The Archaeology of Bronze Age Iberia ─ Argaric Societies

After more than a century of research, an enormous body of scientific literature in the field of El Argar studies has been generated, comprising some 700 bibliographic items. No fully-updated synthesis of the literature is available at the moment; recent works deal only with specific characteristics of Argaric societies or some of the regions where their influence spread.The Archaeology of Bronze Age Iberia offers a much-needed, comprehensive overview of Argaric Bronze Age societies, based on state-of-the-art research.

In addition to expounding on recent insights in such areas as Argaric origin and expansion, social practices, and socio-politics, the book offers reflections on current issues in the field, from questions concerning the genealogy of discourses on the subject, to matters related to professional practices. The book discusses the values and interests guiding the evolution of El Argar studies, while critically reexamining its history. Scholars and researchers in the fields of Prehistory and Archaeology will find this volume highly useful.

Gonzalo Aranda Jimenez is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada, Spain. He has conducted archaeological fieldwork in different Copper and Bronze Age settlements, and has published in major scientific journals like Antiquity, Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Journal of Social Archaeologyand Trabajos de Prehistoria, as well as book chapters in peer-reviewed volumes.

Sandra Monton Subias is ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University, Spain. She is currently co-chairing the EAA working party "Archaeology and Gender in Europe." She has recently published "European Gender Archaeologies in Historical Perspective" in the European Journal of Archaeology and the co-edited volume Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Feasting Rituals in the Prehistoric Societies of Europe and the Near East (2011).

Margarita Sanchez Romero is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada, Spain. She has worked as a visiting researcher and lecturer at the universities of Bergen (Norway), Helsinki (Finland), Cambridge and Hull (UK), Havana (Cuba), Comahue and Lujan (Argentina) and Los Lagos (Chile).