Power on the hills. Warfare, symbolic violence and landscape in the eastern Iberian Iron Age

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the fortified landscape as a symbolic context for the development of political processes, using the Iberian Iron Age landscape of the Valley of Alcoi as a case study. The development of fortified urban settlements reflects the importance of warfare in this period in which a warrior group accessed power and ruled Iberian society. An analysis of the spatial relationships between fortified settlements and their dependent villages through GIS analysis of visual structure is carried out. We interpret this spatial structure in terms of the ideological discourses that gave shape to the social relations inscribed in the landscape. Funerary rituals show the emergence and relevance of warrior rulers in this historical context.