Water Supply in the 4th and 3rd Millennium BC in Andalusia. The Aqueduct of Los Millares and the Detection of Indications for Climatic Fluctuations

Abstract

The Copper Age fortification of Los Millares was discovered by L. Siret in 1891. The water supply he described – a spring at a distance of about 1 km from the settlement, a water conduit leading to the settlement, and a large water reservoir inside the settlement – were now reexamined by archaeometric methods and supplemented. 230Th/U investigations on calcium carbonate deposits within the fortification meanwhile provided clear evidence of a leaky water conduit, from which water flowed or at least steadily dripped in the Early and Middle Copper Age. Sinter deposits in a canyon bordering the plateau of Los Millares (approx. 400 m from the source site described by Siret) were formed while the fortification was still in use or shortly after it was abandoned. The source is believed to be a few meters to the south-west from this sampling point. It could be clearly proven that this source fed the aqueduct of Los Millares. The fact that it provided a mixture of thermal and near-surface groundwater enables the detection of climatic fluctuations in the Early and Middle Copper Age.