MAZAS OCULTAS. RASTROS DE MINERÍA PREHISTÓRICA EN EL CERRO MINADO DE HUERCAL-OVERA (ALMERÍA)

Abstract

Metallurgy in southeast Iberia played a leading role in the development  of the Los Millares and El Argar archaeological groups. However, to date little is known about one of the key aspects of prehistoric  metal  production:  the mining  process.  The  recent  identif ication  of prehistoric mining traces at Cerro Minado, in the northeast of the present day province of Almería, sheds new  light  on  a long  debated  issue.  After  a geological  and  mineralogical  characterisation  of the ore deposit, a specif ic petrographic, morpho-technical and functional research programme has allowed the def inition of a set of macro-lithic tools, which had remained unnoticed in the prehistoric archaeological record in Southeast Iberia.