Poblaciones y geopolítica en la Edad del Bronce de la península Ibérica

The European Bronze Age is frequently depicted as a period of significant economic and demographic growth, intertwined with the emergence of marked social asymmetries. This narrative often highlights the historical dynamics leading to the formation of innovative regions, hot societies or early states, as they have been defined by different authors. Despite the enduring impact of these developments, which played an important role in the divergence of the Old World from other continents, this perspective neglects the fact that these disruptive societies emerged selectively, in specific regions and lasted for relatively short periods during the over 1000-year duration of the Bronze Age in both Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. In contrast to this prevailing narrative, the BRONZEPEOPLE project is advocating a re-evaluation that shifts the focus away from the singularity and exceptionality of a few archaeologically prominent entities and onto the diversity and interactions among the various Bronze Age communities of Iberia. This new research perspective seeks to investigate the underlying factors contributing to the increasing regional and social asymmetries, as well as to economic centralization. By comparing, for the first time in prehistoric Iberia, the mobility of people and the circulation of raw materials and goods related to markedly different economic realms, it will be possible to identify networks and spaces of exchange and communication. The analysis of their strength and degree of structural and territorial overlap or divergence will allow the discussion of the interactions between communities and people, but also of the drifting apart of female and male mobility and economic practices during the Bronze Age. To reconstruct the geopolitical landscape of the Peninsula, BRONZEPEOPLE adopts a borderless approach, focusing on four key domains directly linked to population dynamics: palaeodemography, human mobility, economic interaction, and geopolitical networks. Understanding demographic variations among prehistoric societies is critical, as surplus production during the Bronze Age depended heavily on workforce due to the low pace of technological development. Consequently, demography serves a vital proxy for identifying economic disparities across different regions of Iberia. Investigating human mobility during this period is essential to understand if economically more dynamic areas attracted populations from other regions and to explore how men and women may have shaped and organised communication and exchange networks differently. This will be accomplished through ancient DNA studies, a proven methodology for tracing past mobility. The third pillar of this holistic approach involves understanding the circulation of economic values at a supra-regional level. BRONZEPEOPLE focuses specifically on three artefactual categories and their raw materials, which played a crucial role in the Bronze Age: copper/bronze axes, grinding implements, and clays used for pottery production. Finally, all data generated through these research lines will be integrated into a network analysis, enabling the modelling of social processes where material (i.e. archaeological artifacts, raw materials) intersect with social dimensions (biological relatedness, gender, technology). This approach will contribute to determine the nature and directionality of relations across Iberia and to better understand its geopolitical diversity.