The Valencina-Nord scientific mission confirms that the enclave was the biggest Chalcolithic human settlement in all of Western EuropeMost of the archaeological stays are associated to the human settlement that may have hosted this territory in the course of the Copper AgeThe outcomes affirm that this Chalcolithic settlement “had a necessary position as a city for numerous individuals”
The newest archaeological investigations carried out on the website that homes the municipalities of Valencina de la Concepción and Castilleja de Guzmán, the results of the human settlement that housed this space within the province of Seville in the course of the Copper Age, have led to the invention of “two different strains of moats and a brand new small round enclosure”; in addition to “80 potential new tombs”, “cabins and potential workshops for flint carving” and even a millstone weighing 40 kilos, a zoomorphic vessel and a potential water effectively.
We are speaking in regards to the virtually 780 hectares of the municipalities of Valencina and Castilleja de Guzmán protected as an archaeological zone, on account of the a number of prehistoric vestiges situated on this space of the Aljarafe area. Most of those archaeological stays are associated to the human settlement that, with better or lesser frequency, would have welcomed this territory in the course of the Copper Age, with the ‘tholos’ of La Pastora, Matarrubilla and Montelirio as the best exponents of mentioned tradition, if Well, in recent times notable architectural vestiges of a giant enclosure maybe of a “defensive” nature and cabin constructions, amongst different features, have been found.
Five “nice moat” enclosures
The analysis mission named Valencina-Nord, promoted since 2014 by the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Würzburg (Germany) and the Autonomous University of Madrid, which between September and October 2022 undertook a brand new marketing campaign of investigation on this nice deposit of the Copper Age.
In this sense, Thomas X. Schuhmacher, from the German Archaeological Institute of Madrid, defined that this newest analysis marketing campaign has included superficial surveys, excavations within the Cerro de la Cabeza and geophysical surveys within the northern space of the location, documenting some 40 hectares of the deposit.
The outcomes of this new marketing campaign, based on this archaeologist, affirm the 5 enclosures of “giant moats” delimiting the location that had already been recognized in earlier campaigns and, particularly, have led to the invention of “two different strains of moats and a brand new enclosure small round with a diameter of 120 meters”, which provides to a different related construction already detected earlier than.
“Fortified Spaces”
The scientists of this workforce are nonetheless “investigating each the chronology of those two small enclosures, in addition to their operate and relationship with the big concentric enclosures”, based on Thomas X. Schuhmacher, who expounds the speculation that they had been “fortified areas at exterior of the precincts” already recognized or maybe “ritual” areas.
Likewise, this investigation has recognized “an enormous northern necropolis” with “almost 80 potential new tombs”, along with the big necropolis space to the southeast of the location, based on this individual in command of the German Institute of Archeology in Madrid. As for the excavations in Cerro de la Cabeza, they’ve led to the documentation of vestiges interpreted as “cabins and potential workshops for flint carving”, with supplies initially dated to the late Neolithic.
the chronology
“Pending affirmation of the chronology with absolute relationship”, based on Thomas X. Schuhmacher, the workforce of researchers units “the center of the fourth millennium” earlier than our period as the start of the settlement of this nice human settlement, with the development of the primary enclosure of moats on the finish of mentioned millennium, after which the expansion of the enclave would have led to the excavation of “new moats” delimiting it, till reaching its “heyday” between the years 2850 and 2600 earlier than our period, with some 200 floor hectares.
“This makes it the biggest Chalcolithic settlement in your entire Iberian Peninsula and Western Europe”, emphasizes Thomas X. Schuhmacher, ratifying such an strategy and summarizing that “the documented cabins and workshops, along with the found materials”, lead one to assume that this enclave hosted “an intensive and steady occupation from the ultimate Neolithic or the preliminary Chalcolithic, till the top of the Chalcolithic across the yr 2250” previous to the present period, when it could have had “a monumental moat eight or ten meters huge and eight.5 deep”, a interval through which its use would have lastly disappeared “virtually fully”.
new findings
This final marketing campaign of excavations has additionally produced new “distinctive finds”, corresponding to “a whole millstone, 60 centimeters lengthy and about 40 kilos in weight”, a “zoomorphic vessel that represents a hen, painted with a ornament in zigzag and a potential water gap with a diameter of roughly one meter and a depth of greater than 5 meters”, based on this archaeologist.
Thus, Thomas X. Schuhmacher concludes that these outcomes affirm that this Chalcolithic settlement “undoubtedly performed an necessary position as a city for numerous individuals, performing as a central place for an in depth space of the Lower Guadalquivir, in addition to a manufacturing middle and a gateway for the trade of unique merchandise and uncooked supplies, serving concurrently a funerary and ritual house”.