
The Horizon of Atalaia was the apogee
of this culture
The
South-Western Iberian Bronze is a loosely-defined
Bronze Age culture of Southern Portugal
and nearby
areas of SW Spain
(Huelva
, Seville
, Extremadura
). It replaced the earlier urban and
Megalithic existing in that same
region in the
Chalcolithic age.
It is characterized by individual burials in
cist, in which the deceased is accompanied by a
knife of bronze. Much more rare but also more
impressive are the
grabsystem
tombs, made up of three adjacent stone enclosures, of
quasi-circular form, each one with an opening. They are covered by
tumuli and are possibly the burials of the
main leaders of these peoples.
Phases
- Horizon of Ferradeira (c. 1900-1500 BCE): still mostly
Chalcolithic but already with individual burials. Influenced by the
culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro
.
- Horizon of Atalaia (c. 1500-1100 BCE): that introduces the
grabsystem tombs, being contemporary of El Argar B but continuing after its end.
It is in
this phase when the culture extends to Extremadura and Western
Andalusia
.
- Horizon of Santa Vitoria (c. 1100-700 BCE): that reaches the
early Iron Age.