Siete Arroyos

On a mountain up to 240 metres high on the northern edge of the Guadalquivir Valley, about four kilometres north of Villaverde del Río (Seville), lies the multi-phase settlement complex of Mesa Redonda, which forms a tell with layers more than 10 metres depth at the top of the hill. A concentration of prehistoric, Roman and medieval artefacts was discovered on a terrace on the southern slope of the mountain, with mainly Bronze Age pottery found on the western edge of the terrace. In the course of test pit excavations at this site, known as Siete Arroyos, a total of seven graves were excavated in the immediate vicinity of each other, showing several types of burials. In addition to three simple pit burials with single individuals in a lateral crouched position, two stone cist graves and two collective graves were found which, according to grave goods and radiocarbon 14C dating, date to the first half to the middle of the second millennium BCE. One of the collective graves contained more than 20 individuals, most of whose bones lay disarticulated, commingled and on top of each other. Not only is the range of grave types in close vicinity to each other unusual for the Full Bronze Age in the Lower Guadalquivir Valley, but also the occurrence of collective graves in general for the Bronze Age on the Iberian Peninsula is unknown. The grave finds at Siete Arroyos offer the potential to provide important information about the population structure of a Bronze Age settlement centre in the Lower Guadalquivir Valley such as the Mesa Redonda complex.