Redefining the role of metal production during the Bronze Age of south-eastern Iberia. The mines of eastern Sierra Morena

Abstract

Researchers have traditionally paid little attention to mining by Bronze Age communities in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. This has changed recently due to the identification of new mineral exploitations from this period during the archaeo-mining surveys carried out in the Rumblar and Jándula valleys in the Sierra Morena Mountains between 2009-2014, as well as the excavation of the José Martín Palacios mine (Baños de la Encina, Jaén). The analysis of the archaeological evidence and the archaeometric results reveal the importance of mining and metallurgical activities undertaken by the communities that inhabited the region between 2200 and 900 cal. BC, when it became one of the most important copper and silver production centers during the Late Prehistory of south-eastern Iberia.

Keywords

• Bronze Age; South of the Iberian Peninsula; Prehistoric mining; Copper; Silver; Archaeo-mining surveys; Excavation; Lead isotope analysis.