Valdepeñas is a municipality in the province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is also the seat of the judicial district that covers the localities of Moral de Calatrava, Santa Cruz de Mudela, Viso del Marqués, Torrenueva, Castellar de Santiago and Almuradiel. Geography Its name means "Valley of Rocks", because it is located in a wide hilly area surrounded by a meander of the , just bordering on the plain south of La Mancha, and the subsoil is rich in limestone rock. It is located in the Campo de Calatrava, an extensive plain north of the Sierra Morena, and lies on the left bank of Jabalón River, a tributary of the Guadiana. The hamlet (pedanía) of Consolación is a dependency of Valdepeñas and is located at the intersection between Autovía A-4 (Autovia del Sur) and road CR-5214. It was built by the Instituto Nacional de Colonización in 1949. History Prehistory The municipal area houses numerous prehistoric remains, platforms and watchtowers located in the hills, compatible with settlers of the Bronze Age called Culture of the Motillas, dated between the 10th and 13th centuries BC. Vasco Merlo in his History of Valdepeñas described these structures erroneously as Celtiberian settlements, despite their being much older than that and possibly belonging to the Culture of Argar. Ancient history Eight kilometres to the south of the city is located the Iberian city of "Cerro de las Cabezas" (Hill of the Heads), a great oppidum or town fortified with a true castle in the summit of the hill that it occupies, inhabited between the 7th and 2nd centuries BC. It is an important archaeological deposit of the Oretana Culture and shows signs of the first vestige of the grapevine in this region. In the 16th century and later artefacts such as graves, coins and other ancient Roman items, from a Roman villa of the 1st century BC, that still existed in the Visigothic period. Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, the area was part of the Moorish taifa of Toledo. The Arab inscriptions and a sundial on the walls of the Church of the Assumption date from this period. According to oral tradition, the Caliphate gave permission to the inhabitants to cultivate vineyards and make wine, which is prohibited by the Quran. The Moors were expelled from Valdepenas at the end of the 15th century. By order of Queen