From the Copper Age to the Bronze Age in the Lower Guadalquivir Basin. The Cerro de San Juan settlement (Coria del Río, Seville, Spain) and the ‘replacement model’

The transition between Copper and Bronze Ages in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula is poorly known still, especially when compared with the transition between Los Millares culture to El Argar culture in the Southeast. The settlement of Cerro de San Juan, which controlled the Guadalquivir mouth at that time, shows some evidences of human occupations of both periods, an uncommon feature along the South of Iberian Peninsula. The data from this site suggest a sedimentary break between the two periods, and a strong cultural change as well. The culture material sets are different between the Bell Beaker phase and the Bronze Age, and several radiocarbon dates define consistently the chronology of the phenomenon. From this perspective, an analysis of every archaeological stratigraphy that has evidences of both periods is carried out. Against a model of cultural continuity, numerous archaeological features rather suggest a model of demographic replacement. Thus, the Bronze Age can be defined as a new way of life perhaps by human groups that were not direct descendants of the previous communities.