Fuerzas productivas y relaciones de producción en el centro y el este de la península ibérica entre 2200 y 1550 a. n. e.

Between 2200-1550 cal BCE, a marked dispersion of the population in small settlements and their entrenchment in elevated or fortified locations is apparent in the central-eastern quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula. This settlement pattern, which prevails for more than six centuries, is exceptional in Bronze Age Europe and can hardly be explained without a situation of latent social conflict. The present study scrutinizes the main evidence for production recorded at 1.445 sites documented so far in a territory of 117.444 km2, in order to determine the distribution and organization of the productive forces. The quantitative analysis identifies significant economic differences between lowland, highland, and cave settlements, as well as between fortified and non-fortified settlements. While the conventional cultural groups, such as Las Motillas or the Bronce Valenciano, shared the same means of production, El Argar clearly stands out. This contrast leads us to assess whether the particular economic and social organization of the Argaric periphery can be understood as a response of these entrenched and atomized communities to the expansive development of El Argar and their need to obtain certain strategic resources. In short, a paleo-economic research methodology in archaeology is presented, based on large datasets from both surveys and excavations.