PROCESOS DE APROPIACIÓN Y MEMORIA EN EL SURESTE PENINSULAR DURANTE LA SEGUNDA EDAD DEL HIERRO: MOLINICOS Y LA UMBRÍA DE SALCHITE EN LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN TERRITORIO POLÍTICO/Processes of appropriation and memory in the South-east of the Iberian Peninsula during the Second Iron Age: Molinicos and Umbría de Salchite and the shaping of a political territory

This paper analyzes the appropriation of landscape developed by the communities of the Iron Age. The area of study is the basin of Alhárabe river within the broader territory of the upper basin of the Segura River in northwestern Murcia. We argue the existence of a relationship between the settlements of Llano de Moratalla-Calasparra and the sanctuary of Umbría de Salchite, located in the adjacent highlands of Campo de San Juan. Two types of arguments support this hypothesis. On one hand, the finding of a series of links between the material culture and iconography of Molinicos and Umbría de Salchite. On the other hand, they are linked by a common backbone, articulated by the Alhárabe river basin and also by a relationship of visibility because Umbría de Salchite is the visual horizon of the communities that inhabited the Molinicos area. The memory of a female figure linked to fire appears to be part of the ideological basis on which the relationship between the two valleys was shaped.