western Phoenician archaeology Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Phoenicians, Mediterranean archaeology, Phoenician Punic Archaeology, Iron Age

On se propose ici de présenter un intéressant objet en plomb, inédit jusqu'à présent, qui a été trouvé au cours des années 80 dans les alentours de la ville d'Ibiza, parait-il, non pas loin du site de Puig d'en Valls, qui est aussi très connu dans la bibliographie phénicienne punique. La trouvaille a été faite lors de recherches, hors de contrôle officiel, à l'aide de détecteurs de métaux. Cette pièce, qui reste encore en mains privées, a pu tout de même être documentée et l'endroit de sa trouvaille, malgré sans d'autres précisions, située à peu de kilomètres au N de la ville d'Ibiza, dans des champs où on y pratiquait traditionnellement la culture.

- by Joan Ramon
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- Phoenicians, Ancient Religion, Phoenician, Ancient myth and religion
- by josé S R padilla and +2
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- Phoenicians, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Phoenician, Phoenician Punic Archaeology
- by Raimondo Secci
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- Ancient History, Phoenicians, Mediterranean Studies, Phoenician
- by Federica Spagnoli
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- Religion, Archaeology, Architecture, Sacred (Religion)
- by José Ángel ZAMORA and +1
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- Phoenicians, Mediterranean Studies, History of the Mediterranean, Iron Age Iberian Peninsula (Archaeology)

A few hypotheses about the origin of the so-called “Libyan” alphabets are presented. Attested in more than a thousand inscriptions from Libya to the Canary Islands in northern Africa, these alphabets are probably the forebears of the current ones used by the Tuareg. The only inscription that has been dated (139 BCE) with a reasonable degree of certainty is bilingual, Libyco-Punic, from Dougga in Tunisia. The “Libyan” alphabets apparently already existed, several centuries earlier. Their creators borrowed a few — at least four — letters from the Phoenician/Punic alphabets; and apparently used simple geometric procedures, which are reconstituted herein, for the other letters.
The matter of this paper has been incorporated into a book published in 2015 (https://www.academia.edu/8492723)

Menorca entre fenicis i púnics menorca entre fenicios y púnicos Auspiciadas por la SHA Martí i Bella, las XIII J  I H  M (Ciutadella 2015) tuvieron como temática la presencia fenicia y púnica en la isla. Menorca, a pesar de disfrutar de una posición estratégica privilegiada en la órbita marina de esta cultura, se encuentra en clara desventaja en comparación con el conocimiento que se tiene sobre otros espacios geográ cos de la esfera fenicio-púnica. Este "problema" cientí co e histórico, además, se hace más palpable en un momento como el actual, en que se trabaja en la propuesta para la inclusión de una parte del patrimonio arqueológico insular en la lista de la UNESCO. Si la clave de estas acciones radica en proteger, conservar y difundir este patrimonio, la base de todo ello ha de ser siempre el conocimiento, enfatizando el binomio "investigar para difundir", que servirá para determinar las pautas y las acciones por las que deba encauzarse su gestión de cara a garantizar su sostenibilidad. Esta es la principal motivación de esta obra, cientí ca y divulgativa a la par, en la que participan diversos especialistas sobre el mundo fenicio y púnico y la cultura talayótica menorquina.

- by Adriano Orsingher
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- Pottery (Archaeology), Phoenicians, Anthropology of Food, Identity (Culture)

Revue annuelle publiée par l'Association Semitica & classica, avec le concours du CNRS et le soutien de l'UMR 8167 « Orient & Méditerranée » (Mondes sémitiques, Antiquité classique et tardive, Monde byzantin, Médecine grecque, Islam... more

- by Giuseppe Garbati
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- Phoenicians, Identity (Culture), Cultural Identity, Carthage (Archaeology)
- by Bruno D'Andrea
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- History of Religion, North Africa Studies, Phoenicians, Roman Religion

This paper is dedicated to the study, through the epigraphic data, of the forms assumed by the cult of Melqart in the Phoenician West. The main goal is to trying to reconstruct some functions of the deity within but also outside the portrait forged by classical literary sources, which describe the god, as is well known, as the protector of the colonies and colonists, giving him this role in relation with the very early stages of the Phoenician presence in the western Mediterranean.

