page_title: History of Carmona, Spain
section_title: The origins of prehistoric Carmona
hierarchical_section_title: History of Carmona, Spain / The origins of prehistoric Carmona
caption_attribution_description: English: Fields south of Carmona, Spain Español: Vista de los campos al sur de Carmona
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 Iberian Peninsula had been inhabited by hominids for at least 400,000 years before the arrival in southern Iberia of anatomically modern humans 28,000–30,000 years ago
  in the area presently occupied by the municipality of Carmona and its environs. Here Homo sapiens practised a hunting and gathering lifestyle, living near rivers where game was most abundant and where there were raw materials for the manufacture of their primitive tools and weapons. With the later development and expansion of agriculture and animal husbandry in the Neolithic period, there was a radical change in social organisation and settlement patterns. As sedentism (living permanently in one place) was adopted, villages were formed as loose farming communities; these settlements were built near arable land and water, especially on river banks.
  
  The practice of cooperative agriculture led to higher crop yields and consequent population growth, putting pressure on resource areas required to produce food and necessitating their defense. Beginning in the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods, villages were situated in naturally well-defended locations.
caption: Panoramic view looking south from Carmona
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