Digital reconstruction of the siteFace A of a lead plaque inscribed in Iberian found at the site.
La Bastida de les Alcusses is an Iberian city of the 4th century BC located near Mogente/Moixent, Valencia. It is considered to be one of the principal Iberian archaeological sites of the Valencian Community due to its sudden abandonment and good preservation.[1] The site is located 741 metres above sea level (and 200 metres above the valley floor) at the southwest end of the Serra Grossa. The site covers over 4 hectares and is 650 metres long and 150 metres wide.[2] The site is now an archaeological park, surrounded by pine forest and bush but accessible by road.
The site was first described in 1909 by Luis Tortosa. The first archaeological excavations were begun in 1928 by the newly created Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica of the Valencian Community. Four campaigns were carried out between 1928 and 1931.[3][4][5]
250 rooms were excavated and a number of important artefacts were recovered, including the Guerrero de Mogente, small lead plaques with inscriptions in the Southeast variant of Iberian, and weapons and jewellery. In newspapers of the time, the site was described as a "new Pompeii".[6]
Further excavations have been carried out in the 1990s and this century.[7][8][9]
Fortifications
Wall and west (main) gate (Bastida de les Alcusses)
The site is walled, with walls more than 3 metres thick at the most vulnerable points. Four gates give access to the interior of the site, three at the western end and one at the eastern.[2] Two towers extrude from the wall at the western end, where the main gate is located. The gatehouses all contain internal benches, possibly guard posts or spaces for controlling the passage of goods.[10] The gates themselves were wooded, reinforced with iron bands.[11] The stone lower half of the gates and walls is still in existence while the upper half, which would have been built from adobe bricks and included a walkway, is lost.[12] At the western end, an additional external area may also have been more weakly fortified, perhaps as a refuge for people in the surrounding area.[12] The secondary gates at the western end were blocked up during the occupation of the site, presumably to improve defensibility.[13]
Urban layout and domestic architecture
The buildings are organised around a central street that runs from east to west through the middle of the town. Secondary streets run perpendicular to this main street and some open plazas were left without buildings.[14] A communal granary is found in the centre of the site.[15]
The houses are of different sizes, ranging from 20 to 150 metres squared.[16] The houses have the same building technique as the walls, with adobe bricks above a stone base. The walls would have then been whitewashed and sometimes even painted.[17] The houses are of a single floor but the flat roof (at a slight angle) was accessible and may have been used for some activities.[13]
There may have been around ninety to one hundred and twenty houses over the whole site, housing a population of 450 to 840 persons.[18]
The central part of each house was a hearth, the meeting point and symbol of family life.[19] A storage room at the back was used to keep foodstuffs and tools. Further spaces housed milling equipment and more specialised activities such as metallurgy, weaving and other artisanal activities.
Everyday life: agriculture and trade
Agricultural tools recovered at the siteBronze votive figure of ox with plough (Bastida de les Alcusses)
Agricultural and pastoral tasks were a fundamental part of everyday subsistence. The principal crops were unirrigated cereals (barley, wheat and millet) as well as legumes (broad beans and peas). Fruits and nuts were also important, especially olives, vines, almonds and figs.[20]
Cultivation was done with wooden ploughs reinforced with iron ploughshares, of which a number have been found in the houses of the town. Other agricultural tools found at the site include billhooks, sickles, hoes and rakes, forming one of the most complete tool assemblages known for pre-Roman agriculture in Spain.[21]
The most common livestock were sheep and goats, with some bovines and pigs.[22] These animals were used for milk, wool, leather and meat, and were also necessary for ploughing and to pull carts. Some wild species were also hunted, included rabbits, hares, deer, mountain goats and wild boar.[23] Finally, fish hooks found at the site indicate that the nearby Canyoles river was also an important food source.[24]
Trade and commercial activities were also an important part of the economic life of the town. Weights and balances have been found, doubtless used in commercial transactions and perhaps related to the small silver and bronze ingots also found at the site.[25] The silver was obtained through the cupellation of lead, carried out in some houses.[26]
One of the inscribed lead plaques found on the site is inscribed with a list of names, with different quantities written beside each name and many of the names crossed out. This plaque is generally interpreted as a form of account or receipt.[27] The plaque is 180 by 40 millimetres and 1 millimetre thick and was found in the excavations of 1928, rolled up and placed under a grinding stone in department 48.[28]
Various objects found in the excavations also point to connections across the Mediterranean. From the Strait of Gibraltar there are amphoras that contained salted fish products and included amongst the local tablewares are plates and cups imported from Athens.[29] Some of these imported pieces were imitated by Iberian potters.[30]
Social structure
The Guerrero de Mogente (7.3 cm), a bronze votive discovered in 1931 by Vicente Espí while working in Department 218. (Bastida de les Alcusses)
The inhabitants of la Bastida lived in a stratified society. Status and wealth are shown in jewellery, house size and imported goods.[31] The Guerrero de Mogente likely represents a high status man: the figure is represented as naked to show his heroic nature, and carries the distinctive Iberian curved sword (falcata), a small round shield (caetra), and wears a helmet with a large plume. The offerings deposited in the principal (west) gate, also indicate the symbolic importance of a full panoply including sword and shield.[32] The association of swords with ploughs may also indicate that such figures also controlled good agricultural lands.[33] High status women may have been signalled through fine clothing and are associated with loom weights.[34]
Destruction and abandonment
The settlement was occupied for only a short time before being destroyed around 330 BC. As such, it was probably only inhabited for three or four generations. The blockage of two of the gates, remains of a fire, and the numerous weapons and personal items found in the streets all indicate a rapid and violent end to the site's occupation.[35] The context of the sack of La Bastida is unclear but most likely relates to conflicts between different Iberian groups, although whether all the combatants were from the local area or groups from further afield were involved is unknown. Competition between the many sites in the area for control of the important transport route from the coast into the southern Meseta, or control of arable land in the Canyoles valley may have been motivating factors.[36]
Visiting times
Reconstruction of the main room of an Iberian house (Bastida de les Alcusses)
The Museum of Mogente/Moixent and the site of La Bastida may be visited all year round. Entry to the site is free. The site is open from 10am to 2pm and from 4pm to 6pm (winter months) or from 4pm to 8pm (summer months), Tuesday to Sunday.[37]
The site has a guide service as well as information panels for self-guided visits. Immediately outside the site, a full-scale replica of an Iberian house has been reconstructed using the appropriate materials and techniques.[38][39][40][41] In addition, many of the items recovered from La Bastida can be seen at the Valencian Museum of Prehistory.
