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Research
The La Bastida fortification: new light
and new questions on Early Bronze Age
societies in the western Mediterranean
Vicente Lull, Rafael Mic´
o, Cristina Rihuete-Herrada & Roberto Risch∗
Recent excavations at La Bastida in south-
eastern Spain have revealed an impressive
stone-built fortification system dating to
2200–2100 cal BC that protected one of the
main economic and political centres of Argaric
Early Bronze Age society. It consists of parallel
walls with projecting towers flanking a narrow
entrance passage. The defensive character of
these structures appears beyond question and
their design suggests they were a response to
significant changes in warfare and weaponry
in this period. This sophisticated fortification
system raises once again the question of possible
Mediterranean contacts, along with social
change and the role of physical violence in
the rise of Argaric society.
Keywords: Spain, La Bastida, Argaric Bronze Age, fortification, siege warfare, military
technology
Introduction
The Argaric Bronze Age of south-eastern Spain (c. 2200–1550 cal BC) represents a
unique socio-economic and political development in the later prehistory of the western
Mediterranean. In archaeological terms, its most salient features are 1–6ha hilltop settlements
with stone buildings including specialised workshops, storage rooms, large water reservoirs
and other monumental buildings, as well as a very particular intramural burial ritual,
organised along relatively strict sex, age and social-class divides. During its c. 650 years of
existence, Argaric society underwent a series of changes leading to larger and architecturally
more complex urban or proto-urban centres which controlled a territory of approximately
33 000km2(Figure 1), extending over the whole of south-eastern Iberia (Lull 1983; Lull
et al. 2011).
*Department of Prehistory, Universitat Aut`
onoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra Campus, 08193 Bellaterra,
Barcelona, Spain (Email: Robert.Risch@uab.cat; author for correspondence)
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Figure 1. Simulation of the El Argar territory in south-eastern Iberia according to 14C dates and relative chronology indicators.
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In its later phases, Argaric hilltop settlements appear to have won control over cereal
and metal production, and possibly textile manufacture. A range of archaeological evidence
testifies to the scale of the economic and political control over territories of 100–1000km2
with several thousand inhabitants (Castro et al. 1999; Risch 2002; Lull et al. 2011). At the
same time, ritual practices and aesthetic norms, expressed in burial customs and pottery
production from Granada in the west to Alicante in the east, and from Almeria on the
coast to Ciudad Real in the Spanish Meseta, suggest a high degree of communication and
unification, at least between the ruling classes of the different regions. Funerary contexts
reveal five relatively standardised categories of value (Figure 2), which seem to correspond
to at least three social classes (Lull & Est´
evez 1986). Social position was upheld ultimately
through the exclusive access by males of the dominant class to specialised weapons (first
halberds and, after c. 1800 cal BC, long swords), by women to metal diadems, and by others
to metal weapons and tools (axes, daggers and awls). According to the funerary record,
about 40 per cent of the population, the exploited lower class, had no access to metals and
particularly not to weapons.
In short, Argaric society achieved a far higher level of economic and political complexity
than the rest of the Iberian Peninsula and western Europe. The economic and social relations
recognised repeatedly within the archaeological record have led some to suggest that it was
indeed a state-like polity (among others, Lull & Est´
evez 1986; Lull & Risch 1995; Chapman
2003; Aranda Jim´
enez & Molina Gonz´
alez 2006; Lull & Mic´
o 2011). Around 1550 cal
BC, this hegemonic power was eliminated, apparently by a social revolt in response to
unsustainable agricultural practices and growing social differentiation (Lull et al. 2013).
La Bastida: main archaeological features
La Bastida (Totana municipality, Murcia, Spain) is a 4.5ha hilltop site, 450m above sea
level, at the junction of the Tercia and Espu˜
na mountain ranges and 3km north of the
fertile Guadalent´
ın river floodplain (Figure 3). La Bastida was one of the first Bronze Age
sites known in Spain. Early excavations in 1869 by the engineer Rogelio de Inchaurrandieta
(1875) were rapidly published and a few years later echoed by ´
Emile Cartailhac in Les ˆ
ages
pr´
ehistoriques de l’Espagne et du Portugal (1886). The site was also excavated in 1886 by Louis
Siret and Pedro Flores, and included by Henri and Louis Siret in Les premiers ˆ
Ages du M´
etal
dans le sud-est de l’Espagne (1887), which laid the foundations for later studies of Iberian
prehistory. During the twentieth century, excavations by Juan Cuadrado in the late 1920s
and, in particular, by the Seminar on the Primitive History of Man (Madrid University)
between 1944 and 1950 (Mart´
ınez Santa-Olalla et al. 1947) showed that it was one of the
main settlements of the so-called Early Bronze Age ‘El Argar culture’.