Agnelli, cavalli, delfini, elefanti, galli, molluschi, pecore, pesci, tori, uccelli: sono solo alcuni degli animali rappresentati sulle stele votive puniche del Nord Africa. Qual è il senso da attribuire a queste raffigurazioni: animale sacrificato? Animale-attributo della divinità? Animale simbolo di abbondanza, eternità, fertilità, etc.? Il presente contributo ha lo scopo di esaminare l’ampia documentazione iconografica relativa al mondo animale presente nei repertori lapidei punici o di tradizione punica del Nord Africa a partire dal V sec. a.C. e fino al IV sec. d.C. Il dossier raccolto dall’autore in una monografia in corso di stampa (I tofet del Nord Africa dall’età arcaica alla prima età romana. Studi archeologici e cultuali, «Collezione di Studi Fenici, 45») costituirà la base per un’analisi iconografica, iconologica e quantitativa di tale documentazione e dei cambiamenti in essa intervenuti nel corso dei secoli e, soprattutto, a seguito della conquista romana.

- by Bruno D'Andrea
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- North Africa Studies, Phoenicians, Phoenician, Carthage (Archaeology)

Serie: Historia y Geografía Núm.: 165 Reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de este libro puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningún procedimiento electrónico o mecánico, incluyendo fotocopia, grabación magnética o cualquier almacenamiento de información y sistema de recuperación, sin permiso escrito del Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Sevilla. © SECRETARIADO DE PUBLICACIONES DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE SEVILLA 2010 Porvenir, 27 -41013 Sevilla. Tlfs.: 954 487 447; 954 487 452; Fax: 954 487 443 Correo electrónico: secpub4@us.es Web: http://www.publius.us.es © M.ª LUISA DE LA BANDERA ROMERO y EDUARDO FERRER ALBELDA (coordinadores) 2010 © De los textos, LOS AUTORES 2010 Impreso en España-Printed in Spain Impreso en papel ecológico

This paper examines the ancient usage of the Latin term 'poenus' and the Greek term 'phoinix', and argues that there is very little basis in the ancient erminology for the modern distinction between Phoenicians and Punics, or even betwen eastern and western Phoenicians. 'Poenus' itself is an unusual term, with few clear parallels, since it falls outside the normal category of an ethnic (lacking a topographic basis), and does not map onto any sort of coherent or easily identifiable political grouping; neither can it be shown to be used as a label of self-identification. A partial parallel can be drawn with 'Greek' as a label, with its strong emphasis upon language as a common trait.

- by Jonathan Prag
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- Roman Historiography, Phoenicians, Ancient Historiography, Phoenician
- by Raimondo Secci
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- Ancient History, Phoenicians, Carthage (Archaeology), Mediterranean archaeology

In what is now called the “Laurita Necropolis” —one of the burial grounds for a settlement on the southern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Almuñécar (Granada)— a Phoenician text painted on the outside of an alabaster urn came to light about half a century ago. It gave rise to intense debates on the chronology and nature of the necropolis and, consequently, on the type of Phoenician presence to which it bore witness. Despite several attempts at reading and interpreting this document, no clear and satisfactory proposals have been submitted.
After a recent in-depth analysis of the piece we can now propose a complete reading of the inscription. Here it is presented with photographs, copies, data and arguments that constitute a new detailed edition. Its historical implications are also examined.

The scholarly debate concerning when and how the Carthaginian expansion in the Mediterranean took place revolves around two different lines of interpretation that can be reconciled only partially: one interpretation places this phenomenon in the second half of the 6th century BC in connection with military expeditions testified by
literary sources and with the change from cremation to inhumation in funerary rites; a second interpretation puts its origin already in the 8th century BC, within a gradual involvement of the “New town” in the dynamics of the Phoenician colonization.
Starting from a critical survey of previous studies this paper offers some considerations pointing to Carthaginian enterprises beyond the sea already in the Early archaic period (8th-7th century BC), when the colonial settlements of the central Mediterranean area show a growing influence of the cultural and urban Carthaginian model.

