La edad del bronce balear (c. 1700-1000/900 bc) desarrollo de la complejidad social

Abstract

The Balearic Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1000/900 BC). Development of the social complexity. In this study, we present a state of the issue of the Balearic Bronze Age, or “Naviform Bronze,” brought up to date. New radiocarbon datings from well-defined archaeological contexts in the village of “navetas” at Closos (Felanitx, Majorca) have allowed us to strengthen the hypotheses that have been intermingling about of the beginnings and evolution of this archaeological entity. In this manner, we can maintain that Closos’s beginnings do not go back beyond ca. 1700 BC, while its final days belong to the start of the First Millennium, ca. 900 BC. Regarding other matters, it is possible to establish, within the Bronze Naviform, two quite distinct periods. The first one lasts until ca. 1400/1300 BC and is characterised by techniques of relatively elementary metallurgy, with a predominance of instrumental models influenced by the culture of El Argar (Almería). The second period extends from ca. 1300 to 1000/900 BC in which a strong dynamism is detected that is made manifest by a substantial change in metallurgical techniques and in intensified contacts with the exterior. The important area of communal work and the stores unearthed during the latest excavation campaigns in the village of Closos fit perfectly within this context.