Aspects of the neolithic and copper ages in the basins of the rivers Segura and Vinalop�, south-east Spain

The origins of the neolithic in southeastern Spain are considered from the standpoint of the location of certain sites with respect to naturalistic rock paintings, and of the succession observed from aceramic to ceramic stratigraphical layers at sites which show a continuity of lithic tool-kits as between the various stages. The functional significance of such sites is interpreted in terms of a large mammal-depenent stage of the earliest pottery-using inhabitants of the region before 5,000 B.C. It is proposed that agriculture developed relatively later in the southeastern ceramic neolithic. Factors concerning erosion and the availability of agricultural land are discussed. Within the neolithic the diversity of lithio forms and of ceramic types is considered. It is proposed that metallurgy occurred as early as 4,000 B.C. and that from then onwards the prehistory of the south-east diverges markedly from that of France or Italy, looking for inspiration to Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. Investigations into the ceramic constituents of pottery from various neolithic and early and middle copper age sites are discussed in terms of their functional rôles. It is proposed that geographical patterning may owe more to availability of resources and varying needs than to major cultural 'boundaries' . There are no very different changes in the spode of ceramic manufacture from the early to the middle copper age, by contrast with the marked difference of copper age from iron age wares. It is proposed that the 'Argaric' phenomenon developed indigenously the early copper age of the region, physical anthropological data, whilst also showing some degree of geographical patterning within the south-east, nevertheless do not readily lead to an interpretation of markedly different origins for different population groups, and a simpler hypothecs is proposed which explains the bizarre tendencies sometimes observed in montane settlements north of the Vinalopó in terms of genetic drift away from more normal physical characteristics displayed by the copper age proto-urban inhabitants of the townships of northern Algeria, and southern Murcia who were perhaps more mobile.