Mastery of the manufacture of luxury crafts, amongst these, the manufacture of metal objects, constituted one of the most recurrent stereotypes in ancient characterization of Phoenicians. The stereotype, largely confirmed by modern archaeological investigation, survived up to the present basically through classical sources – backed by the Bible, some of whose widely known passages cemented that image.
Besides classical and biblical texts, information provided by cuneiform literature concurred from the earliest finds with the stereotype, especially thanks to data contributed by the Assyrian Annals. All these testimonies, however, were alien to Phoenician culture.
Phoenician and Punic inscriptions contribute to complete, from within the very Phoenician culture, available data regarding metal and metallurgy, especially of bronze, amongst these people. Despite limitations and difficulties, these sources provide some interesting internal facts regarding bronze and bronzesmithing amongst Phoenicians and Punics, an indication of the ideological, social and economic implications which metal
production had in the culture from which the inscriptions
directly originated.

- by José Ángel ZAMORA
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- Phoenicians, Epigraphy (Archaeology), Metallurgy, Mediterranean Studies

243 Raimondo Secci, Za colle<ione archeologica del Museo D io cesano dell' O gliastra (Lanuse i) : ceramica di età fenicio -punica e romano-repubblicana 251 Flaminia Verga, L'organi4aqione urbana e la collocazione degli edifici di culto nei centri punici del Nord Afiica 273 LA COLLEZIONE ARCHEOLOGICA DEL MUSEO DIOCE,SANO DELIJOGLIASTRA (LANUSEI): CERAMICA DI ETA FENICIO-PUNICA E ROMANO-REPUBBLICANA RAIMONDO SECCI Tia i materiali d'interesse archeologico conservati ed esposti nelle vetrine del Museo Diocesano dell'Ogliastra, a Lanusei (Lilliu 1997: 148-50), si trova una piccola collezione di reperti vascolari di età fenicio-punica e romano-repubblicana'.

- by Raimondo Secci
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- Carthage (Archaeology), Phoenician Punic Archaeology, Carthage (History), Carthage

The Tuareg use alphabets with characters called tafineq (plural: tifinagh). Some writers have, rightly or wrongly, related this word’s root (FNQ) to the word used by the Greeks to refer to the Phoenicians. These alphabets derived from much older ones, which are usually said to be “Libyan” or “Libyco-Berber”. Libyco-Berber inscriptions are found throughout a region stretching from Libya to Morocco and even the Canary Islands — sometimes along with Punic or Latin engravings. Owing to the discovery in Dougga (Tunisia) of two bilingual Libyco-Punic inscriptions dating from the 2nd century BC, one of the variants of the Libyco-Berber alphabet has been partly deciphered. Moroccan inscriptions are probably older, but the dates proposed for them are to be used with caution. Two recent studies, the one devoted to contemporary rock inscriptions and the other to the evolution of Libyco-Berber scripts from Ancient Times up till the present, are reviewed; and a few hypotheses related to the dating of engravings are discussed as well as the circumstances of the initial discovery made in Dougga.
The matter of this paper has been incorporated into a book published in 2015 (https://www.academia.edu/8492723)

In the late 6th century BC the funerary monument of Bishop´s House (Cádiz) was raised. It was built in masonry and the chamber and krepìs under-neath the monument are still well preserved. The importance of the building, the data obtained from the gravegoods as well as the analysis carried out on the samples from the chamber are clear evidence of the high social status of the individual buried in. The monument became the starting point of the sacrali-sation of a place that has hosted a religious purpose until present time. This article presents the study of the initial moment of this process and its spatial effect until the incorporation of Gadir in the Roman orbit.

