History of Cazalla de la Sierra

Antonio Carmona Granado.

IN PREHISTORIC TIMES

Perhaps following the river valleys of the Viar and the Huéznar and coming from the terraces of the Guadalquivir, the first groups of individuals belonging to the genus "homo" made their appearance in our lands. The most remote indications of its presence found so far seem to belong to groups of primitive hunters who already used the Cuevas de Santiago as a dwelling place, on the bank of the Rivera de Benalija. These signs refer to two 7 cm long knives, a carved splinter and a "Mousterian" type point. Of these remains, found at the end of the last century, Mr. Feliciano CANDAU reported, having been cataloged, according to this author, in the Museum of Natural History of Seville with numbers 76, 119, 111, and 72, respectively (1). These objects, and always according to Mr. CANDAU, were found in fairly shallow levels of the cave floor. In view of these data, we can only risk affirming that men from the Middle or Upper Paleolithic would have inhabited territories that today comprise the municipality of Cazalla de la Sierra.

The news becomes more secure and reliable for the next stage of the Neolithic. This is due to the work carried out by the Department of Archeology of the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Seville, under the direction of Ms. Pilar ACOSTA, at the Cueva Chica de Santiago site (2). The results obtained in the study of the aforementioned site have contributed to formulate, according to the director of the excavations, a new approach to the beginnings of the Neolithic in the South of the peninsula. According to the data provided by the stratigraphies of this and other caves (Nerja, Dehesilla, etc.) it seems necessary to conclude that in the VI millennium (5,940 BC is the date provided by the C-14), if not before, a civilization of producers, who very early possessed ceramics with decoration of reliefs and treatment to the almagra, which apparently have no relationship whatsoever with the cardial Neolithic of other parts of the Peninsula. This Neolithic of the Caves will evolve during the V and IV millennia BC. until it was gradually supplanted by the Chalcolithic with the appearance of copper metallurgy at a time, which according to the C-14 analyzes, would take place at the end of the 4th millennium BC. (3).

Finally, the Caves of Santiago, as described and other data, are presented to us as the great temple of the Cazallera Prehistory, which, together with its natural beauty, gives it an enormous attraction as a monument to care for and preserve. ( 4). But the presence of Neolithic cultures in Cazalla de la Sierra is not exclusive to this bordering area of ​​our municipal term. As D. Manuel Carlos PÉREZ GÓMEZ (5) has shown, in the surroundings of our current urban nucleus, the findings (fortuitous and at ground level) of polished tools related to Neolithic settlers are increasingly abundant, which could place us on the hypothesis of the existence of a more or less permanent settlement, already for this time, in what is now the urban area. Axes, adzes, knurls, etc. They have appeared in the Fuente del Altar, La «Malena», Cerro «Panchón», Molino del Monte, the intersection of the Camino de las Laderas with that of La Carrasquilla, and, not long ago, in Fuente Nueva itself. Places, as you can see, all very close to the current population. The subject is to be studied and to be excavated.

IN THE TIME OF THE ROMANS

Among the pre-Roman peoples who controlled the region, superimposed on the Tur-detans, are the CELTICS, according to Pliny in his "Natural History." This is why the aforementioned author calls the region that is located between the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir, in a generic way, Beturia Céltica. Following Plinio, those who have traditionally been writing about the History of Cazalla, have stated that the place names "Callentum" and "Callenses Emánicii" could be related to settlements or settlers close to the geographic space that our municipality occupies today. However, so far, there is no archaeological evidence that can attest to such a claim. Furthermore, recent historiographical studies on this period tend to locate both the aforementioned toponym and the aforementioned gentilicio in places close to the Coronil (Seville). What does seem to be true is that our area has been under Roman domination since the middle of the 2nd century BC. It was close to the Vía de la Plata, and it is said that one of the branches of said Vía crossed our territory, possibly the one that «from Alanís, continued through El Pedroso and Mulva ('Munigua') to the city of Carmona , where it connected with the Via Augusta »(1). According to Manuel RAMOS and popular tradition, there are remains of this communication route in the semi-ruined bridge over the Regajo del Sotillo, in front of the current cemetery, later a crossing of medieval ravines. In the days of Emperor Augustus, it seems that these territories were legally and administratively circumscribed to the Conventus Corduvensis, belonging to the province of Baetica.