The project focused on investigating the relationship between Phoenicians and indigenous Iberians during the Early Iron Age (9th-7th c. BC) with respect to the exploitation of mining resources and production of metals in southern Spain.
Research
The selected survey site is the area between the estuaries of the Guadiaro and the Vélez rivers, a coastal strip that presents the major concentration of Phoenician settlements known up to the present in the western colonial world.
The field of metallurgy offers an excellent case study for analysing this interaction. It gives a clear insight into the existence of “hybrid” spaces used for producing metals, into the technological level reached in metallurgical practices, knowledge exchange and transformation of ancient economic models.
In order to achieve this information, the methodology of this project combined fieldwork and analytical work in the laboratory.