Bronze Age
The Bronze Age spanned from c. 1700 to c. 700 BC. It is largely a continuity of the previous period. Gradually bronze tools replaced stone and copper ones and we can find the first fortifications, that would become very common in the last centuries of this period.
This age is divided in three subperiods:
- Early Bronze Age (c. 1700-1500 BC): occasional use of bronze, larger pots.
- Middle Bronze Age (c. 1500-1300 BC): generalization of bronze tools, first fortifications, first decoration of pottery (cordons).
- Late Bronze Age (c. 1300-700 BC): bronze arrow points, variety of pottery decoration, spread of fortifications.
Megalithism continued for most of the period, yet external influences became increasingly noticeable since the Middle Bronze Age. In Araba the influence of Cogotas I is quite remarkable, while in the copper mine of Urbiola (Navarre) brachicephallic types, surely original from continental Europe, make up a 30% of all remains.
Read more about this topic: Basque Prehistory
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