"The Iberus, a river enriched by its commerce, takes its rise in the country of the Cantabri, not far from the town of Juliobriga and flows a distance of 450 miles; 260 of which, from the town of Varia namely, it is available for the purposes of navigation. From this river the name of Iberia has been given by the Greeks to the whole of Spain" (Natural History by Pliny the Elder, Chapter 4.3.: Of Nearer Spain).
Permanently inhabitable during the last ice ages and rich in natural resources, the Iberian Peninsula has been one of the longest settled regions in Europe. Originally inhabited by ancient peoples such as the Vascones, from which the modern-day Basques descend, tribes with possibly eastern origins entered Iberia from North Africa and spread along the Mediterranean coast. They brought along with them the knowledge of agriculture, working stone, metallurgy and mining.
Los Millares, the first copper tools
Around 3400 BC copper tools appeared on the Peninsula and along with them the evidence of copper mining and smelting. The most important archaeological site for this period is the area around Almerķa on the southeast coast of the Peninsula, where the Los Millares civilisation formed one of the first urban societies of Western Europe. This civilisation developed between 3200 and 2800 BC, peaked between 2800 and 2450 BC and ended around 2250 BC, when the town of Los Millares was abandoned for unknown reasons. In most of the Copper Age sites fortifications and carefully constructed stone tombs have been found…"
More here
link
Amicalement
Armand