The current ‘La Bastida Project’, coordinated by the Autonomous University of Barcelona
and started in 2008, aims to undertake large-scale systematic fieldwork, interdisciplinary
analyses, and heritage and educational resource management. Recent excavations have
focused on the lower slopes of the hill, deepening and enlarging the sector explored in
the 1940s. Smaller areas on the summit and middle slopes have also been investigated. As a
result, data concerning 80 architectural units and more than 230 graves have been recovered.
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Figure 2. Distinctive artefacts of the five categories of grave assemblages according to sex, age and chronology. Note that
category 1 graves can also contain silver and copper ornaments as well as a number of pots other than forms 6 and 7, although
not in a significant statistical association. The same holds true for single copper or silver ornaments in relation to category 3
(Lull et al. 2011: 401, tab. 2).
Figure 3. View of La Bastida from the south-east. Left: residential quarter; lower-right: the fortification system discovered in
2012 ( c
ASOME-UAB).
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Data from older excavations and preliminary analysis of new evidence offer a relatively
complete picture of the chronology, occupation sequence, architecture, burial practices,
economy and social relationships at La Bastida. The settlement was inhabited between
c. 2200 and 1600 cal BC. During this period three major phases have been defined:
1) Occupation in phase I (c. 2200–2025 cal BC) was characterised by small, sunken-
floored oval or circular huts. Walls were made of mud and supported by wooden posts. A
few larger buildings in stone may have had communal functions. At the end of the period
large parts of the settlement were destroyed by fire.
2) During phase II (c. 2025–1900 cal BC) the settlement was fully re-organised. New
stone buildings began to occupy the slopes of La Bastida. Monumental structures were
constructed on the summit, and a large water reservoir with a capacity of more than
300 000 litres came into use on the lower south-eastern slope. The first graves are
documented.
3) Most of the archaeological remains recorded so far belong to phase III (c. 1900 to
1600/1550 cal BC). The settlement was characterised by a dense layout of stone trapezoidal
or apsidal buildings on artificial terraces. There were marked differences in size, ranging from
10m2to more than 70m2. The structures stand close to each other with only a few narrow
alleys between them to allow movement. Differences in function have been observed between
buildings (metallurgy, bone and textile production, grain management and storage). The
large water reservoir was now contained by a rectilinear dam 21m long and up to 5m wide.
Dozens of single or double inhumations in pithoi or cists have been uncovered beneath the
floors of the buildings, showing a wide array of grave goods which confirm the socially and
sexually patterned artefactual associations typical of Argaric burial practices. A population
of around 1000 people has been suggested for La Bastida phase III, when the site probably
controlled a vast territory of more than 3000km2and was paramount in the context of a
four-level settlement pattern. During the first half of the second millennium BC, La Bastida
was probably the capital of a state-level polity and one of the most influential Argaric centres,
perhaps along with Lorca (Murcia) and the eponymous site of El Argar (Almer´
ıa).
La Bastida was abandoned c. 1600–1550 cal BC and never again settled on a permanent
basis.
Recent unexpected findings: the La Bastida fortification system
Excavations from April to July 2012 on the eastern lower slopes uncovered a monumental
fortification system. Illicit twentieth-century excavations had revealed short alignments of
large stones at certain spots, but the discoveries of the last campaign were surprising and
unexpected. Archaeological deposits up to 5m deep covered the remains of a fortification
line (Figure 4: Line 1), which has been explored over a length of 45m (Figures 3 & 5). A
complex succession of building episodes was observed and a series of significant features can
already be outlined.
This fortification was formed of masonry walls originally plastered with yellow or violet-
bluish clay, up to 3m wide and preserved in certain points to a height of 4m. Associated
with this curtain wall are five square, solid, tronco-pyramidal towers (Figure 4: T1–5). On
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Figure 4. Plan of the fortification system unearthed in 2012 ( c
ASOME-UAB).
average, they measure 4m wide and protrude 3–3.5m from the outer face of the curtain wall.
