The late 4th and 3rd millennium BCE saw the development of new long-distance maritime networks around the Mediterranean. During this late Chalcolithic phase, the ‘mental mapping’ of the Mediterranean as a maritime space reached a critical stage; the influx of new people and cultural traits, combined with a boom in seaborne exchange, meant that the western and central Mediterranean became integrated into a large maritime cultural area. Circulation routes seem to have expanded remarkably after 2500 cal BCE, enabling large-scale cultural phenomena such as the Bell Beaker complex to spread across the Mediterranean and integrate a variety of local Chalcolithic groups, both on islands and in coastal or mainland areas. These large-scale networks of interaction foreshadowed the emergence of major Mediterranean civilisations in the next millennium.
Noting that this topic had not been the subject of scholarly discussions in recent years, even though recent archaeological discoveries and analytical developments offered new opportunities to investigate these issues, the co-editors of this volume organised a session at the 2024 international conference of the European Association of Archaeologists in Rome. Their aim was to examine the origins and dynamics of Bell Beaker connections across the Mediterranean, be it in terms of material culture, subsistence strategies, technology, human-environment relationships, absolute chronology, genomic ancestry or isotopic provenance.
This resulting volume is a coherent collection of papers covering the entire western and central Mediterranean, including coastal Maghreb, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Sicily. The chapters present a wide variety of scales, methodological approaches and sub-topics ranging from site-based to supra-regional studies, typological and technological approaches, network analyses, computational modelling, but also raw material, isotopic and palaeogenomic data, and touch on themes such as mobility patterns, local integration, power display, exchange networks, luxury and exotic goods consumption, metallurgy and the emergence of social complexity. Some focus solely on Bell Beaker contexts, others discuss the relationships between the traditions of the preceding Chalcolithic societies and the Bell Beaker phenomenon, or the ties the latter shared with the Bronze Age groups that followed it.
Together, these contributions demonstrate the dynamic interplay of cultural, social and technological factors that shaped the Mediterranean during the late 4th–early 2nd millennia BCE. By integrating diverse lines of evidence and a wide array of methodological approaches, this volume not only provides a nuanced understanding of Bell Beaker networks and their integration with local Chalcolithic societies but also sheds light on the precursors to the major Mediterranean civilisations of the Bronze Age. The volume aims to stimulate further research and dialogue on these transformative centuries, bridging gaps in the scholarly discourse and setting a foundation for future interdisciplinary investigations.
An examination of the origins and dynamics of Bell Beaker connections across and throughout the Mediterranean, with contributions investigating material culture, subsistence strategies, technology, human-environment relationships, absolute chronology, genomic ancestry, isotopic provenance, maritime exchange networks and mobility.
List of contributors
In memoriam
In memory of Carlo Lugliè, archaeologist (19632023)
Riccardo Cicilloni
Between alpha and omega: The Bell Beaker phenomenon in the scientific path of
Victor S. Gonçalves (19462024)
Ana Catarina Sousa
Introduction: Out across the Sea: Bell Beaker maritime connections and
networks in the Mediterranean
Eve Derenne, Maria Ivanova-Bieg, Ana Catarina Sousa, Juan Antonio Cámara
Serrano and Enrico Giannitrapani
Section I. Networks of exchange and the Mediterranean as a connected space
1. Exchange networks during the Chalcolithic of the Iberian Peninsula
Thomas X. Schuhmacher
2. Unveiling the ivory trail: Exploring trans-regional connectivity and
mobility patterns in the Mediterranean Bell Beakers through computational
modelling
José Miguel Morillo León, Michael Kempf and Giacomo Bilotti
3. Archaeological network analysis of decorated Bell Beaker pottery in the
western and central Mediterranean
Lea Frank
Section II. Technologies, productions, and material expressions of
connectivity
4. The coppers shine: An approach to Palmela arrowheads based on the
collection from the caves of the Carvalhal de Aljubarrota valley (Alcobaça,
Leiria)
Michelle Teixeira Santos and Cátia Delicado
5. Production and circulation: The pottery from the site of El Cerro de la
Virgen (Orce, Granada, Spain) (2600/25002150/1900 cal BCE)
Paula Pinillos de la Granja, Alberto Dorado Alejos, Juan Antonio Cámara
Serrano and Fernando Molina González
6. Bell Beaker pottery and the Chalcolithic ceramic tradition in southeastern
Iberia: A comparative, technological and stylistic analysis of the
productions from Los Millares (Santa Fe de Mondújar, Almería, Spain)
Francisco Javier Castillo Gallego, Alberto Dorado Alejos, Eduardo Molina
Piernas and Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano
7. Wristguards from the islands of Sicily and Sardinia: Distribution and
circulation
Claudia Pau, Paloma De la Peña Alonso and Liliana Spanedda
Section III. Regional dynamics and local integrations
8. Tracing the Bell Beaker Phenomenon in northeastern Iberia through the
study of materials from the open-air site of Cal Conde (Cabrera de Mar,
Catalonia)
Lara Marín-González, Ana Sanmiguel de la Fuente, Andreu Monforte-Barberán,
Adrià Breu, Ivan Gironès, Joaquím Ripoll, Adrian Segarra-Gual, Ignacio
Montero, Albert Castellà, Jordi Chorén, Ivan Salvadó, Miquel Molist and Anna
Bach-Gómez
9. Bell Beakers in Mediterranean France
Olivier Lemercier
10. Bell Beakers in the Balearic Islands
Damià Ramis, Jaume Coll, Josep Maria López Garí and Ricard Marlasca
11. Sardinia between the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age: The relationship
between the Bell Beaker phenomenon and indigenous cultures
Riccardo Cicilloni
Eve Derenne is a postdoctoral researcher at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, specialising in the study of Western European societies during the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age. Her research employs methods such as ceramic technology analysis, radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling, and her most recent work investigates the emergence, diffusion and networks related to the Bell Beaker complex in the western Mediterranean (28002000 BCE). Maria Ivanova-Bieg is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, specialising in the Neolithic. Her research focuses on the emergence, growth and sustainability of early agrarian societies in Europe and the Mediterranean. She employs archaeological and palaeoecological data alongside advanced analytical methods from the natural sciences to study socio-ecological dynamics, mobility, diet, maritime connectivity and long-distance exchange in the past. Ana Catarina Sousa is a professor at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon. Her research focuses on the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, especially the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE in central and southern Portugal, focusing on territorial analysis with a special emphasis on the study of the phenomenon of Chalcolithic enclosures and the origin and development of megalithism. Juan Antonio Cámara Serrano is Associate Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Granada and director of the research project at the Chalcolithic site of Los Millares. His work centers on social hierarchy in late prehistory, approached through settlement archaeology and archaeometric analyses. His research places special emphasis on funerary practices, encompassing both megalithic contexts and individual Bronze Age burials. Enrico Giannitrapani is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Palermo. He specializes in the prehistory of Sicily and the central Mediterranean basin. His scientific interests encompass the study of social complexity and the economic and cultural dynamics of human occupation in the prehistory of the central Mediterranean.
