Metallurgy
The spatial distribution of the metal working tools and the activity’s debris suggest that the metallurgical production achieved a high level of social and technical categorization. The process of production and distribution was a complex network involving different settlement types.
Distribution of the evidence of the metal production process in the Argaric territory (Lull et al. 2010: fig. 11)
There were only a few settlements where cooper could be reduced, given the lack of minerals, reduction furnaces and slag. So far, most of these remains and debris came from Peñalosa. The whole metallurgical process has been documented in this fortified village, which has access to the rich outcrops of the mining area of Linares-La Carolina. This area probably supplied ingots and manufactured objects through wide exchange networks, as suggested in the isotope analysis published in 1999 by Stos-Gale, Hunt-Ortiz and Gale. This highlights the compositional similarity of some metal objects found in Gatas and Fuente Álamo with mineral samples from Linares.
Isotopic composition of the lead from the mineral groups of the south east of the Iberian Peninsula (Stos-Gale et al. 1999: fig. 193)
Moulds and crucibles from El Argar (Mariën y Ulrix-Closset 1985: fig. 47)
Slag from Peñalosa (Contreras et al. 1997: p. 103)
Ceramic crucible used for metal foundry, Peñalosa (Contreras 2000: lám. 4.5)
Cooper ingots from Peñalosa (Contreras 2000: lám. 9.14)
Copper was transported in ingots from Peñalosa and other settlements to larger towns such as El Argar, La Bastida or Lorca, where these were cast in crucibles and moulds to create finished objects or preforms. The shortage of crucibles, moulds, anvils and hammers linked to their presence in very specific argaric settlements suggest a centralized and specialized production.
The metallographies as well as the functional analysis of the macrolithic tools suggest that foundry, polishing and grinding were common activities. There is proof of this not only in political regional centers, but also in other hilltop settlements, where foundry had a minor role but forging was a leading activity. In Fuente Álamo, these workshops were located in the area of the monumental building, on top of the settlement, where the richest graves are usually found.
Other smaller hilltop settlements (Barranco de la Viuda) and especially the small villages of the plain (Los Cipreses, Rincón de Almendricos) are excluded of the metal production, as no tools for this purpose have been found for the time being. Now we know that metal tools were used here, because there have been found other tools to maintain them. The discovery of “the metallurgist tomb” (cist nº3) raises the possibility of including this village in a network of itinerant specialists coming from the large metallurgical towns.
Grave goods from grave nº 3 from Los Cipreses, it includes tools to forge and repair metal objects (http://www.museoarqueologicodelorca.com/index.php?id=sala4)
Detail from tomb nº 3 from Los Cipreses, where it was discovered the skeleton of an adult individual next to part of the metallic grave goods and two anvil/hammers used to work the metal (Archaeological Museum of Lorca)
Hence, the manufacture and distribution of metal objects crossed over the borders of political and economic territories, both local and regional. Besides the Argaric metal production had a yet unknown development comparing to other regions of the Peninsula.
Map of the metal production intensity of the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Peninsula according to the scattering of weapons and tools (knives, daggers, halberds and swords) with riveted handles. (Lull et al. 2010: fig. 12).
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