Towers 1 to 4 are sited very close to one another (between 2.8 and 4.7m apart), and their
relationship to the curtain wall and the slope rules out the possibility that they served as
buttresses. The fortification was constructed mainly of sandstone and clay mortar, although
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Figure 5. Frontal view of the fortification system from the north ( c
ASOME-UAB).
some stretches of its inner face also show wattle-and-daub. Taking into account the volume
of stone blocks recovered from the destruction strata laying against the wall, the original
height of the fortification would have reached 5–6m. Tower 1, with a rounded end, forms
the easternmost and lowest point of this fortification line, close to a steep cliff which would
have served as a natural defence to the settlement. Parallel to it, 2m to the south, a second
wall was preserved to a maximum height of approximately 4m in places (Figures 4 & 6).
Line 2 had an associated oval bastion 2.2m wide (Figure 4: TB). Together these roughly
parallel walls flank an entrance passage, which was later narrowed even further to only 0.5m
wide. Symmetrically placed postholes at either side of the entrance passage suggest additional
architectural features and were probably the frame for large wooden doors. Excavations have
so far extended along 10m of the 5m-wide passage between Lines 1 and 2, allowing us
to explore a 4m-deep stratigraphic sequence. Throughout most of this sequence, plastered
clay floors alternate with colluvial strata in which a relatively low number of disarticulated
faunal, rare human and pottery remains were found.
Line 2 was partly leaning against a tronco-pyramidal stone building at least 4m wide and
preserved to a height of 2.5m (Figure 4: TA). On clearing the eastern front of this building,
a feature resembling a fully preserved corbelled arch appeared south of the entrance gate
and slightly set back from it. This feature is only 1.5m high and 0.85m wide at its base
(Figure 7). The archaeological deposit that fills what looks like a passageway has not yet
been excavated, so its character and possible function will need to be clarified by future
excavations. Excavation during summer 2013 has shown that at the foot of this building or
tower, and below the possible passage, a water cistern was incorporated into the structure of
the second fortification line.
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Figure 6. Entrance area from the east, showing towers 1–4 in Line 1, the lower segment of Line 2 with its curved bastion,
and the possible arched entrance to the left ( c
ASOME-UAB).
The 2013 excavations also showed that the base of the two fortification walls and the
water cistern were supported by carefully prepared foundations, up to 3m high, which
levelled the natural terrain. These massive works prevented the whole construction from
slipping towards the steep cliff. Quarried sandstone blocks were used almost exclusively
for the construction of the fortification, while lesser buildings were constructed with clast
materials obtained from Quaternary deposits. This difference implies clear social control
over the resources needed for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure
such as this defensive work.
Absolute chronology is one of the main concerns in trying to contextualise the fortification
complex. Two herbivore bones from the lower strata in the entrance area have been dated.
The results show that the fortification was already built by the twenty-second century cal
BC (Table 1). Associated pottery sherds closely resemble those recovered from La Bastida
phase I and from sites such as Lugarico Viejo and Gatas (Almer´
ıa), for which radiocarbon
dates also point to the interval 2200–2000 cal BC.
A third radiocarbon date, on human bone from a female grave at a medium to high
level in the corridor sequence (tomb 79), gave a result of 3495+
−31 BP (MAMS-15665),
corresponding probably to the nineteenth century cal BC. The grave was overlaid by several
further levels of occupation deposit, suggesting that the fortification continued in use
during at least the beginning of La Bastida phase III. In sum, the fortification protected the
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Table 1. Radiocarbon dates from the initial deposits in the entrance area of the
fortification at La Bastida (calibrated using OxCal v.4.2 and IntCal 2013 atmospheric
curve (Bronk Ramsey 2009; Reimer et al. 2013)).
cal BC 1σcal BC 2σ
Lab. code Age BP (% probability) (% probability)
MAMS-17412 3734+
−26 2198–2051 2205–2036
MAMS-17411 3756+
−34 2272–2062 2287–2040
Sum of probabilities 2200–2160 (45.2%) 2206–2120 (71.9%)
(MAMS-17412 & MAMS-17411) 2154–2135 (19.4%) 2095–2041 (23.5%)
2070–2065 (3.6%)
settlement almost throughout its entire prehistoric occupation. The only uncertainty, due
to surface erosion, is whether the walls were still in use during the final years of the city. In
any case, during 600 years of occupation, the settlement never expanded beyond its fortified
limits.
