Tartessos In Iberia
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Tartessos () is, as defined by archaeological discoveries, a historical civilization settled in the southern
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
characterized by its mixture of local Paleohispanic and
Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...
n traits. It had a
writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
, identified as Tartessian, that includes some 97 inscriptions in a
Tartessian language Tartessian is an extinct Paleo-Hispanic languages, Paleo-Hispanic language found in the Southwest Paleohispanic script, Southwestern inscriptions of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly located in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), ...
. In the historical records, Tartessos () appears as a semi-mythical or legendary harbor city and the surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian Peninsula (in modern
Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
, Spain), at the mouth of the
Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...
. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting during the first millennium BC.
Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
, for example, describes it as beyond the
Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules are the promontory, promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of ...
. Roman authors tend to echo the earlier
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
sources, but from around the end of the millennium there are indications that the name Tartessos had fallen out of use and the city may have been lost to flooding, although several authors attempt to identify it with cities of other names in the area. The Tartessians were rich in metals. In the fourth century BC the historian
Ephorus Ephorus of Cyme (; , ''Ephoros ho Kymaios''; 330 BC) was an ancient Greek historian known for his universal history, now lost. Biography Information on his biography is limited. He was born in Cyme, Aeolia, and together with the historia ...
describes "a very prosperous market called Tartessos, with much tin carried by river, as well as gold and copper from Celtic lands". Trade in
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
was very lucrative in the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, since it is an essential component of bronze and is comparatively rare.
Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
said a king of Tartessos,
Arganthonios Arganthonios () was a king of ancient Tartessos (in Andalusia, southern Spain) who according to Herodotus, was visited by Colaeus, Kolaios of Samos. Given the legendary status of Geryon, Gargoris and Habis, Arganthonios is the earliest documente ...
, welcomed the first Greeks to reach Iberia,
Phocaeans Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionian Ancient Greece, Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Colonies in antiquity, Greek colonists from Phoc ...
who sailed from Asia Minor. Pausanias wrote that Myron, the tyrant of
Sicyon Sicyon (; ; ''gen''.: Σικυῶνος) or Sikyōn was an ancient Greek city state situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-day regional unit of Corinthia. The ruins lie just west of th ...
, built a treasury, which was called the treasury of the Sicyonians, to commemorate a victory in the chariot race at the
Olympic games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
. In the treasury, he made two chambers with two different styles, one Doric and one Ionic, with bronze. The
Eleans Elis () or Eleia (; ; Elean: ; ) is an ancient district in Greece that corresponds to the modern regional unit of Elis. Elis is in southern Greece on the Peloponnese, bounded on the north by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messenia ...
said that the bronze was Tartessian. The people from Tartessos became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, whose presence in Iberia dates from the eighth century BC and who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gadir (, , present-day
Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
).