- by José Mª Gener Basallote and +1
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- Phoenicians, Phoenician, Phoenician Punic Archaeology, Fenicios

With fine harbours, central location and life sustaining provisions, the Maltese Archipelago may have played a significant role in the settlement of the western Mediterranean as a safe port of call. Stages in the
colonisation process of the islands can be traced in the first three phases of funerary evidence that suggested different places of origin over time and an elite social element. No less significant were the impact of wine consumption and changing dining practices on the islands’ evolving pottery repertoire and funerary practice — aspects that can be identified in the insular environment of Malta

This communication deals with the commerce of the archaic Phoenician centres of the present coast of Malaga, in the inferior courses of the rivers Vélez, Algarrobo and Guadalhorce. This commerce is analysed from modern knowledge of these centres, but especially from the vision of its outer projection, emphasising the timing of the western Phoenician colonisation, where they offer one of the most attractive and complete
sequences.
A key fact is the beginning of the western ceramic self production and the export of sets of dishes and containers,
with a clear landmark in the Mezquitilla B1 facies (central quarters of 8th Century BC, in conventional chronology).
Finally, at the beginning of the 6th Century BC, symptoms of exhaustion of an economic and commercial model of great impact for more than two hundred fi fty years are clearly shown. One stands out, in addition, the important role of Carthage as a centre of consumption and distribution of the western merchandise

- by Joan Ramon
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- Phoenician Punic Archaeology, western Phoenician archaeology

In this paper, we present the findings from the surveys and the excavations carried out at Mesa del Tejar and the Barrio de la Villa in the town of Ayamonte (Huelva). These archaeological interventions allow us to determine the extent of the Phoenician settlement related to the necropolis of the Hoya de los Rastros. The archaeological findings help us to define their chronological development. The Phoenician settlement of Ayamonte, dated in the second half of the 8th century BC, stood in front of an indigenous settlement located in Castro Marim (Portugal). This strategic position played an important role in the Phoenician Atlantic routes and trades with the hinterland along and across the Guadiana, but was finally deserted at the beginning of the second half of the 7th century BC, probably due to the concentration of the population in Castro Marim.

In the last decade the investigation of handmade pottery (“impasto”) in the Phoenician
sites of Western and Central Mediterranean received a noteworthy impulse. Despite the
frequently incomplete state of preservation of vessels, the analysis of this class of
materials is retained to be suitable for ascertaining the influence of local populations on
the dietary habits of Phoenician settlements.
Motya, a Phoenician colony in Western Sicily, offers an exceptional set of data, made up
by the finds from the necropolis and in the Tophet, to which further materials found in
recent investigations of “Rome Sapienza University” Expedition must be added. The aim
of this contribution is focusing on the analysis of the archaeological record of this site, in
order to insert Motya in the Sicilian panorama and in the wider context of Phoenician
colonies.

Nuevas perspectivas para el estudio de la cerámica a maNo coN decoracióN… soBre tarteso y la colonIzacIón orIental. reFleXIones a PartIr de las nuevas IntervencIones en el caramBolo Álvaro FernÁndez Flores resumen: A través del presente artículo se plantea la inconsistencia de los argumentos arqueológicos que llevaban a considerar a Tarteso como una cultura autóctona anterior a la colonización fenicia. Frente a dicho planteamiento presentamos un panorama de la cultura material del suroeste andaluz a la llegada de los navegantes helenos que nos sirve de argumento para plantear, por una parte, que este término fue el corónimo con el que los griegos definieron el mundo de tradición próximo-oriental del suroeste andaluz a fines del siglo VII a.C. y, por otra, que las referencias griegas más antiguas coinciden con el inicio de un periodo de cambio o transición en la cultura material que va a dar lugar en esta zona a una serie de manifestaciones regionales que pervivirán hasta la conquista romana.

ESP:
Hasta la fecha de la reciente intervención arqueológica en la Isla de San Sebastián (2009-2012) con motivo de las obras de rehabilitación del conjunto de fortificaciones de época moderna y contemporánea, no se contaba con indicios arqueológicos que evidenciaran la posible ubicación del Kronion de Gadir en el extremo más occidental de la ciudad; la condición del lugar como acuartelamiento militar no permitió la realización de intervenciones arqueológicas, siendo la que presentamos la primera que ha permitido plantear una hipótesis sobre datos tangibles. Bajo los niveles modernos del patio de armas del castillo -siglo XVIII- se han documentado estructuras y materiales que parecen indicar la existencia de un complejo edilicio con función de santuario, lo que podría venir a confirmar las hipótesis derivadas del análisis de las fuentes históricas. Quizás lo más interesante es la evidencia de una continuidad de uso en el área, con una cronología que comprende entre fines del siglo VII. a.C. y los siglos II-III d.C.
ENG:
Before the recent archaeological intervention in the Island of San Sebastian (2009-2012) -on the occasion of the refurbishing works of the set of fortifications from Modern and Contemporary Age- we had no archaeological evidences to prove the possible location of the Kronion of Gadir in this most western spot of the city. The military condition of the island did not allow the accomplishment of archaeological interventions, being ours the first one that has allowed to formulate hypothesis based on tangible information. Beneath the modern levels of the main court of the castle, we recorded structures and finds that seem to indicate the existence of a building complex related to the functions of sanctuary and the evidence of a continuity of use in the area from the end of VIIth Century B.C to IInd Century A.D.

