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Archaeology Division
Retrospective - Oral Presentation Session
Katina Lillios
Professor of Anthropology
University of Iowa
Archaeological investigations of the 3rd millennium BCE in southern Iberia, during the period known the Copper Age, have undergone a revolution in recent decades. The discovery of ditched enclosures (of varying sizes) and wealthy tombs associated with some of them as well as refined site chronologies using Bayesian models have challenged our understanding of the sociopolitical landscape. Models for the Iberian Copper Age, based on the fortified hilltop settlements, have traditionally been framed in terms of hierarchical forms of political organizations (tribes, chiefdoms, states). However, these new sites and analyses suggest that a reframing of these landscapes is in order. My paper, inspired by the work of Janet Levy, explores the material remains of 3rd millennium BC Iberia in terms of heterarchical practices evident at the rock-cut tomb of Bolores, excavated between 2007 and 2012 by a team from the University of Iowa.