Water management during El Argar: the case of La Bastida (Totana, Murcia)

Abstract

Prehistoric hydraulic structures offer the most reliable way to gain knowledge on a critical resource for subsistence. The functional (catchment, storage, distribution), spatial and technological analysis of these structures show differences amongst local groups and entire societies regarding water use and policies. Moreover, they set out the objective background for making economic and political inferences on the societies that used them. In this paper, a large water reservoir (pond) excavated in the site of La Bastida (Totana, Murcia, Spain) is presented. Also, an assessment on its role in the settlement organisation together with a contextualisation in relation to other contemporary and older hydraulic structures in soth-east Iberia are made.