This paper analyses the structure of the composition of the Phoenician text of Pyrgi, particularly in the light of typical formulae and structures found on similar Phoenician inscriptions. Its aim is to reach a better understanding of the general meaning of the text, its function and the circumstances in which it was produced. The analysis reveals that whoever created the text (no doubt an expert Phoenician scribe) tried to make use of the rigid formulae and structures that characterize Phoenician epigraphs. He fitted into a standard layout the basic information of what seems to be perceived as a single votive act, then extended this to include and develop further particulars, always attempting to make full use of the scribal resources in wich he had been trained. The text thus reveals a certain tension between the Phoenician nature of the forms of expression used and the seemingly non-Phoenician nature of important elements of its contents

- by José Ángel ZAMORA
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- Religion, Phoenicians, Mediterranean Studies, Ancient Mediterranean Religions

Floor levels composed out of the empty valves of the genus Glycymeris and installations paved with such shells are known from a relatively limited number of sites throughout the southern Levant, appearing as early as the Middle Bronze Age, but found mostly in strata that were assigned to the Late Bronze Age III and Early Iron Age I (13th–12th centuries BCE).1 The remains of a floor paved with Glycymeris shells were discovered in 1960 during the excavation of a courtyard in the gate complex at of Meṣad Ḥashavyahu, a massive late Iron Age III (7th–early 6th century BCE) fortress located on the southern coastal plain of Israel, ca. 1.7 km from Yavneh-Yam (Naveh 1962a) (Fig. 1). During a recent excavation at the fortress, a room whose floor was found entirely paved with shells was unearthed adjacent to the previously known shell floor (Ein- Mor and Mermelstein 2020). To the best of our knowledge, the shell floors at the gate complex in Meṣad Ḥashavyahu constitute a unique occurrence of this architectural phenomenon at sites dating to the Iron Age III in the region of Israel. Similar shell-paved floors are attested at a number of sites scattered along the southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula (Fig. 2). These are generally accepted as Phoenician colonies and date between the late 9th–6th centuries BCE (Escacena and Vázquez 2009, and see below). In this paper we will provide a brief review of several shell floors and shell paved installations that were documented at various sites in the southern Levant dating to the Bronze and Iron Ages. This review will set the background for discussing the question at the center of this paper:
Do the shell-paved floors in Meṣad Ḥashavyahu represent a continued local architectural tradition? Or should they be viewed in the context of cross-cultural connections during the late 7th century BCE, specifically with contemporary sites in the Iberian Peninsula?

In this paper the pottery retrieved from the Phoenician phase ii of the site
of Teatro Cómico (Cadiz) is preliminary analyzed. An important assemblage
of Phoenician, Nuragic and Tartessian pottery was found, with storage
jars, bichrome bowls, red slip pottery, neck ridge jars, dipper juglets, oil
bottles, Nuragic Sant’Imbenia storage jars and an askos, and local handmade
pottery.
Keywords: Gadir, Phoenician Pottery, Tartessian Pottery, Nuragic

- by Mariangeles Navarro García and +1
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- Phoenicians, Phoenician, Phoenician Punic Archaeology, Fenicios

This paper summerizes the hellenistic coin finds on sites BEY 002, BEY 006, BEY 004, BEY 026, BEY 145, BEY 125, BEY 133, BEY 142 and BEY 144 from Beirut. The full data presented the VXth INC Glasgow, 2009, are consultable in the "Talks"... more

- by Ziad Sawaya
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- Religion, Ancient Egyptian Religion, History, Ancient History