La Bastida fortification: a window on prehistoric siege warfare
Preliminary analysis of the architectural remains uncovered in the recent excavations reveals
a sound knowledge of, and expertise in, the building and layout of defensive structures. Let
us first consider the geographical setting of La Bastida. The settlement was located on a
steep hill surrounded by gullies or ravines on its southern (rambla de L´
ebor), western and
Figure 7. View of the corbelled feature and possible passage
(c
ASOME-UAB).
eastern (barranco Salado) sides. Fortifica-
tion walls protected the only easy approach
to La Bastida, from the north/north-east.
The walls run slightly oblique to the
hillslope, starting from the lowest point
in the east near to the gully of barranco
Salado and continue towards the summit.
If the enclosure extended along the whole
northern edge of the settlement as far
as the western cliff of the rambla de
L´
ebor, it would have been 375m long and
have climbed a steep hill with 40-per-cent
slopes.
The walled perimeter identified so far
follows a south-east to north-west direction,
obliging attackers to approach it uphill
after crossing a narrow valley. This obstacle
increased when nearing the fortification,
where the close spacing of the towers
allowed defenders easily to harass attackers
by throwing objects at short range to the
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front and to both sides. Special measures were taken to protect the main entrance. First, it
was not directly visible to people approaching from the north, since it was ‘hidden’ at the
rear of Tower 1. Second, to approach it attackers had to expose the right side of their body,
and the arm that usually holds an individual weapon and, for this reason, is less protected
against projectiles. Third, the space immediately in front of the doorway is very narrow
and close to the barranco Salado gully. This prevented the gathering of a large number
of assailants and hindered any attempt to concentrate their forces against the door using
devices such as a ram. Finally, if attackers succeeded in breaking down the door, they were
obliged to pass through the doorway in single file and to move upward through a relatively
narrow corridor flanked by walls probably more than 5m high, from the top of which more
projectiles could be thrown.
Taken together, the topographical location of the fortification, its layout, the construction
and design of individual components and their interrelationship make it clear that the
complex was conceived according to shrewd military tactics and executed with great skill.
The implications of the La Bastida fortification
La Bastida is not the first example of a stone-built fortification in prehistoric Iberia. A number
of Chalcolithic groups in south-eastern Spain, the Guadalquivir and Guadiana valleys and
around the Tagus estuary built defensive precincts, some of them involving large-scale social
efforts, from c. 3000 BC onwards. The Los Millares complex (Almer´
ıa; Arribas et al. 1985),
Marroqu´
ıes Bajos (Ja´
en; Zafra et al. 2010), San Blas (Badajoz; Hurtado 2004), Leceia
(Cardoso 2010) and Zambujal (Estremadura; Kunst 2010) are among the best-known
examples. They stood in predominantly open environments, on hills and natural terraces,
close to river valleys or plains suitable for cultivation. Most of them were characterised
by one to four, or exceptionally five, successive walls, which were more or less concentric.
Semicircular or curved bastions were often attached to the outer walls. Most of these
bastions were hollow and the finds from within them suggest no specific defensive role. In
fact, the archaeological remains from the bastions of Los Millares point to production and
consumption activities similar to those in the huts protected by the defensive walls (Arribas
et al. 1985; Molina et al. 1986).
These Copper Age societies fell into severe crisis from c. 2500/2400 BC. Interregional
contacts decreased and growth in social fragmentation and violence is observed. During
the twenty-third century BC most of the large Chalcolithic settlements were abandoned or
dramatically reorganised (Lull et al. 2010). Archaeological research in south-eastern Iberia
indicates that the ‘Los Millares culture’ came to an end and was replaced by the Argaric
society.
At the same time, military technology changed completely. Chalcolithic defensive systems
paid special attention to archery. This can be seen in the presence of loopholes in the walls
of barbicans and bastions, and in the 6–7m spacing of bastions at sites such as Los Millares.
