El Argar, the great enigma of civilization that mysteriously vanished

It is one of the great enigmas of Spanish and world archaeology.

A culture, that of El Argar, which appeared in 2200 BC and disappeared in 1550 BC.

C. The causes?

Experts debate between a depletion of the natural resources that sustained it ―which caused the population to flee or die of starvation of more than half of the newborns― or a gigantic popular revolution that devastated all its cities because of from the unbearable yoke of the ruling class, the holder of weapons, resources and lives.

Be that as it may, the Argaric culture, "the first society divided into classes in the Iberian Peninsula", as defined by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​the one that created the first Parliament that is known in the world, the one that buried its aristocrats with beautiful gold and silver trousseaus, it literally vanished until an archaeologist named Rogelio de Inchaurrandieta (1836-1915) came across it in Murcia in 1869 and began to ask questions.

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The abduction of the Argaric princess of Murcia

Inchaurrandieta exhibited her great find at the International Archeology Congress in Copenhagen (1866-1912).

He spoke of an unknown civilization of the Bronze Age that he had found on a steep hill in the municipality of Totana (Murcia), with incredible trousseaus and that included a large fortified city that lacked any type of connection with known historical societies.

Nobody believed.

Argaric trousseau found in tomb 38 at the La Almodoya site. Autonomous University of Barcelona

But in 1877, the Belgian brothers Luis and Enrique Siret arrived in Murcia looking for mining operations and ended up confirming the existence of this unknown society, of large urban centers, which extended 35,000 square kilometers through the southeast of the Peninsula, which emerged 4,000 years ago and that it disappeared without anyone knowing the causes.

This culture, called El Argar (Antas, Almería), as this site was the first methodically excavated, dominated agriculture, metals and created fabulous pieces of goldsmithing.

Even the remains of one of his princesses are preserved.

The study

by archaeologists Vicente Lull, Rafael Micó, Roberto Risch and Cristina Rihuete Herrada, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UBA), points out that El Argar "is one of the emblematic of the beginning of the Bronze Age in Europe.

The verification of large settlements on its hills, the abundance of well-preserved funerary contexts in the subsoil of the towns, as well as the quantity, variety and uniqueness of the artefactual repertoire, have since attracted the attention of numerous researchers.

Most of the Argaric population centers occupied hillocks located in the foothills of the mountains, separated from the plains or meadows, but with extensive visual control over them.

The Argaric dwellings had an apsidal, trapezoidal or rectangular floor plan and were arranged on artificial terraces.

In general, "the enclaves occupied an area of ​​between one and three hectares, although the subsequent development of some, such as Lorca and La Bastida, led them to exceed that extension (up to 10 hectares)" .

Aerial view of the Argaric site of La Almoloya, in 2015. Autonomous University of Barcelona

Vicente Lull, professor of Prehistory at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and one of the world's most recognized experts on this society, admits that the Argaric "is in fashion".

"Specialists from all over the world come to take an interest in this unique civilization, contemporary to the Minoan, but totally forgotten."

“It is an unparalleled civilization”, he continues, “with a technological development of the first order, which left nothing in its wake, but advanced everything.

It's like the search for the lost civilization."

Experts agree that the discovery of El Argar marked a break with the preceding Chalcolithic period in aspects such as technological development, economic relations, urban and territorial organization patterns and funerary rites.

“The orientation of production towards obtaining centralized surpluses in a context of marked social exploitation led to the emergence of one of the first states in Western Europe”, affirms the UAB.

The Siret, at the end of the 19th century, excavated ten Argaric sites and opened more than a thousand tombs in Antas, with the consequent destruction of the remains.

However, they accurately drew everything they found.

“The culture of El Argar is the first class society in the Iberian Peninsula.

The central settlements accumulated an important part of the production surpluses and the work force.

The effects of said control are manifested in the normalization of ceramic and metallurgical products and in the restricted circulation and use, above all, of metallic products”, assert the experts from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Silver diadems, containers, ornaments and skull found in a tomb in El Argar and drawn by the Siret brothers.

But not all the inhabitants of these cities accumulated wealth to the same extent, as evidenced by the grave goods exhumed from the ruling class.

In 1984, Vicente Lull and Jordi Estévez distinguished three social strata.

The most powerful class, made up of 10% of the population, who "would enjoy all the privileges and who had the richest trappings, including weapons such as halberds and swords";

50% of individuals with recognized political-social rights, and 40% of people dedicated to servitude or slavery.

“One of the characteristics of this society is that it was closed in on itself.

Its defenses not only served as protection, but also created a cloistered society dominated by an oppressive ruling class”, recalls Lull.

Precisely,

The Argaric culture lasted about 700 years (2200 to 1550 BC), was poorly permeable and was based on kinship relationships and a system of hereditary transmission.

The Argar began between the Vera and Guadalentín basins (Murcia) and spread through the Meseta, the Valencian Community, Almería and Granada.

The Argarics used to bury their dead inside their houses.

“Funeral practices show a remarkable uniformity throughout the entire territory.

The communities buried their deceased under the floor of the inhabited area in single graves, sometimes double and, on rare occasions, multiple.

The corpse was deposited in a flexed position and, generally, in lateral decubitus or in a seated position with the head facing south or west”, the UAB experts recall.

Position of two bodies buried in La Almodoya and location of the grave goods with which they were buried. Celdrán Beltrán

The end of the Argaric manifestations is situated around 1550 BC.

C., giving way to the Late Bronze Age of the peninsular southeast.

The causes of the collapse of the Argaric society seem to have been a set of socio-economic and ecological factors.

Possibly, the overexploitation of the environment led to ecological degradation that made economic and social reproduction unfeasible.

The end of El Argar is characterized by the depletion of natural resources, work instruments and the workforce, the latter in the form of high infant mortality and the development of pathologies.

Perhaps this situation led to an unprecedented social explosion that led to the complete disappearance of this civilization, as evidenced by the fact that many of the unearthed buildings show signs of having burned on all four sides.

Earlobe gold plugs from tomb 38 of La Almoloya.

JA Soldevilla / Autonomous University of Barcelona

According to experts, complete silence followed the destruction, only broken by the permanence in Alicante and Granada of some small Argaric groups that survived another century and that could be populated by the fleeing ruling classes.

Of the hundreds of Argaric tombs studied, one stands out that archaeologists call the princess of La Almoloya, a young woman who died in the year 1635 before Christ in the current term of Pliego (Murcia).

She was buried at the head of a singular building with her trousseau, which included a silver diadem and some thirty valuable objects made of gold, silver, amber, semi-precious stones, copper and ceramics.

Under it, the body of a man who had died years before was found.

About 100 kilometers from Pliego, in Antas, was the economic and political center of this culture closed in on itself, where a building has been found that included a large government room of about 80 square meters, with benches to sit on and presided over. for a home and a podium.

It was prepared to accommodate about 50 people.

The researchers assume that it was a kind of parliament, perhaps the first in the world.

“We'll never know what was going on there,” says Lull, “because the Argarics, surprisingly, and despite their development, were not fluent in writing.

It's a mystery about a mystery."