. A Radical Journal of Geography 8(2): 80-89.

HINDESS, B. & P.Q. HIRST. 1975. Pre-capitalist modes of production. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

HURTADO, V. & L. GARCIA. 1996. La Necropolis de Guadajira (Badajoz) y la Transicion a la Edad del Bronce en la Cuenca Media del Guadiana, Spal. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia 3: 95-144.

LILLIOS, K. (ed.). 1995. The origins of complex societies in Late Prehistoric Iberia. Ann Arbor (MI): International Monographs in Prehistory. Archaeological series 8.

LULL, V. 1983. La 'Cultura' de El Argar. Un Modelo para el Estudio de las Formaciones Economico-Sociales Prehistoricas. Madrid: Akal.

NOCETE, F. 1989. El Espacio de la Coercion. La Transicion al Estado en las Campinas del Alto Guadalquivir (Espana). 3000-1500 a.C. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. International series S492.

1994. Space as coercion: the transition to the state in the social formations of La Campina, Upper Guadalquivir Valley, Spain, ca. 1900-1600 BC, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 13: 171-200.

OLIVEIRA, S. 1996. Regional diversity in the Iberian Bronze Age. On the visibility and opacity of the archaeological record, Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia 36: 193-214.

RENFREW, C. & E.V. LEVEL. 1979. Exploring dominance: predicting polities from centres, in C. Renfrew & K.L. Cooke (ed.), Transformations: mathematical approaches to culture change: 146-67. New York (NY): Academic Press.

RUIZ, M. 1992. La novia vendida: orfebreria, herencia y agricultura en la Protohistoria de la Peninsula Iberica, Spal. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueologia 1: 219-51.

SAHLINS, M. 1974. Stone Age economics. London: Tavistock.

STEVENSON, A.C. & R.J. HARRISON. 1992. Ancient forests in Spain: a model for land-use and dry forest management in southwest Spain from 4000 BC to 1900 AD, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58:227-47.

STRATHERN, A. 1981. Death as exchange: two Melanesian cases, in S.C. Humphreys & H. King (ed.), Mortality and immortality. The anthropology and archaeology of death: 205-23. New York (NY). Academic Press.

WASON, P.K. 1994. The archaeology of rank. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

WEBSTER, G.S. 1990. Labor control and emergent stratification in prehistoric Europe, Current Anthropology 31(4): 33766.