Producción, intercambio y comercio en el Bajo Guadalquivir en época prerromana (siglos v–iii a.C.)

Abstract

The aristocratic families comprising the elites in each of the communities of the Lower Guadalquivir region during the 5th-3rd centuries BCE stood at the apex of economic units having the social form known as the «great house», typical of agrarian societies ruled by warrior aristocracies. Starting in the mid-5th century BCE, some of these aristocracies began multiplying their exchanges with Gadir. Their participation in such transactions did not turn them into trading aristocracies since exporting was not only not their sole activity but probably was not even one of the most important of their sources of wealth. To the contrary, there is a good case for the growing importance of the activity carried on by private traders, largely from Gadir, who probably operated within the coordinates defined by a regulated system of trade which would still have controlled some major aspects of commercial exchange.

Keywords

• exchange
• Lower Guadalquivir in Pre-Roman times
• production
• trade