Location

Several early sources, such as
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
, refer to Tartessos as a river. Aristotle claims that it rises from the Pyrene Mountain (generally accepted by modern scholars as the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...
) and flows out to sea outside the Pillars of Hercules, the modern
Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...
.Freeman, Phillip M. (2010). "Ancient references to Tartessos", chapter 10. IN: Cunliffe, Barry and John T. Koch (eds.), ''Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives From Archaeology, Genetics, Language And Literature''. No such river traverses the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
. According to the fourth century BC
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
and explorer
Pytheas Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéās ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greeks, Greek List of Graeco-Roman geographers, geographer, explo ...
, quoted by
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
in the first century AD, the ancestral homeland of the
Turduli The Turduli (Greek ''Tourduloi'') or Turtuli were an ancient pre-Roman people of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Location The Turduli tribes lived mainly in the south and centre of modern Portugal – in the east of the provinces of Beira ...
was located north of
Turdetania Baeturia, Beturia, or Turdetania was an extensive ancient territory in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula (in modern Spain) situated between the middle and lower courses of the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir rivers. From the Second Iron Ag ...
, the region where the kingdom of Tartessos was located in the Baetis River valley (the present-day
Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...
valley) in southern Spain. Pausanias, writing in the second century AD, identified the river and gave details of the location of the city:
They say that Tartessus is a river in the land of the Iberians, running down into the sea by two mouths and that between these two mouths lies a city of the same name. The river, which is the largest in Iberia and tidal, those of a later day called
Baetis ''Baetis'' is a genus of mayfly, mayflies of the family Baetidae, known as the blue-winged olive to angling, anglers. There are at least 150 described species in ''Baetis''. They are distributed worldwide, with the most variety in North Amer ...
and there are some who think that Tartessus was the ancient name of
Carpia Carpia () was an Iberian city which is said to be the site of the ancient city Tartessos, which disappeared around 600 BCE, or the refoundation of the sunken city. History Pausanias, a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century CE, wrote ...
, a city of the
Iberians The Iberians (, from , ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among others, by Hecataeus of Mil ...
.
The river known in his day as the Baetis is now the
Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...
. Thus, Tartessos may be buried, Schulten thought, under the shifting wetlands. The river delta has gradually been blocked by a sandbar that stretches from the mouth of the Rio Tinto, near
Palos de la Frontera Palos de la Frontera () is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the southwestern Spain, Spanish province of Huelva (province), Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capi ...
to Almonte, the riverbank that is opposite
Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar may refer to: * Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a city in the Province of Cádiz, Spain * Sanlúcar de Guadiana, a village in the Province of Huelva, Spain * Sanlúcar la Mayor, a city in the Province of Seville, Spain *Sanlúcar de Albaida, forme ...
. The area is now protected as the Parque Nacional de Doñana. In the first century AD,
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
incorrectly identified the city of
Carteia Carteia () was a Phoenician and Ancient Rome, Roman town at the head of the Bay of Gibraltar in Spain. It was established at the most northerly point of the bay, next to the town of San Roque, Cádiz, San Roque, about halfway between the modern ...
as the Tartessos mentioned in Greek sources while
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
just commented. Carteia is identified as El Rocadillo, near S. Roque, Province of Cádiz, some distance away from the Guadalquivir. In the second century AD,
Appian Appian of Alexandria (; ; ; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who prospered during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c. 95 in Alexandria. After holding the senior offices in the pr ...
thought that Karpessos (
Carpia Carpia () was an Iberian city which is said to be the site of the ancient city Tartessos, which disappeared around 600 BCE, or the refoundation of the sunken city. History Pausanias, a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century CE, wrote ...
) was previously known as Tartessos.


Archaeological discoveries

The discoveries published by
Adolf Schulten Adolf Schulten (27 May 1870 – 19 March 1960) was a German historian and archaeologist. Schulten was born in Elberfeld, Rhine Province, and received a doctorate in geology from the University of Bonn in 1892. He studied in Italy, Africa an ...
in 1922 first drew attention to Tartessos and shifted its study from classical
philologists Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
and antiquarians to investigations based on archaeology, although attempts at localizing a capital for what was conceived as a complicated culture in the nature of a centrally controlled kingdom ancestral to Spain were inconclusively debated. Subsequent discoveries were widely reported: in September 1923 archaeologists discovered a
Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...
n
necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...
in which human remains were unearthed and stones found with illegible characters. It may have been colonized by the Phoenicians for trade because of its richness in metals. A later generation turned instead to identifying and localizing "orientalizing" (eastern Mediterranean) features of the Tartessian material culture within the broader Mediterranean horizon of an "
Orientalizing period The Orientalizing period or Orientalizing revolution is an art historical period that began during the later part of the 8th century BC, when art of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East heavily influenced nearby Mediterranean ...
" recognizable in the Aegean and
Etruria Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that f ...
. J. M. Luzón was the first to identify Tartessos with modern
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
, based on discoveries made in the preceding decades. Since the discovery in September 1958 of the rich gold
treasure of El Carambolo The Treasure of El Carambolo () was found in El Carambolo hill in the municipality of Camas (Province of Seville, Andalusia, Spain), 3 kilometers west of Seville, on 30 September 1958.Chamorro, 197. The discovery of the treasure hoard spurred in ...
in Camas, three kilometres west of
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, and of hundreds of artefacts in the
necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...
at La Joya,
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
, archaeological surveys have been integrated with philological and literary surveys and the broader picture of the Iron Age in the Mediterranean basin to provide a more informed view of the supposed Tartessian culture on the ground, concentrated in western
Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
,
Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...
, and in southern
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
from the
Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...
to the Vinalopó River in
Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...
.


