Fortification and State Formation

City walls at the dawn of civilization

Artistic visualization of Los Millares

A coherent culture began to emerge in the Almeria region of southeastern Spain around 3,500 BC. The Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, had arrived, and rich deposits of the metal were available here. Climatology tells us the region was also wetter at the time, so it was a good place for the recently-invented technologies …