As a general rule, the longer the range and effectiveness of projectiles, the greater the
distance between bastions. The closer spacing of towers at La Bastida suggests a change to
close-quarters fighting involving thrown projectiles or wooden sticks or poles. A successful
assault would have been the prelude to hand-to-hand combat. The complete disappearance
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of chipped stone arrowheads from 2200 BC onwards, coupled with the scarcity of copper
projectile points and the appearance of copper halberds and short swords, strongly suggests
the primacy of close combat over other kinds of fighting.
The concentric defensive walls of Copper Age sites were intended to protect increasing
numbers of people by adding successive walled precincts. At La Bastida, the two parallel
defensive lines uncovered so far frame a new kind of entrance designed to prevent easy
access, and one that was located away from residential quarters. Moreover, the fortification
at La Bastida was not the result of gradual architectural development over several centuries,
as with the larger Copper Age settlements, but an intentional foundation. The walls were
repaired on several occasions over the following 600 years, but the settled area seems never
to have extended beyond the fortifications.
Chalcolithic defensive works were embedded in production and consumption activities;
in other words, they were not purely defensive. The fortification at La Bastida, however,
seems to have been specialised for protection, surveillance and warfare. There were few
archaeological remains in the entrance and corridor areas, or in front of the wall. This
specialised character is further underlined by the near-exclusive use of quarried sandstone
for its walls, as opposed to the clast material used for common buildings.
Most Chalcolithic settlements share similar topographical locations on river terraces or
plateaux next to fertile valleys, whereas La Bastida is in a mountain environment, hidden by
surrounding ranges and lacking views over the nearby agricultural lands of the Guadalent´
ın
valley. The layout of the fortification walls, the massive and carefully prepared foundations
and the integration of a water catchment structure and cistern within the complex required
skilful planning and substantial previous experience in monumental building techniques.
In summary, the La Bastida fortification shows a clear break with the Chalcolithic in
terms of topographical setting, layout, construction technique and military strategy and
in the social context of violent conflict (i.e. who is engaged and which goals are followed).
The new defensive circuit marked the establishment of a 4.5ha settlement, and a completely
new social and political formation, which expanded and ruled over a large territory during
the next six centuries.
How can the discontinuity between the Chalcolithic and the Argaric be understood?
The innovative architectural elements—the solid square towers and water cistern—have
no parallels in this period in Iberia, in the western and central Mediterranean or in western
Europe. One must look to settlements in the eastern Mediterranean dating to the centuries
before 2200 BC (middle and late Early Bronze Age in the Aegean, Anatolian and Levantine
sequences) to find comparable, although never identical, examples. In the Levant, the lower
city walls of Khirbet ez-Zeraqon (Douglas 2007), Tell Husn-Pella (Gibbins 2008) and Tell
es-Sakan (de Miroschedji et al. 2001) have solid square structures and an associated postern
gate. Solid square towers also flank the southern gateway of the Early Bronze Age citadel of
Alisar (von der Osten 1937), and are present in Area T3 of Tel Dan (Biran et al. 1996) and
at Tel Yarmut (de Miroschedji 1990). ‘Postern gates’ or ‘sally ports’ have been documented
in several Palestinian sites (Helms 1975). In western Anatolia and the Aegean, the citadel
of Troy II (Easton 2002), the small settlement of Karao˘
glan Mevkii (Topbas¸ et al. 1998),
Thermi II–III (Lamb 1936) and Poliochni during the ‘Blue’ and ‘Red’ phases (Bernab`
o-Brea
1964) each have several square towers.
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During the final centuries of the third millennium and beginning of the second
millennium BC (i.e. the period of the La Bastida fortifications) the number of possible
foreign parallels sharply declines. Aegina-Kolonna VI in the Aegean is one of the few later
sites with comparable traits (Gauss 2010).
The unprecedented character of the La Bastida fortifications coupled with overseas
parallels for towers and posterns opens the possibility of a diffusionist interpretation. The
years around 2200 BC were a period of widespread change in the Near East and the Aegean
with a break in urban development (Greenberg 2002; Schwartz 2007; de Miroschedji 2009)
and political instability in Mesopotamia and Egypt following the fall of the Sargonid Empire
and the Old Kingdom. It would be tempting to consider the possibility that these changes
led specific groups to move westwards, to a particularly wealthy region such as south-eastern
Iberia during the Copper Age. But could external intervention alone have been the key
factor in the changing trajectory of communities in south-eastern Iberia?