Turuñuelo archaeological site

Significant discoveries were made at Turuñuelo archeological site in
Guareña Guareña is a Spanish municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura. It has a population of 7,326 (2007) and an area of 283.3 km². People from Guareña * Luis Chamizo Trigueros (1894 – 1945) was a Spanish writer in Castilian and ...
, where excavation began in 2015. The site was declared ''
bien de interés cultural (, , , ) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense). It includes not only mater ...
'' (National heritage site) in May 2022. Two ornate stone busts, featuring details of
jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...
and
hairstyles A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut, or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although ...
which are thought to be the first facial representations of the Tartessian goddesses were discovered in 2023. These sculptures are somewhat similar to the
Lady of Elche The ''Lady of Elche'' (, Valencian: ) is a limestone bust that was discovered in 1897, at ''La Alcudia'', an archaeological site on a private estate two kilometers south of Elche, Spain. It is now exhibited in the National Archaeological Mu ...
sculpture, which was dated between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, but are considerably earlier. Fragments of at least three other busts have also been recovered. One of them is attributed to a warrior because part of his helmet is preserved. In this region of southern Spain, the Tartessian culture was born around the 9th century B.C. as a result of hybridization between the Phoenician settlers and the local inhabitants. Scholars refer to the Tartessian culture as "a hybrid archaeological culture".


