page_title: History of Carmona, Spain
section_title: The Bronze Age
hierarchical_section_title: History of Carmona, Spain / The Bronze Age
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Iberian Late en:Bronze Age since c. en:1300 BCE, showing the main cultural areas. Dots show isolated remains of these cultures outside their main area. Author:Sugaar Sources: diverse (notable: F. Jordá Cerdá et al. History of Spain 1: Prehistory. Gredos ed. 1986. ISBN: 84-249-1015-X
context_page_description: The history of Carmona begins at one of the oldest urban sites in Europe, with nearly five thousand years of continuous occupation on a plateau rising above the vega of the River Corbones in Andalusia, Spain. The city of Carmona lies thirty kilometres from Seville on the highest elevation of the sloping terrain of the Los Alcores escarpment, about 250 metres above sea level. Since the first appearance of complex agricultural societies in the Guadalquivir valley at the beginning of the Neolithic period, various civilizations have had an historical presence in the region. All the different cultures, peoples, and political entities that developed there have left their mark on the ethnographic mosaic of present-day Carmona.
  Its historical significance is explained by the advantages of its location. The easily defended plateau on which the city sits, and the fertility of the land around it, made the site an important population center. The town's strategic position overlooking the vega was a natural stronghold, allowing it to control the trails leading to the central plateau of the Guadalquivir valley, and thus access to its resources.
context_section_description: The Bronze Age is named for the use of an alloy of copper and tin to manufacture utilitarian objects, in contrast to the use of more or less pure copper in the previous period. This technological advance affected all aspects of local culture, social organization and even the religious sphere.
  The Early Bronze Age
  1800–1500 BC
  The funerary milieu of this period in the Alcores region is distinguishable from that of other sites in western Andalusia. Three shaft tombs were found in a small cave in the Ronda de San Francisco zone of the city in 1984. The archaeological data for Carmona are insufficient to provide a clear picture of the layout of the ancient village. The settlement was made on the eastern side of the present city, even though the highest and most easily defended land, by its natural configuration, was southward around Picacho. It is possible that the tombs of Ronda del León de San Francisco are the remains of the necropolis of this Early Bronze Age settlement.
  Tartessian settlement in the late Bronze and the Early Iron Ages
  A profound cultural transformation began in the region during the 9th–8th centuries BC.
  Small finds of ceramics have established Bronze Age occupation of the area, and by the late Iron Age this was a Tartessian settlement.
  From the mid-8th century BC, a stable core population had developed on the wide plateau where the current city is situated. The site was a natural fortress from which the roads leading to the Guadalquivir River and traversing the region could be controlled. Prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians, the indigenous peoples showed a preference for such strategic spots dominating the communications routes and agricultural lands.
caption: Late Bronze Age in Iberia