Named after its regional range, the Levantine Bronze Age (or Bronze of Levant, or Valencian Bronze) refers to a culture extended over the actual territory of the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, in the "Levante" or eastern side of the Iberian peninsula. Its chronological range was between 2200 BC and 1500 BC. It is considered an autonomous culture in relation to the

Argaric culture The Argaric culture, named from the type site El Argar near the town of Antas, Andalusia, Antas, in what is now the province of Almería in southeastern Spain, is an Bronze Age Europe, Early Bronze Age culture which flourished between c. 2200 Ann ...

by Miquel Tarradell in the sixties. The main aspects that allow the distinction of the Valencian Bronze from that of El Argar are the scarcity of metallic objects, the lack of carinated cups and ceramics, and the lack of the rite involving the inhumation of the deceased under its home floor. The economy was involved mainly in agriculture and herding. The metallurgy was much more developed in the southern part by the influence of the near Argaric culture. Oppida were defended by natural elements, tenches, walls and towers. The houses were rectangular and the walls had stone basements. Caves were used as funerary places.

Genetic profile

Individuals from diverse archaeological sites were tested, a male from the barrow or collective burial mound known as Túmulo Mortòrum (Cabanes) had Y-chromosome R1b-P310, and a male inhumated in a cave near Lloma de Betxí had subclade R1b-Z195. Other individuals were tested from Cueva del Puntal de los Carniceros (Villena), Coveta del Frare (La Font de la Figuera), La Horna (Aspe) and Cabezo Redondo (Villena), belonging also to

haplogroup R1b Haplogroup R1b (R-M343), previously known as Hg1 and Eu18, is a human Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is the most frequently occurring paternal lineage in Western Europe, as well as some parts of Russia (e.g. the Bashkirs) and across the Sahel in ...

, but it is difficult to relate them to a given culture as the

Vinalopó The Vinalopó is a small river flowing through the Province of Alicante, Alicante province, of Spain. It flows from north to south and, with a length of 81 km., it is the longest of the rivers which flows for its entire length within the l ...

valley stands amid the Argaric culture, the Valencia Bronze Age and Motillas (or Manchego Bronze) areas.

Gallery

File:Ortofoto Lloma Betxí.jpg, Lloma de Betxí site (Paterna) File:Aixovar ceràmic, Lloma de Betxí.JPG, Ceramics found in Lloma de Betxí File:Materiales de la edad del bronce.jpg, Some findings from Tossal del Mortórum File:Aixovar domèstic de l'habitació I, Lloma de Betxí, Museu de Prehistòria de València.JPG, Ceramics File:Muntanya Assolada Puntas Metall .jpg, Weaponry File:Muntanya Assolada.jpg,

Muntanya Assolada 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 above sea level. It is located in the muni ...

site (Alzira)

References

{{Reflist History of the Valencian Community Bronze Age cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Spain 22nd-century BC establishments 2nd-millennium BC disestablishments

Genetic profile

Gallery

See also

References