Free Republic

It's one of the most lavish burials of the European Bronze Age; and, although the woman was buried with a man, most of the expensive grave goods were hers, suggesting that she was of much higher social status.By comparing her grave to that of other El Argar women, researchers led by archaeologist Vicente Lull of the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain have concluded that women in this culture could have played a more important political role than we previously knew.The grave itself, a large ceramic jar named grave 38, was discovered in 2014, at the La Almoloya archaeological site...

Eco-ruin 'felled early society' The Argaric culture was an early urban society One of Western Europe's earliest known urban societies may have sown the seeds of its own downfall, a study suggests. Mystery surrounded the fall of the Bronze Age Argaric people in south-east Spain - Europe's driest area. Data suggests the early civilisation exhausted precious natural resources, helping bring about its own ruin. The study provides early evidence for cultural collapse caused - at least in part - by humans meddling with the environment, say researchers. It could also provide lessons for modern populations living in water-stressed regions. The...