Kinship and Clientele Structures of the Iron Age Southern Iberians (Spain) from the Burial Realm

Abstract

This paper aims to present proposals regarding the kinship patterning among the southern Iberians in the Iron Age, between the seventh and fourth centuries BCE. It discusses the structures that may have governed the organisation of a series of funerary areas, and how they evolved towards other models such as clientelism. We begin with the example of Cerrillo Blanco (Porcuna, Jaén), in the Turdulan region, using the new data provided for its spatial reading by different analytical methods. We hypothesise that we are dealing with an extended family, without ignoring other readings that go beyond the strict literal horizon of kinship. We compare it with La Noria (Fuente Piedra, Málaga), which shows the continuation of the process initiated in the Porcuna tumulus and has allowed forms of dependence to berecognised archaeologically. Finally, the evolution of the funerary landscape in the OretaniBastetani-Mentesani area is presented from this same period up to the development of large necropolises. This was a process that led to a single, gentilitial-clientele model, which we can follow with the examples from the necropolises of Cástulo and Cerro del Santuario in Baza (Jaén)