The Lady of Elche is a limestone bust that was discovered in 1897, at La Alcudia, an archaeological site on a private estate two kilometers south of Elche, Spain. It is now exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid.
The Iberian Anarchist Federation is a Spanish organization of anarchist militants active within affinity groups in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) anarcho-syndicalist union. It is often abbreviated as CNT-FAI because of the close relationship between the two organizations. The FAI publishes the periodical Tierra y Libertad.
The Iberian language was the language of an indigenous western European people identified by Greek and Roman sources who lived in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Iberian Peninsula in the pre-Migration Era. An ancient Iberian culture can be identified as existing between the 7th and 1st centuries BC, at least.
The Iberian scripts are the Paleohispanic scripts that were used to represent the extinct Iberian language. Most of them are typologically unusual in that they are semi-syllabic rather than purely alphabetic. The oldest Iberian inscriptions date to the 4th or possibly the 5th century BCE, and the latest from end of the 1st century BCE or possibly the beginning of the 1st century CE.
The falcata is a type of sword typical of pre-Roman Iberia. The falcata was used to great effect for warfare in the ancient Iberian peninsula, and is firmly associated with the southern Iberian tribes, among other ancient peoples of Hispania. It was highly prized by the ancient general Hannibal, who equipped Carthaginian troops with it during the Second Punic War.
The Contestani were an ancient Iberian (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula. They are believed to have spoken the Iberian language.
The South-Western Iberian Bronze is a loosely defined Bronze Age culture of Southern Portugal and nearby areas of SW Spain. It replaced the earlier urban and Megalithic existing in that same region in the Chalcolithic age.
The southeastern Iberian script, also known as Meridional Iberian, was one of the means of written expression of the Iberian language, which was written mainly in the northeastern Iberian script and residually by the Greco-Iberian alphabet. About the relation between northeastern Iberian and southeastern Iberian scripts, it is necessary to point out that they are two different scripts with different values for the same signs; however it is clear that they had a common origin and the most accepted hypothesis is that northeastern Iberian script derives from southeastern Iberian script. In fact, the southeastern Iberian script is very similar, both considering the shape of the signs or their values, to the Southwestern script used to represent an unknown language usually named Tartessian. The main difference is that southeastern Iberian script does not show the vocalic redundancy of the syllabic signs. Unlike the northeastern Iberian script the decipherment of the southeastern Iberian script is not yet complete, because there are a significant number of signs on which scholars have not yet reached a consensus. Although it is believed that the southeastern Iberian script does not show any system to differentiate between voiced and unvoiced occlusives, unlike the northeastern Iberian script, a recent paper defends the existence of a dual system also in the southeastern Iberian script.
The Roca dels Moros or Caves of El Cogul is a rock shelter containing paintings of prehistoric Levantine rock art and Iberian schematic art. The site is in El Cogul, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Since 1998 the paintings have been protected as part of the Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inscriptions in Northeastern Iberian script and in Latin alphabet indicate that the place was used as a sanctuary into Iberian and Roman times.
Kelin was an ancient Iberian city located on the hill of Los Villares. The site was inhabited from the Proto-Iberian period to the Late Iberian period. The site was walled and covered around 10 hectares. The archaeological site has been known from the mid-18th century, although it was first excavated archaeologically in 1956, with later campaigns as recent as 2011.
The Prehistory Museum of Valencia is a museum of the city of Valencia, in Spain, that exposes archaeological materials covering from Paleolithic to the Visigoths period.
The Mosaic de Font de Mussa is a Roman mosaic found in Benifaió and that dates of the 1st or 2nd century. It is located into the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia, where is one of the most highlighted pieces.
