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This study is concerned with the emergence and subsequent development of agricultural communities in south-east Spain. Using different scales of analysis and a wide range of data it focuses on regional variations in social, political and economic organization between the Early Neolithic and Argaric Bronze Age. Particular attention has been given to evaluating patterns of regional variation and the processes which underlie these patterns. A systematic survey (Chapter 4) provides much needed information about Neolithic-Bronze Age settlement in a regional context. Another important, and complimentary, part of this research is concerned with cultural development and variability at a larger scale. This second level of analysis (Chapter 5) is an examination of mortuary practices on an inter-regional scale and involves more than 2000 Copper Age and Bronze Age tombs. The conclusion (Chapter 6) is an attempt to place cultural developments in south-east Spain in a wider context. These discussions emphasize the dynamic relationship between ecological and cultural processes, and draw important distinctions between the growth of agricultural communities in the humid, as opposed to the semiarid, zones of south-east Spain. The contrast between these two zones is clearly reflected by differences in social ranking, prestige displays, economic intensification, and settlement evolution. More importantly, perhaps, the nature of ecological-cultural interaction from 6000-1000 b. c. in south-east Spain provides valuable information about the growth and variability of complex societies.

The thesis is the record of the first systematic attempt to collect ballads in the British Sephardic communities (in London and Manchester). Sixty-one ballad texts and fragments were collected between 1981 and 1988. The majority were collected (with their tunes) directly from informants, and represent the traditions of Salonica, Istanbul, Izmir, Tetuan, and Arcila, a town from which few ballads have been collected hitherto. The remainder, ten texts, have been edited from two family manuscript collections, and represent the traditions of Izmir and Tetuan. Although the total number of texts is not high, the number of themes represented (fifty-six) is considerable, and includes a number of rarities. A further nineteen texts, collected for me by my Arcila informant from his mother, resident in Israel, are included in an appendix. An account of the history of the Sephardic community in Britain is included, as are full details of the organization of the project. Of the ballads collected, seven were selected for detailed study: El robo de Dina, El paso del Mar Raja, Don Bueso y su hermana, La mala suegra, Rico Franco, Silvana, La princesa y el segador. These deal with crucial moments in the life of a nation (El paso del Mar Raja), the individual, or the family. While the emphasis in these studies is on the Judeo-Spanish tradition, the ballads are also studied, as is necessary, in the context of the ballad as a whole. Among the topics discussed are the incorporation of Jewish legendary material, and the question of the avoidance of violent or scabrous material in Judea-Spanish tradition. A further point, which transcends the Judeo-Spanish Romancero, is discussed: whether, in view of the fact that the majority of the singers now are women, a "woman's voice" can be recognized in the ballad.