Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2015
From December 1972 to February 1973, rescue excavations at the site of El Ventorro, near Madrid, were carried out by Salvador Quero and Ma. Carmen Priego of the Archaeological Institute of Madrid. They uncovered a large Eneolithic settlement with clear evidence of copper smelting activities in the upper levels. In the topmost deposits were found numerous incised Ciempozuelos Beaker sherds, together with two crucibles heavily encrusted with copper slag, and decorated with incised Beaker motifs on the outside. Dr Richard Harrison, who co-operated with the excavators in writing this summary of new evidence for Bell-Beaker copper metallurgy in Spain, is now a Research Assistant in the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities in the British Museum: we published last year his article on the origins of the Bell Beaker Cultures (1974, 99–109).