The Chalcolithic Mega-Site of Valencina de la Concepción near Sevilla, Spain. Settlement History and Economy of the Northern Area in the 3rd Millennium B.C.

Valencina de la Concepción的铜石器遗址位于西班牙南部的安达卢西亚，下瓜达尔基维尔河流域的西部边缘。公元前三千年上半叶的定居点和同时期的墓地面积超过460公顷。因此，Valencina de la Concepción是伊比利亚半岛西南部一系列铜石时代大型遗址之一。虽然从19世纪开始就发现了大墓地的巨石墓（La Pastora），但在230公顷的定居点地区的调查直到20世纪70年代才开始作为救援挖掘。然而，在瓦伦西纳德拉Concepción市的建设工作期间，大量的考古干预仍然存在，主要是零散和分散的。现代城镇北部的铜石器聚落区位于农业用地上，因此原则上可以进行系统的调查，如实地调查和挖掘。最近在选定区域进行的考古和地球物理勘探提供了五个大型土方工程的证据，这些土方工程带有同心沟渠和一个较小的沟渠围场，以及有许多坑群的居住区，包括坑屋。该项目侧重于瓦伦西纳德拉Concepción的铜器时代定居历史。调查工作包括对考古遗址北部地区的农业用地进行挖掘和实地调查。此外，还对现代城镇北部邻近地区早期抢救挖掘的结果进行了评价。通过野外调查和地磁、地电勘探，探讨了史前聚落区的扩展和结构。在此基础上，进行了多期铜石时代土方工程和聚落区域的调查和定年，重建了聚落历史。最初的14c数据证明了从公元前4世纪末到公元前2千年初的连续居住，以及在公元前1千年早期偶尔的定居活动。通过使用放射性碳定年、考古植物学、动物考古学、考古材料分析和土壤学进行深入的科学分析，对瓦伦西纳德拉Concepción铜石时代定居点的空间、时间、功能和经济方面进行了调查。因此，该项目的目的是澄清文化序列、动态、密度和聚落活动的结构、原材料的供应、工艺生产、远距离联系，以及最终的大型场地的社会组织。

The chalcolithic site of Valencina de la Concepción is located in Andalusia in southern Spain, on the western edge of the Lower Guadalquivir river basin. The settlement area and a contemporaneous necropolis of the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C. extend over more than 460 hectares. Valencina de la Concepción is thus one of a series of chalcolithic mega-sites in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Although megalithic tholos tombs (La Pastora) of the necropolis were discovered since the 19th century, the investigations in the 230 hectares settlement area only began in the 1970s as rescue excavations. The numerous archaeological interventions during construction work in the city of Valencina de la Concepción remained, however, mostly fragmented and scattered. The chalcolithic settlement areas to the north of the modern town are located on agricultural land and thus, in principle, accessible for systematic investigations such as field surveys and excavations. Recent archaeological and geophysical prospection in selected zones has provided evidence of five large earthworks with concentric ditches and a minor ditched enclosure, as well as habitation areas with numerous clusters of pits including also pit-houses. The project focusses on the chalcolithic settlement history of Valencina de la Concepción. The investigations include excavations and field surveys on the agricultural land in the northern area of the archaeological site. Furthermore, the results of selected earlier rescue excavations in the adjacent northern part of the modern town are evaluated. Through field surveying and geomagnetic and geoelectric prospection the expansion and structure of prehistoric settlement areas is explored. Then, excavations are carried out to investigate and date the multiphase chalcolithic earthworks and settlement areas and to reconstruct the settlement history. Initial 14C-data attest to continuous habitation from the end of the 4th to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC and occasional subsequent settlement activity in the early first millennium BC. By intensive scientific analysis using radiocarbon dating, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, archaeometric materials analysis and pedology the spatial, chronological, functional and economic aspects of the chalcolithic settlement of Valencina de la Concepción are investigated. Thus, the project aims are clarifying the cultural sequence, the dynamics, density and structure of the settlement activities, the supply with raw materials, craft production, long-distance contacts, and ultimately the social organisation of the mega-site.