Room 2: Prehistory to Iberians

Between 3,500 and 3,000 BC, a new and rapid development took place with the first manifestations of the extraction and manipulation of metals, beginning with copper. This transition from the Neolithic to the Metal Age is known as the Chalcolithic. In this metal period, which is usually divided into three phases: Copper, Bronze and Iron, agriculture and animal husbandry intensify; settlements are organised within fortifications and complex infrastructures such as silos, ditches and irrigation channels appear. Population growth increased and commercial activity began to take on greater importance. The social structure became more hierarchical and organised around the specialisation of economic activities. There were also important changes in religious beliefs and rituals, with individual or collective burials or cremations in caves, pits, cists, urns or large burial mounds, generally inside the settlements or very close to them, always together with their grave goods.