Left: Ceramic cup, emblematic of the boom phase of El Argar. Credit: J.A. Soldevilla; ASOME-UAB. Right: Microscopic image of El Argar pottery, showing minerals and fragments of schist, which are key to tracing the origin of the clays used in its production and precisely locating the source of these materials in the northwestern sector of the Sierra de Almenara. Credit: Journal of Archaeological Science (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106394

Most of the pottery recovered from political and administrative centers in El Argar (2200-1550 BCE), such as Tira del Lienzo and Ifre, located in the province of Murcia, was not produced locally, but rather at sites located in the coastal mountains of the southeastern peninsula. This is the conclusion reached by a research team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in a study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, which analyzes the composition and circulation of the raw materials used to produce the characteristic pottery of El Argar.

The study contradicts the prevailing idea that each community produced its own pottery using materials available in its immediate surroundings, and reinforces the idea of a complex and hierarchical social and economic system.

“Most pieces, especially the more standardized forms such as cups and jars, were made from red clay formed by the climatic alteration of metamorphic rocks or schists during the warm Pliocene period, and found in the coastal mountains of Murcia, Almeria, and Granada,” explains David Gomez, researcher in the Department of Geology and co-author of the study.

“Pottery made from this very distinctive type of clay became exclusive from 1900 BCE onwards, when El Argar reached its peak in terms of territorial expansion and economic development,” says Carla Garrido, predoctoral researcher in the Department of Prehistory and first author of the paper.

“Our petrographic studies confirm that the red clays that best match El Argar pottery are found in Pleistocene deposits located on the northwestern slopes of the Almenara mountain range, in the Murcia province, in the area of the current municipality of Lorca,” notes Marta Roigé, geologist at the UAB who also participated in the research.

“A whole series of small settlements have been documented in this area, located on the plain above this type of clay, which seem to have specialized in the production of large jars and typical El Argar cups. These settlements are very different from the large hilltop settlements, and were located decades ago precisely because of the amount of pottery found on the surface,” explains Adrià Moreno, researcher at the State Archaeological Service of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, who has studied the circulation of these pottery pieces to the borders of El Argar.

To carry out the study, researchers surveyed an area of 5,200 square kilometers and analyzed the sedimentary and petrographic composition of more than 140 original raw material deposits, comparing them with objects recovered from four main settlements in El Argar: Tira de Lienzo, Ifre, Zapata, and Cabezo Negro, located in the southern part of the province of Murcia. In addition, they developed spatial models of geographic information to assess the relationships between pottery, raw materials, and regions.

Topographic map of the southeast of the Murcia region showing different locations of the Betic mountain range: (1) Sierra de Carrascoy; (2) Sierra del Algarrobo; (3): Sierra de las Moreras; (4): Sierra de Almenara; (5): Loma de Bas; (6): Sierra de Enmedio; (7): Sierra de las Estancias; (8): Sierra de la Tercia; (9): Sierra Espuña. The legend shows the settlements and clay deposits studied. Credit: UAB

The results, researchers point out, reinforce the interpretation of the El Argar system as a complex and regionally interconnected economy with empirical data that shows a structured organization of ceramic production.

“The technological and compositional homogeneity observed among different settlements suggests planning and control of production processes beyond the strictly domestic sphere. This implies supra-local coordination in the management of resources, technical knowledge, and product distribution, in line with the dynamics of centralization and specialization characteristic of the El Argar state model almost 4,000 years ago,” argues Roberto Risch, researcher at the UAB Department of Prehistory and coordinator of the study.

Pottery, key evidence of regional and economic interactions

One of the archaeological characteristics differentiating El Argar, which came to occupy the entire southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (from Alacant to Granada and Jaén), is its pottery. This pottery produced only eight types of vessels in the span of more than 600 years, although some forms range from small cups, such as the typical cup unique to the Iberian Peninsula, to large vessels with a capacity of more than 250 liters.

Although there are not many interdisciplinary studies on El Argar pottery, the prevailing idea until now was that it was produced domestically or, at most, locally—each community and settlement produced its own pottery. The uniformity of production and the virtual absence of decoration over such a long period of time was considered to be an expression of the uniformity of social practices involved in the use of this pottery in El Argar settlements.

Based on material evidence, the study published by UAB researchers contributes to consolidating the role of pottery as a key marker of the regional and economic interactions of the El Argar system.

“Although the social and political hierarchy of El Argar is an accepted fact, our results add value by showing how this hierarchy is also manifested in pottery techniques and the organization of material production. Pottery ceases to be merely a consumer object and becomes a means of tracing mechanisms of control, circulation, and ideological cohesion within the territory,” concludes Garrido.

More information: Carla Garrido-García et al, The methodological centrality of geo-archaeological surveys in ceramic provenance analysis: A re-assessment of El Argar pottery production and circulation, Journal of Archaeological Science (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106394

Citation: Specialized potteries reveal complex organization of El Argar society 4,000 years ago (2025, November 10) retrieved 10 November 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-11-specialized-potteries-reveal-complex-el.html

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