The definition and duration of the Beaker Culture in the Spanish Balearic Islands: a radiocarbon survey

Abstract

This paper presents 45 radiocarbon dates demonstrating International Bell Beaker cultural contact and interaction with the Island of Mallorca, c. 2500 cal BC to 1300 cal BC. The radiocarbon documentation is accompanied by supporting artefactual and architectural evidence that demonstrates long‐range seaborne exchange and a high degree of social complexity outside the Iberian Peninsula. The evidence has been collected over a thirty‐four year period (1962–1996) from a number of sites which include cave, rock shelter, open‐air settlement and ritual contexts. These demonstrate social, religious and economic activities which show an unusually rich variation and complexity, giving indications of social differentiation and local technological skills, such as water‐ and animal‐management, architectural construction, as well as lithic, ceramic, metallurgical and other production, over some twelve hundred years.

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