Our knowledge is still incomplete, but several features of the later Copper Age
communities of southern Iberia were already developing in the period before 2200 BC.
Hilltop settlements with good visibility became more common. Collective graves with
dozens or even hundreds of bodies were replaced by smaller tombs containing very few
individuals, usually one or two, placed within or adjacent to settlement areas. Pottery shows
typological change, but also continuity in certain morphological and technological traits,
and the distinctive Aegean and eastern Mediterranean pottery styles are unknown in the
west. Only a few objects found in southern Iberia—ivory from Syria (Schuhmacher 2012)
and, perhaps, a distinctive type of copper javelin point (Montero & Teneishvili 1996)—are
of eastern origin.
It seems clear from this that the main social and economic characteristics of south-eastern
Iberian societies after 2200 BC should be understood as the result of local or regional
developments. Nevertheless, there are sharp discontinuities in architecture and in the social
dimensions of conflict and warfare. At present, a scenario of regular, persistent and intense
interrelationships between east and west Mediterranean societies seems unlikely, but other
types of contact cannot be excluded.
Conclusion
La Bastida offers a new understanding of the formation and dynamics of Argaric society. Most
other Argaric defensive works date to later times and none show the monumentality and
military skill evident at La Bastida. Its construction seems to represent a ‘foundational act’
associated with the establishment of a strong political centre. Only a powerful, architecturally
skilled and highly disciplined social entity would have had the organisational capacity to
build such an impressive defensive complex. But, dialectically, it also illustrates the magnitude
of the threats this power had to face, or the social resistance it feared would be provoked.
La Bastida challenges recent views that Argaric society was non-violent in character. It
seems unlikely that the fortification was mainly a symbolic representation of power, prestige
and identity. That is not to deny that it would have had such an effect, and may even have
discouraged potential rivals or enemies and thus prevented open conflict. But its primary
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Figure 8. Settlement patterns between c. 2200 and 1550 cal BC. The symbols simulate the form and density of settlement
based on information derived from survey and excavation rather than indicating exact locations.
defensive function implies that physical violence was necessary from the beginning of Argaric
society and continued throughout its development.
Thanks to systematic survey work and rescue excavations carried out during the last
decades it has become clear that from 2200 BC, in most parts of the Iberian Peninsula, hilltop
settlements and fortifications were exceptional by comparison with unfortified lowland sites
(Figure 8). Only the regions adjoining Argaric territory saw the development of defensive
architecture, particularly after 2000 BC, but these settlements are significantly smaller
than the Argaric hilltop towns. The fortified hilltop sites seem to express the influence of
the Argaric area on its hinterland, whether through emulation or the resistance of local
populations to the expansionism of the Argaric state.
It is difficult to say whether La Bastida was the capital of the whole of the Argaric territory
or one of a series of regional centres. It was certainly the largest economic and political centre
to be established following the abandonment or destruction of the Copper Age settlements.
Those who organised the fortification of this hill must have been aware of its protected
and prominent topographic position, but the economic resources of the surrounding
area were insufficient to feed the estimated population of around 1000 inhabitants. The
foundation of La Bastida thus implies that control of an extensive territory had already
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been secured. The evidence suggests that the inhabitants were not directly involved in
agricultural production but had a centralised role in processing and redistributing crops and
other products transported to the site from the valleys. The use of volcanic stone, ivory and
jet confirm that La Bastida was a nodal point in a large-scale economic network.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Ann Brysbaert, Khaled Douglas, Walter Gauss, David Ilan and Katja Sporn for providing
information and images from their excavations and research on different eastern Mediterranean fortifications.
The research programme on La Bastida is funded by the Autonomous Government of the Region of Murcia
(BORM, 57, no. 3986), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2011-25280), the Spanish
Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (TSI-070010-2008-133), the Autonomous University of Barcelona,
the Council of Totana, the Research Board of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR778), and the Volkswagen
Foundation. We also thank the laboratory and field staff of the ‘La Bastida Project’. For further data concerning
the site and the current research project, see http://www.la-bastida.com.
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