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Motilla del Azuer

Daimiel, La Mancha, Ciudad Real

1 Villages · 5 Monuments · 2 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

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Motilla del Azuer

Monument · Daimiel, La Mancha, Ciudad Real

The Motilla del Azuer is a prehistoric Bronze Age site in the municipality of Daimiel (Ciudad Real), with occupation documented from 2450 BC and declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection), as an archaeological zone, in 2013. It belongs to the singular type of settlement known as a motilla, characteristic of the La Mancha plain between 2200 and 1500 BC: an artificial mound resulting from a centrally planned fortification with several concentric walls, which here retains masonry walls more than eight metres high. Inside it, essential resources such as water were safeguarded—drawn from a well that is among the oldest excavated on the Iberian Peninsula—while large-scale grain was also stored, livestock kept, and pottery and other craft goods produced.

Photo: Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España (CC BY 2.0)

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