Metallurgy

Alluvial tin was panned in Tartessian streams from an early date. The spread of a
silver standard The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians 3000 BC until 1873. Following t ...
in
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
increased its attractiveness (the tribute from Phoenician cities was assessed in silver). The invention of coinage in the seventh century BC spurred the search for bronze and silver as well. Henceforth trade connections, formerly largely in elite goods, assumed an increasingly broad economic role. By the Late Bronze Age, silver extraction in
Huelva Province Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is 10,1 ...
reached industrial proportions. Pre-Roman silver
slag The general term slag may be a by-product or co-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and recycled metals depending on the type of material being produced. Slag is mainly a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. Broadly, it can be c ...
is found in the Tartessian cities of Huelva Province. Cypriot and Phoenician metalworkers produced 15 million tons of pyrometallurgical residues at the vast dumps of Riotinto. Mining and smelting preceded the arrival, from the eighth century BC onward, of Phoenicians and then Greeks, who provided a stimulating wider market and whose influence sparked an "orientalizing" phase in Tartessian material culture ( BC) before Tartessian culture was superseded by the Classic Iberian culture. "Tartessic" artefacts linked with the Tartessos culture have been found, and many archaeologists now associate the "lost" city with
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
. In excavations on spatially restricted sites in the center of modern Huelva, sherds of elite painted Greek ceramics of the first half of the sixth century BC have been recovered. Huelva contains the largest accumulation of imported elite goods and must have been an important Tartessian center.
Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
, on the Guadiana River, revealed an important necropolis. Elements specific to Tartessian culture are the Late Bronze Age fully evolved pattern-burnished wares and geometrically banded and patterns "Carambolo" wares, from the ninth to the sixth centuries BC; an "Early Orientalizing" phase with the first eastern Mediterranean imports, beginning circa 750 BC; a "Late Orientalizing" phase with the finest bronze casting and goldsmith work; gray ware turned on the fast
potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...
, local imitations of imported Phoenician red-slip wares. Characteristic Tartessian bronzes include pear-shaped jugs, often associated in burials, with shallow dish-shaped braziers having loop handles, incense-burners with floral motifs, fibulas, both elbowed and double-spring types, and belt buckles. No pre-colonial necropolis sites have been identified. The change from a late Bronze Age pattern of circular or oval huts scattered on a village site to rectangular houses with dry-stone foundations and plastered
wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite material, composite building method in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called "wattle (construction), wattle" is "daubed" with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, and ...
walls took place during the seventh and sixth centuries BC, in settlements with planned layouts that succeeded one another on the same site. At Cástulo (
Jaén Jaén may refer to: Places Peru *Jaén Province, Peru, a province in Cajamarca Region, Peru ** Jaén District, one of twelve districts of the province Jaén in Peru ***Jaén, Peru, a city in Peru, capital of the Jaén Province Philippines * Jaen ...
), a
mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...
of river pebbles from the end of the sixth century BC is the earliest mosaic in Western Europe. Most sites were inexplicably abandoned in the fifth century BC. Tartessic occupation sites of the Late
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
that were not particularly complex: "a domestic mode of production seems to have predominated" is one mainstream assessment. An earlier generation of archaeologists and historians took a
normative Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A Norm (philosophy), norm in this sense means a standard for evaluatin ...
approach to the primitive Tartessian adoption of
Punic The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...
styles and techniques, as of a less-developed culture adopting better, more highly evolved cultural traits, and finding Eastern parallels for Early Iron Age material culture in the Tartessian sites. A later generation has been more concerned with the ''process'' through which local institutions evolved. The emergence of new archaeological finds in the city of Huelva is prompting the revision of these traditional views. Just in two adjacent lots adding up to 2,150 sq. m. between Las Monjas Square and
Mendez Nuñez Street Méndez is a common Spanish surname to all of Germanic origin, originally a patronymic, meaning ''Son of Mendo'', ''Menendo'', or ''Mem''. A longer form sharing the same root is Menéndez, while the Portuguese form is Mendes. Méndez may refer to ...
, some 90,000 ceramic fragments of indigenous, Phoenician, and Greek imported wares were exhumed, out of which 8,009 allowed scope for a type identification. This pottery, dated from the tenth to the early eighth centuries BC predates finds from other Phoenician colonies; together with remnants of numerous activities, the Huelva discoveries reveal a substantial industrial and commercial '' emporion'' on this site lasting several centuries. Similar finds in other parts of the city make it possible to estimate the protohistoric habitat of Huelva at some 20 hectares, large for a site in the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
during that period. Calibrated
carbon-14 dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...
carried out by
University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...
on associated cattle bones as well as dating based on ceramic samples permit a chronology of several centuries through the state of the art of craft and industry since the tenth century BC, as follows: pottery (bowls, plates, craters, vases, amphorae, etc.), melting pots, casting nozzles, weights, finely worked pieces of wood, ship parts, bovid skulls, pendants, fibulae, anklebones, agate, ivory –with the only workshop of the period so far proven in the west-, gold, silver, etc. The existence of foreign produce and materials together with local ones suggests that the old Huelva harbor was a major hub for the reception, manufacturing, and shipping of diverse products of different and distant origin. The analysis of written sources and the products exhumed, including inscriptions and thousands of
Greek ceramics Pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has exerted a dispr ...
, some of which are works of excellent quality by known potters and painters, has led some scholars to suggest that this habitat can be identified not only with
Tarshish Tarshish (; ; ) occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoenicia (now Lebanon) and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported v ...
mentioned in the Bible, in the
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
n stele of
Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...
, and perhaps in the Phoenician inscription of the
Nora Stone The Nora Stone or Nora Inscription is an ancient Phoenician inscribed stone found at Nora on the south coast of Sardinia in 1773. Though it was not discovered in its primary context, it has been dated by palaeographic methods to the late 9th ce ...
, but also with the ''Tartessos'' of Greek sources –interpreting the Tartessus river as equivalent to the present-day
Tinto River The Río Tinto (, '' red river'' or Tinto River) is a highly toxic river in southwestern Spain that rises in the Sierra Morena mountains of Andalusia. It flows generally south-southwest, reaching the Gulf of Cádiz at Huelva. The Río Tinto ri ...
and the Ligustine Lake to the joint estuary of the
Odiel The Odiel () is a river in the Atlantic basin in southern Spain, more precisely in the province of Huelva, Andalusia. It originates at Marimateos in the Sierra de Aracena at an elevation of above sea level. At the Punta del Sebo, it joins th ...
and Tinto rivers flowing west and east of the Huelva Peninsula.