The history of ancient Iberian coinage begins as early as the fifth century BC, but widespread minting and circulation in the Iberian peninsula did not begin until late in the third century, during the Second Punic War. Civic coinages - emissions made by individual cities at their own volition - continued under the first two and a half centuries of Roman control until ending in the mid-first century AD. Some non-civic coins were minted on behalf of Roman emperors during this period and continued to be minted after the cessation of the civic coinages. After the cessation of the civic coinages, these Imperial coins were the only coins minted in Iberia until the coins of the Suebi and Visigoths.
Puntal dels Llops is a small Iberian hilltop fort, located near the modern town of Olocau, in Valencia province. It overlies an earlier Bronze Age site. Its original name in Iberian is unknown. It was built in the late fifth or early fourth century BC and destroyed violently around the end of the Second Punic War or in the early second century BC. The site is part of a network of fortified sites that surround the large Iberian town of Edeta and so is important to understanding the formation and organisation of Iberian polities. The archaeological site may currently be visited.
The Lloma de Betxí is a Bronze Age archaeological site in the municipality of Paterna (Valencian Community. It is on the top of a hill at 99m over the sea level and 30m over the surroundings. It is in the county of Paterna, nearby the Turia river, close to Valencia city. The chronology of the site: 1800 – 1300 B.C., part of the Valencian Bronze Age.
Consuelo Mata Parreño is a Spanish Teacher who specialises in Iberian material culture. She is currently the head teacher of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Valencia.
Helena Bonet Rosado is a Spanish archaeologist who specialises in Iberian material culture. She has published two books and numerous articles and chapters on Iberian archaeology. She is currently the Director of the Prehistory Museum of Valencia.
Muntanya Assolada is a Bronze Age settlement located on the right bank of the Xúquer river, in Spain, built on the top of a spur of the Corbera mountain range, dominating the river plain from a height of 227 metres (745 ft) above sea level. It is located in the municipality of Alzira, Valencia, Spain.
The Hispano–Portuguese Summits or simply Iberian Summits are formal meetings conducted by the Government of Portugal and the Government of Spain to discuss issues of mutual concern. The first one was celebrated in November 1983 in Sintra, Portugal. They are chaired by the respective heads of government. In the 2001 summit, both parts agreed to celebrate additional meetings between the foreign ministers in-between-summits in order to prepare the next Iberian summit in line. Since 2004 presidents of Spanish border regions may also attend to the summits.
The Pyrenean Bronze is an archaeological facies that spread through the Spanish provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Lleida and the eastern half of Huesca; also it spread through the French departments of the Pyrenees-Orientales and Aude.
References
Álvarez, Nuria; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (2011), "De allí y de aquí: Los intercambios y el comercio", in Bonet, Helena; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (eds.), La Bastida de les Alcusses: 1928-2010, Museu de Prehistòria de València, pp.177–95
Ballester, Isidro; Pericot, Luis (1929), "La Bastida de les Alcusses (Mogente)", Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina, 1: 179–213
Bonet, Helena (2011), "De los "primeros golpes de azadón" al museo al aire libre", in Bonet, Helena; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (eds.), La Bastida de les Alcusses: 1928-2010, Museu de Prehistòria de València, pp.10–29
Bonet, Helena; Díes, E.; Rubio, F. (2000), "Proyecto de área didáctica y de investigación arquitectónica. La reconstrucción de una casa ibérica en la Bastida de les Alcusses (Mogente, Valencia)", III Reunión sobre economía en el Món Ibéric, Saguntum extra-3, Valencia, pp.431–439{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bonet, Helena; Díes, E.; Rubio, F. (2001), "La reconstrucción de una casa ibérica en la Bastida de les Alcusses", I Reunió Internacional d´Arqueologia de Calafell, Barcelona, pp.75–93{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bonet, Helena; Grau, Ignacio; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (2015), "Estructura social y poder en las comunidades ibéricas de la franja central mediterránea", in Belarte, Carme; Garcia, Dominique; Sanmartí, Joan (eds.), Les estructures socials protohistòriques a la Gàl·lia i a Ibèria: Homenatge a Aurora Martín i Enriqueta Pons, Arqueo Mediterránea, pp.251–272
Bonet, Helena; Izquierdo, I.; Mata, Consuelo; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (2007), "De pesos y capacidades. Una experiencia en la Bastida de les Alcusses (Mogente, Valencia)", in Ramos, M.L.; González, J.E.; Baena, J. (eds.), Arqueología Experimental en la Península Ibérica: Investigación, didáctica y patrimonio, Santander: Asociación española de arqueología experimental, pp.283–290
Bonet, Helena; Soria, Lucía; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (2011), "La vida en las casas: Producción doméstica, alimentación, enseres y ocupantes", in Bonet, Helena; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (eds.), La Bastida de les Alcusses: 1928-2010, Museu de Prehistòria de València, pp.139–175
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de Hoz, Javier (2011), "Lengua y escritura", in Bonet, Helena; Vives-Ferrándiz, Jaime (eds.), La Bastida de les Alcusses: 1928-2010, Museu de Prehistòria de València, pp.221–37
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