Changes

The Lower Paleolithic covers a vast period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. As illustrated in the figure, it spanned from 1,350,000 years ago to roughly 130,000 years BC, the period which is generally considered to mark the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic. The Lower Paleolithic coincides with the geological age of both the Lower (or possibly older) and Middle Pleistocene Epochs. The Lower Pleistocene had a warm climate similar to today´s Mediterranean environment in which the regular flow of water from rivers (greater in the Atlantic watershed than in the Mediterranean watershed) deposited sediment and produced fluvial terraces. The fauna typical of this time period was similar to that of the present-day African Savannah: large mammals such as elephants, panthers, saber-tooth tigers, hippopotamus, zebras, and hyenas. The Middle Pleistocene was marked by glaciations which transformed ecosystems and gave rise to mammals such as cave bears, rhinoceros, and mammoths.

The oldest human fossil remains found on the Iberian Peninsula were discovered in sima del Elefante, (in the archaeological site of [https://www.atapuerca.org/es/ver/Video-del-Proyecto-Atapuerca Atapuerca], Burgos) in the form of a jawbone from an undetermined hominid dating from 1,200,000 years ago. If the fossil were of ''Homo habilis'' origin, it might have arrived on the Iberian Peninsula by way of the Strait of Gibraltar. Another hypothesis is that the fossil could belong to a new species called ''Homo antecessor'', which may have possibly evolved from individuals of ''Homo erectus'' and settled on the Iberian Peninsula (at Gran Dolina, TD6, Atapuerca) after having migrated from Asia around 800,000 years ago. However, it is important to note that fossilised human remains of, as yet, undetermined origin have also been unearthed at Venta Micena in Orce (Granada) and in cueva Victoria, in Cartagena (Murcia).

</li>

<li style="display: inline-block; vertical-align:top">

</li>

</ul>

}}

In the Second Millennium BC, population growth created a greater demand for raw materials and subsistence products, causing agricultural and livestock farming (and its by-products) to become more widespread. This still Neolithic society had already mastered metallurgical techniques and had discovered bronze, a strong alloy of copper and tin. Bronze arrived on the Peninsula through the Pyrenees in the Third Millennium BC and was used along with copper to make tools and objects, according to stratigraphic studies of the Bauma del Serrat del Pont site (Girona).

}}

The dawning of the Iron Age on the Peninsula meant a new era in the Neolithic, but it did not lead to significant cultural changes for the people who settled on the Iberian Peninsula at that time.

the Phoenicians began to permanently settle in the southwestern reaches of the territory and gain control of this area sometime after the 7^th century BC, close trading relations were gradually developed with the Punic cities of the Near East and Northern Africa. A network of commercial trading routes was established. Their products were exported from their Metropoli to the Iberian Peninsula through developing markets on the Iberian coasts, expanding into the interior.

The colonisations of the areas around Huelva and the Lower Guadalquivir facilitated the growth of the Tartessian culture (it has been spoken about the kingdom of the Tartessos and even about some of its kings) in the Early Iron Age or Iron Age I. This historical and cultural development featured profound changes in the region's indigenous societies. In the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age I, they transitioned to mining and exploiting the land in the Guadalquivir valley for agricultural purposes, making necessary frequent exchanges and other forms of social interactions. Growing cultural, social and economic influences from the Eastern Mediterranean were becoming evident in these communities. This phenomenon is both evidenced by and attributable to the importation of ceramics, objects made of precious metals, fabrics, oil, and wine.