Los Millares

File:Los Millares. Reconstrucción de la puerta principal de la Línea I.jpg

Reconstruction of fortifications<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Los Millares is a Chalcolithic occupation site 17 km north of Almería, in the municipality of Santa Fe de Mondújar, Andalucía, Spain. The complex was in use from the fourth millennium BC (Template:Circa) to the end of the third millennium BC (Template:Circa) and probably supported around 1,000 people.<ref name=cunliffe>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=peregrine/> It was discovered in 1891 during the construction of a railway. It was first excavated by Luis Siret in the succeeding years. Excavations are ongoing. Los Millares is the type site of the Chalcolithic Millaran culture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Site description

File:Maqueta tholos Los Millares.jpg

Model of a tomb

The site covers Template:Convert and comprises three concentric lines of stone walls, the outer ring the largest, running more than 200 meters (650 feet) with 19 'bastions' and a gate guarded by foreworks.<ref name=cunliffe/> The road to the site is guarded by four smaller outlying stone forts.<ref name=cunliffe/> There is an extensive cemetery of eighty passage grave tombs.<ref name=cunliffe/> Radiocarbon dating has established that one wall collapsed and was rebuilt around 3025 BC.

A cluster of simple dwellings lay inside the walls as well as one large building containing evidence of copper smelting. Pottery excavated from the site included plain and decorated wares including symbolkeramik bowls bearing oculus motifs. Similar designs appear on various carved stone idols found at the site. Although primarily farmers, the inhabitants of Los Millares had crucially also learned metal working, especially the smelting and forming of copper, and the site is considered highly important in understanding the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Millaran culture eventually came to dominate the Iberian peninsula.

The population of Los Millares has been estimated at around 1,000 in the timeframe 3200–2300 BC. The labor involved in its construction, the large volume of stones used, its geometric characteristics and sophisticated design all indicate multiple functionality, including defense and power.<ref name=peregrine>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Relationship to other prehistoric cultures

Los Millares participated in the continental trends of Megalithism and the Beaker culture Template:Citation needed. Analysis of occupation material and grave goods from the Los Millares cemetery of 70 tholos tombs with port-hole slabs has led archaeologists to suggest that the people who lived at Los Millares were part of a stratified, unequal society which was often at war with its neighbors Template:Citation needed. The Los Millares civilisation was replaced around 1800 BC, with the arrival of Bronze by the El Argar civilisation, whose successor culture is embodied in the contemporary culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro in nearby Portugal.

Other Iberian settlements in this region of a similar age to Los Millares include the settlement of Los Silillos and Neolithic finds at Template:Interlanguage link multi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Similarities between Los Millares architecture and the step pyramid at Monte d'Accoddi in Sardinia have been noticed Template:Citation needed.

Conservation and access

The site has been protected by a heritage designation, currently Bien de Interés Cultural, since 1931.

There is an interpretation centre at the site itself. Some finds are displayed at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, and others at the Museum of Almería. Template:Clear right

Gallery

File:Cuenco de Los Millares.png

Reproduction of a Millarense bowl with the typical eyes motif of the chalcolithic of SE Iberia

• File:Cuenco soles M.A.N..JPG
• File:Cuenco oculado-Los Millares.JPG
• File:Cuenco Almizaraque M.A.N..JPG
• File:Vaso con decoración de ciervos. Los Millares, sepultura 7. Edad del Cobre - M.A.N.jpg
• File:Cuenco de Los Millares (M.A.N. 1976-1-MILL-7-6) 01.jpg
• File:Ídolo en forma de peine o peineta procedente del ajuar funerario de la sepultura 12 de Los Millares - M.A.N.jpg
• File:Ídolo placa procedente del ajuar de la sepultura 12 de Los Millares - M.A.N.jpg
• File:Ídolos tolva procedentes del ajuar funerario de la sepultura 40 de Los Millares - M.A.N.jpg
• File:Museoalmillares.JPG
• File:Cuentas de collar de hueso, piedra y concha. Los Millares, sepultura 12. Edad del Cobre - M.A.N.jpg
• File:Collares de variscita y ámbar. Calcolítico. Museo Arqueológico Nacional de España.jpg
• Remains of fortification walls<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  Remains of fortification walls<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Bell Beaker culture
• Castro of Zambujal
• Castro of Vila Nova de São Pedro
• Valencina de la Concepción
• Tholos de El Romeral
• Prehistoric Europe
• Chalcolithic Europe
• Argaric culture
• Megalith, including other European megalithic cultures

External links

• Template:In lang Virtual visit to the archaeological place of Los Millares