A Copper Age Fortress Unearthed in Spain

For-profit Spanish archaeologists, their version of Cultural Resource Management, were recently exploring the site of a proposed solar farm when they discovered a massive fortress dating to between 2900 and 2400 BC. They call it Cortijo Lobato.

The site began as a small fortress (detail above) but was later massively enlarged; I can't tell from the news accounts if the excavators think the central portion was still standing after the outer walls were built.

Although the place looks impressive, it may have been taken by storm:

Some 4,900 years ago, during the Copper Age, a group of humans constructed a formidable fortress on a hill in what is now the Spanish city of Almendralejo in Badajoz province. This stronghold was protected by three concentric walls, 25 bastions or semicircular towers, and three deep ditches measuring up to four meters wide and two meters deep. Spanning 13,000 square meters, the complex featured robust stone and adobe walls, with a single entrance just 70 centimeters wide — designed to make it virtually impregnable.

Yet, despite its formidable defenses, the fortress was ultimately destroyed, burned, and razed by enemies, then abandoned 400 years after its construction. . . . Archaeologists have found evidence that Cortijo Lobato suffered “a widespread fire that affected key areas of the settlement. One of the strongest indications that this was an intentional act is the burning of wooden doors embedded in the adobe walls. These doors were far from other flammable materials, which suggests that the fire was not accidental, but rather the result of an assault on the fortification — a scene of violence and destruction in which the settlement was attacked, its defenses breached, and the structure ultimately set ablaze.” Among the remains, researchers uncovered numerous arrowheads.

Like these. Notice that they are made of stone; people of the Copper and even the Bronze Age still used stone for many tools and weapons.

It is notoriously difficult for archaeologists to distinguish between destruction wrought by war, and that caused by earthquake or fire, and debates have raged for decades about certain sites in Greece and the Middle East. But this case looks pretty good.

Which brings us to another level of speculation: could the possible destruction of this fortress be related to the arrival of Indo-European speakers in Spain? Because the period from 2400 to 2200 BC was one of great turmoil in Iberia, and the elite of the subsequent Bronze Age was largely descended from invaders bearing genes from the steppes.

Might be. But then again, the fortress was constructed centuries before that, presumably because the residents had plenty of other enemies.