Motilla del Azuer: Impressive And Unusual 3,200-Year-Old Fortress

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - Motilla del Azuer is an impressive and unusual 3,200-year-old fortress in the Iberian Peninsula. Located in the central area of Spain called La Mancha, it was constructed during the Bronze Age and contains the oldest well found in the Iberian Peninsula.

The site of Motilla del Azuer can be found a few kilometers from the town of Daimiel (Ciudad Real), on the left bank of the Azuer River.

Left: Central tower; Right: Hydraulic structure located inside the fortification Image credit: Antiquity, Department of Archaeology, Durham University

The structures of Motilla del Azuer (connected with water management, and agricultural production) contains the oldest well known from the Iberian Peninsula and the archaeologists suspect that the walled enclosures were therefore used to protect and manage the livelihood of the people living in the settlement:

To secure the well’s water, to store and process cereals on a large scale, to occasionally keep the livestock, and to produce pottery and other domestic artifacts.

Arial view of La Motilla del Azuer site with the central fortification and the surrounding settlement. Image: artravelviajes.com

The ancient fortress Motilla del Azuer has a diameter of about 50 meters, and is composed of a tower, two walled enclosures and a large courtyard.

The core of the fortress is composed of a tower of masonry of square plan, with 7 meters high east and west fronts and an interior accessible through ramps inlaid in narrow corridors, which confer a particular nature to the place.

Access to the tower is by ramps located in narrow corridors.

Ruins of Motilla del Azuer. Image credit: artravelviajes.com

A small number of adults and children created their homes around the fortress and lived as community. The large amount of labour involved in the construction and maintenance of the impressive fortifications far exceeded the requirements of the social group that inhabited this type of settlements.

See also:

10 Ancient Fortresses Of Historical Importance

Los Millares –  5,000-Year-Old Advanced Copper City In Europe

The walls protected water, collected through the well. The well has been used throughout the different occupation phases of the settlement. It was also important to store and process cereals on a large scale, to keep the livestock occasionally and to product pottery and other home-made products, whose remains have also been found.

Motilla del Azuer - The walls protected water. Image credit: artravelviajes.com

However, recent research shows that the "Motillas" were no burial mounds as it was previously thought.  The funerary ritual usually involved individual inhumation in pits, occasionally covered with stonework or slabs. In some child burials the ritual makes use of pottery urns.

The bodies always appear in a flexed position and the sepulchres are normally placed next to the dwelling walls or near the outer line of fortification.

Motilla del Azuer ancient fortress. Image credit: artravelviajes.com

Grave goods are scarce and not very representative, although some adults have been found buried with pottery vessels and copper daggers or awls. Anthropological analyses inform us about the pathologies of this population, which were mostly infectious processes caused by nutritional stress and poor health conditions.

Written by - Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

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