Bronze Age Settlements Were Lively

An exploration of a bronze-age settlement has turned up an ancient well, along with storage areas for food, pottery, and livestock, according to archeologists. 

The site, known as Motilla del Azeur, is composed of a tower, two walled enclosures and a large courtyard. The interior is accessible through ramps inlaid in narrow corridors.

Considered the earliest settlements in the La Mancha region of central Spain, Motillas are artificial mounds that stand up to roughly 30 feet high. They were thought to be burial mounds, until the mid-seventies when researchers from the University of Granada found that the site was a fortification, surrounded by a small settlement and a necropolis.

The Motilla del Azeur is the first site of this kind to be excavated in a scientific and systematic way.

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