Religion

There is very little data but it is assumed that as with other Mediterranean peoples, the religion was polytheistic. It is believed that Tartessians worshiped the goddess
Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...
or Potnia and the masculine divinity Baal or
Melkart Melqart () was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. He may have been central to the founding-myths of various Phoenician colonies throughout the Mediterranean, as well ...
, as a result of the Phoenician acculturation. Sanctuaries inspired by Phoenician architecture have been found in the deposit of
Castulo Castulo (Latin: ''Castulo''; Iberian: ''Kastilo'') was an Iberian town and bishopric (now Latin titular see located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, in south-central Spain, near modern Linares. History Evidence of human presence sin ...
(
Linares, Jaén Linares () is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the Jaén (Spanish province), province of Jaén, Andalusia. It is the second-largest city in that province, with a population of 55,261 in the most recent census (2024). ...
) and in the vicinity of Carmona. Several images of Phoenician deities have been found in
Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...
,
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
, and
Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...
.


Language

The
Tartessian language Tartessian is an extinct Paleo-Hispanic languages, Paleo-Hispanic language found in the Southwest Paleohispanic script, Southwestern inscriptions of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly located in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), ...
is an
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
pre-
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
language once spoken in southern
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
. The oldest known indigenous texts of Iberia, dated from the seventh to sixth centuries BC, are written in Tartessian. The inscriptions are written in a semi-
syllabic writing system In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) morae which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optional ...
called the Southwest script; they were found in the general area in which Tartessos was located and in surrounding areas of influence. Tartessian language texts were found in Southwestern Spain and Southern
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
(namely in the
Conii The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Re ...
, Cempsi,
Sefes The Sefes, sometimes also known as Cempsi, were a people of ancient Iberia said to have lived on the coast of modern day Portugal and Galicia. In his poem ''Ora Maritima'', the 4th century Roman author Avienius wrote that they were neighbours of ...
, and
Celtici ] The Celtici (in Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish, and Galician languages, ) were a Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian Peninsula, inhabiting three definite areas: in what today are the regions of Alentejo and the Algarve in ...
areas of the
Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...
and southern
Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...
).


Possible identification as "Tarshish" or "Atlantis"

Since the classicists of the early twentieth century, biblical archaeologists often identify the place-name
Tarshish Tarshish (; ; ) occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoenicia (now Lebanon) and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported v ...
in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Tarsus in Anatolia or other places as far as India. Tarshish, like Tartessos, is associated with extensive mineral wealth (
Iberian Pyrite Belt The Iberian Pyrite Belt is a vast geographical area with particular geological features that stretches along much of the south of the Iberian Peninsula, from Portugal to Spain. It is about 250 km long and 30–50 km wide, running northwe ...
). In 1922,
Adolf Schulten Adolf Schulten (27 May 1870 – 19 March 1960) was a German historian and archaeologist. Schulten was born in Elberfeld, Rhine Province, and received a doctorate in geology from the University of Bonn in 1892. He studied in Italy, Africa an ...
said Tartessos was the Western, and wholly European, source of the legend of
Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...
. In 2011 a team led by Richard Freund said it had found strong evidence for the location in
Doñana National Park Doñana National Park or Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana is a natural reserve in Andalusia, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva (most of its territory within the municipality of Almonte), Cádiz and Seville. It covers , of which are ...
based on underground and underwater surveys and the interpretation of the archaeological site
Cancho Roano Cancho Roano (sometimes Cancho Ruano) is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Zalamea de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz, Spain. It is located three miles from Zalamea de la Serena in the direction of Quintana de la Serena ...
as "memorial cities" rebuilt in the image of Atlantis. Spanish scientists said Freund was sensationalising their work. The anthropologist Juan Villarías-Robles, who works with the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...
, said "Richard Freund was a newcomer to our project and appeared to be involved in his own very controversial issue concerning King Solomon's search for ivory and gold in Tartessos, the well-documented settlement in the Doñana area established in the first millennium BC" and described his claims as 'fanciful'.


