IBERIANS 

The Pre-roman autochthonous populations converge with the Iberian Culture, largely occupying the region of the Alpujarra, as settlements such as the Cerrillo Rigualte (Berja) and El Cerrón (Dalias) show.

The Iberians have a high social, economic, political, military, religious and cultural organization. They even reach the Roman times.

TARTESSOS

In western Andalusia, the powerful and rich state of Tartesos develops. It is expanded  to the East, despite the powerful Celtic culture. They arrive to the region attracted by its mines, as an important part of its economy is based mainly on metallurgy and its active trading. Among its main mining centres are the ones of Contraviesa. They brought advanced social, religious, political, economic and cultural concepts.

GREEKS AND PHOENICIANS

Greeks and Phoenicians, who were followed by Carthaginians, represent the colonization of the eastern populations.

From the first millennium B.C., in their tour around the Mediterranean coast in search of business contacts with indigenous groups, the Phoenicians, skilled sailors and traders, came to the Alpujarreña coast.

Many of the factories and colonies that they created were located in this region. They were the possible founders of, for example, Abdera (Adra), which became an important Alpujarreño port. They developed an economic activity closely linked to mining, as they used metals to trade.

Their influence is primarily seen on the coast, because apparently they did not penetrated deeply into the region. They left among the indigenous populations an important cultural legacy, which favoured the rise of a thriving culture.

The Greeks, with a similar business philosophy to the Phoenician, arrived to the Alpujarra also looking for its riches. According to Strabo, they created a Greek colony called Ulissea, which can be the origin of the current Ugíjar. Therefore, they entered the region with greater intensity. A territory that, according to the classical author, was a mountain range covered by thick forests that separated the inside of the coastline.

CARTHAGINIANS

Their influence zone covered much of Andalusia, including the Alpujarra, where the coastal areas stand out, such as Abla, along with some settlements in height, such as the Cerro de las Minas (Cáñar).

Heirs of the Phoenician commercial interests, they established thriving industries along the coast of the Alpujarras. In addition to the exploitation of the mines in the area, they focused on the salting of fish or on the esparto.

ROMANS

The appearance of the Romans in the Peninsula is related to the Second Punic War, when they helped the Iberian populations in the expulsion of the Carthaginians.

Later, they took over the Peninsula, carrying out a complex process of Romanization, despite the opposition by the Iberians, who also revealed several times in this area.

The Roman occupation of the Alpujarra is attested by the names of the places. Moreover, the archaeological record shows that the Romans spread throughout the whole region, especially attracted by its mineral wealth, described by authors such as Pliny. The exploitation of lead from Sierra de Gádor stands out, and there is an important centre in Berja.

Most of the Roman settlements are located in the low valleys and medium ones. Higher zones where reached  by mining and rancher reasons.

They present some habitats focused on agriculture and mining, as well as the control of certain access roads to the inside of Sierra Nevada, watching the valleys that could be watched in N-S direction. Generally, they created their cities near the main roads and in the less steep and more productive areas. There were side population cores that had different statutes.

The locations provide remains of residential structures, funerary monuments, baths, amphitheatres and abundant material record, where the dispersed ceramic, oil lamps and chandeliers stand out. Some examples would include the deposits of the hills Negrite and Buenavista, the one of the Mina de la Sierrecilla (Berja) or the Cortijo Cecilio (La Heredad, Fiñana).

The Roman occupation was important in Abla, as it is evidenced by the archaeological site of Oppidum of Alba Bastetanorum, which corresponds to a Bastetani population  organized as a Roman municipality during the Flavian dynasty. Its location has been identified with such people and their environment.

Apart from that, there are in the region many vestiges of its network of roads, its bridges, aqueducts or its oil mills.

The Christianization of the area, the arrival of the seven Apostolic Men, is identified as the event that marks the end of this stage.

LATE ROMAN. EARLY CHRISTIAN, VISIGOTH AND BYZANTINE STAGE

This historic step comprises approximately from the 3rd century to the 8th century. It is described as a turbulent period in which profound changes occur, also in the Alpujarra area. The intense and early Christianity means an ideological revolution, reflected in all aspects of the Hispanic-Roman society. In the area, it becomes very palpable with the messages conveyed in the interpretation of historic and artistic  patrimony or in the sobriety of the burial rituals, reflected in numerous necropolis (Early Christian Sarcophagus of Alcaudique of La Jarela, in Berja, necropolis El Bancal del Moro in Huéchar-Alhama-Santa Fé, necropolis El Pago in Órgiva, necropolis Camino de Santa Rita de Benecid, in Fondón).

Visigoths

During this time, when the Roman Empire disintegrates, Swabians and Visigoths took control of most of the Iberian Peninsula. The latter also leave in the area burials and some temples, like the one located in the area of the current chapel of San Sebastian, in Orgiva. Apparently they penetrated through the valley of Poqueira.

Byzantines

The Emperor Justinian, taking advantage of the civil wars between Visigoths, took the South and Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. It remained like this for almost two hundred years.