On the population structure of the societies from the South of the Valencian Bronze Age area

This article aims to characterize more accurately the settlement model, in the geographic space of the so-called Valencian Bronze Age area, of some of the specific societies that occupied it between the end of the III millennium BC and the middle of the II millennium BC. Some hypotheses about their population, social and political structure are proposed, trying to explain their conformation and transformation throughout this period. Thus, based on the assessment of various variables such as the size of the settlements; relative height, the topographic conditions of the immediate environment and characteristics of the excavated sites, a proposal has been developed on the settlement pattern in the Valencian Bronze Age area. The preliminary results of the study suggest a different image as the one maintained so far of a territory densely occupied by a large number of small settlements. Instead, we start to discern a changing social space over time and composed of sites of different origin, duration and functional orientation.