A macro-village as the origin of the peasant way of life: Marroquíes Bajos (Jaén, Spain) c. 2500-2000 cal. BC

Abstract

An approach is presented to the chronology and form of a high-Andalusian settlement from the Copper Age which occupies at least 113 hectares. The extensive excavations show a division between the habitation area and the fields. In its stage of greatest expansion it was organized in circlets defined by concentric ditches excavated in the rock, 4 inside the wall and 1 outside. The habitat area (34 has) is surrounded by a 2 km long and 3 metres high wall built with adobe, and it is bordered by a ditch of variable depth (2-5 m.) and irregular width (6-10 m.). The ditch found in the fields may have a maximum diameter of 1200 metres. Here we will just set forth the first hypotheses on the formation and evolution of the site, beginning with its chronology, periodization and phases, and finishing with the mechanisms which govern the processes of change in social structure. The research scale (intra-site) makes it possible to pay special attention to the forms, functions and relations of the domestic units, interpreting the site's evolution as a process of agrarian intensification which results in the institutionalisation of the peasant domestic units (family + land = household) as a social cell of production-reproduction.