Las Cogotas ( es, Las Cogotas) is an archaeological site in Spain in Cardenosa municipality, province of Avila. The site was researched by the Galician archaeologist Juan Cabré in 1920s. It is namesake for two different archaeological cultures known from this site: Cogotas I (pre-Celtic) of the

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

and Cogotas II (most probably Celtic) of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. The latter is known from the upper layer of Las Cogotas, which represents a classical settlement of

Vettones The Vettones (Greek: ''Ouettones'') were a pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula of possibly Celtic ethnicity. Origins Lujan (2007) concludes that some of the names of the Vettones show clearly western Hispano-Celtic features. Reissued i ...

, which inhabited the territory of modern provinces of Avila and

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

, as well as parts of Toledo, Zamora,

Caseres Caseres is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of la Terra Alta in Catalonia, Spain. This town is located in picturesque surroundings, but many wind turbines are being constructed in the Serra dels Pesells hills nearby. The name of the village ap ...

and Tras-os-Montes in Portugal.

Protocogotas culture

This stage of the Meseta history is the least known, although a series of archeological sites, such as ''Los Tolmos de Caracena'' in

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, Cogeces del Monte in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

, Abia de la Obispalia in Cuenca, and some others, allow to describe Protocogotas culture as a formation stage of Cogotas I culture. This culture, which existed around 1700—1550 BC, is also known as Cogeces horizon, and is based on the

Bell Beaker The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age. Arising from ar ...

substrate influenced by either

El Argar El Argar is an Early Bronze Age culture that was based in Antas, Almería, within modern Spain. It is believed to have been active from about 2200 B.C. to 1500 B.C.Lull et al."Emblems and spaces of power during the Argaric Bronze Age at La Almol ...

or Atlantic Bronze. Although Protocogotas culture was not represented by finds in La Cogotas, it did have characteristic traits later displayed in Cogotas I.

Cogotas I

Characteristic for this culture is black pottery with incised geometric motives incrusted by white paste ( :es:Cerámica de Boquique). Vessels were relatively small, flat-based, conic, rough, supposedly used as kitchen ware. Chronology of Cogotas I: * Formation stage, 1700 BC (Protocogotas) * incised and Boquique ceramics, 1550 BC. * trade networks, 1350 BC. * expansion of the culture, 1100 BC. * disappearance, 1000 BC.

Cogotas II

In the early 1st millennium BC the Iberic peninsula was invaded by the Celts and other Indo-European tribes, which occupied the central and western parts of the peninsula and created new cultures on the ruins of the older ones. One of them were

, most probably of Celtic origin. Characteristic for Cogotas II cultures are verraco statues. These are stone bovine statues situated on pasture lands, whose exact usage is still unclear. Among other material culture objects there were daggers, flat axes, copper alloy axes, sickles, granite grindstones, spindle whorls etc. Like other similar settlements, Cogotas of that time was divided into several functional districts, including several cattle enclosures and a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

. Cattle husbandry played an important role in the life of

, which was probably reflected in their zoomorphic verraco statues.

Literature

* Historia de Castilla y León. 1. La prehistoria del Valle del Duero, Valladolid, 1985. G. Delibes. * La Cultura de las Cogotas I, Actas del Homenaje a

Luis Siret Luis Siret y Cels (26 August 1860, in Sint-Niklaas – 7 June 1934, in Herrerías) was a Belgian- Spanish archaeologist and illustrator. He was born in Belgium, but when he was 21 he went to Cuevas del Almanzora (Almería) when he was contra ...

, Sevilla, 1986. Mª. D. Fernández Posse.

Gallery

File:Cerámica de boquique Cogotas-I.jpg, Cogotas I. Ceramics with incrustation File:Cerámica excisa Cogotas-I.jpg, Cogotas I. Incised ceramics File:Cerámica decorada tipo Cogotas I. Bronce Final - M.A.N. 02.jpg, Ceramics File:Fibula de Codo-Bronce final.jpg, Cogotas I. A bent fibula File:Las Cogotas, Ávila, España, 2020 07.jpg, Cogotas II. Castro del Cogotas. Reconstruction of the main entrance File:Castro de Las Cogotas 07 by-dpc.jpg, Cogotas II. Castro del Cogotas. Stone walls File:mingorria0520.jpg, Cogotas II. A granite verraco near Mingorria {{coord, 40.7275, N, 4.7011, W, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites in Castile and León Prehistoric sites in Spain Bronze Age sites in Europe Iron Age sites in Spain

Cogotas Las Cogotas ( es, Las Cogotas) is an archaeological site in Spain in Cardenosa municipality, province of Avila. The site was researched by the Galician archaeologist Juan Cabré in 1920s. It is namesake for two different archaeological culture ...

Celtic archaeological cultures Bronze Age Spain Iron Age cultures of Europe Iron Age Spain