El Argar Culture

a Bronze Age archaeological culture (17th to tenth centuries B.C.) in the southeastern part of Spain, as well as in some central regions; named for the finds at the settlement of El Argar in Almeria Province.

The culture’s settlements were located on hills and were fortified by stone walls. The stone multiroom dwellings were primarily rectangular, with roofed galleries for transporting water. Discoveries include the remains of metallurgical workshops, stone molds, articles made of bronze (triangular daggers, flat axes, swords more than 60 cm in length, leaf-shaped knives) and stone, and ornaments made of bronze, silver (including women’s diadems), and gold. The pottery was black or dark brown, without ornamentation, for example, spherical cups, goblets with a tall stem, and vessels with a conical neck. The dead were buried in the settlements, usually in ceramic, egg-shaped urns; sometimes, the dead were placed in cists and, still more rarely, in pits. Children were buried in jugs. Often the burials were beneath the floors of dwellings, or the remains were immured.