See also

*
Colaeus Colaeus () was an ancient Samian explorer and silver merchant, who according to Herodotus (Hdt. 4.152) arrived at Tartessos c. 640 BC. In an era where most Greek traders were anonymous, Herodotus believed that Colaeus and Sostratus the Aeginet ...
*
Atlantic Bronze Age The Atlantic Bronze Age is a term that has never been formally defined. Some take its meaning to be a label for the period spanning approximately 1300–700 BC in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain; that is, the Atlantic coast of Euro ...
*
South-Western Iberian Bronze The South-Western Iberian Bronze is a loosely defined Bronze Age culture of Southern Portugal and nearby areas of SW Spain ( Huelva, Seville, Extremadura). It replaced the earlier urban and Megalithic existing in that same region in the Chalcolit ...
*
Prehistoric Iberia Prehistory in the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian peninsula begins with the arrival of the first ''Homo'' genus representatives from Africa, which may range from 1.5 million years (Year#SI prefix multipliers, Ma) ago to 1.25 Ma ago, depending on t ...
*
Turdetani The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir (the river that the Turdetani called by two names: ''Kertis'' and ''Rérkēs'' (Ῥέ ...
*
Turduli The Turduli (Greek ''Tourduloi'') or Turtuli were an ancient pre-Roman people of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Location The Turduli tribes lived mainly in the south and centre of modern Portugal – in the east of the provinces of Beira ...
*
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula This is a list of the pre- Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania, i.e., modern Portugal, Spain and Andorra). Some closely fit the concept of a people, ethnic group or tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribe ...
*
Cancho Roano Cancho Roano (sometimes Cancho Ruano) is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Zalamea de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz, Spain. It is located three miles from Zalamea de la Serena in the direction of Quintana de la Serena ...


References


Sources

* Blazquez, J. M. A. (1968). ''Tartessos y Los Origenes de la Colonizacion Fenicia en Occidente''. University of Salamanca. Assemblies of Punic materials found in Spain. * Alvar, Jaime; José María Blázquez (1993). ''Los enigmas de Tartessos''. Madrid: Catedra. Papers following a 1991 conference. * Chocomeli, J. (1940). ''En busca de Tartessos'', Valencia. * Gonzalez de Canales Cerisola, F. (2004). ''Del Occidente Mítico Griego a Tarsis-Tarteso –Fuentes escritas y documentación arqueológica-'', Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid. * Gonzalez de Canales, F.; J. Llompart and L. Serrano (2004). ''El Emporio Fenicio-Precolonial de Huelva, ca. 900-770 a.C.'', Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid. * Celestino S.; C. López-Ruiz (2016). ''Tartessos and the Phoenicians in Iberia'', Oxford University Press, New York.


External links


General

* Almagro-Gorbea
"La literatura tartésica fuentes históricas e iconográficas"


* ttp://www.andalucia.com/environment/protect/donana.htm Doñana
Spaniards search for legendary Tartessos in a marsh

''Jewish Encyclopedia'':
Tarshish, a distant maritime district famed for its metalwork, considered by the contributors in 1901-1906 to be legendary; Old Testament references. * Júdice Gamito, Teres


Tartessos in ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites''


Atlantis connection


original article in Antiquity

report by BBC


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