Phoenician trade

The study departs from recent suggestions that locally produced balance weights from settlement sites in central Portugal, dated to the Final Bronze Age (1200-900) are based on a Late Bronze Age Syrian/Ugaritic metrological system (13th-12thc. BCE). These proposals have been based on the comparative studies of the weights of these Atlantic objects, but have not been examined rigorously in comparison with Near Eastern metrological systems, despite the claims they make. This has repercussions for the conclusions drawn so far.

            The present study has a threefold aim. First, it examines this hypothesis of a Syrian derivation of metrological systems underlying the local production of balance weights in Atlantic Iberian settlements (ca. 1200-900 BCE). Secondly, it investigates whether these local balance weights bear any metrological relationship to those balance weights of Phoenician typologies encounterd in Atlantic Iberian sites of the colonial period (8th-6th c. BCE). Thirdly, taking as a case study the better documented evidence from Alcácer do Sal, it examines for the first time whether these metrological systems, in use for centuries in Atlantic Iberia, underly the metrologies of the earliest, pre-Roman, locally-minted coinage, which follows Phoenician iconography but is struck using the syllabary of the indigenous languages, developed in the 8thc. BCE as an adaptation of the Phoenician script. The study suggests that the dating of the earliest group of balance weights needs to be lowered.  In addition, it documents a likely derivation of the metrological system of coinage from the Phoenician milieu of Iberia, rather than the 3rdc. BCE Carthaginian metrologies, as advocated so far. This is supported by the metrological continuity between balance weights and coinage,  and the latter's iconography, as the present study documents.

When and why did the Phoenicians initiate long-term connections between the Levant and western Europe? This is one of the most hotly debated questions in ancient Mediterranean history and cultural research. In this study, we use silver to answer this question, presenting the largest dataset of chemical and isotopic analyses of silver items from silver hoards found in Phoenician homeland sites. Intertwining lead isotope analysis of silver items with precise archaeological context and chronology, we provide analytical evidence for the onset of Phoenician westward expansion. We suggest that the quest for silver instigated a long, exploratory phase, first in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Sardinia, and subsequently in the Iberian Peninsula. This phase preceded the establishment of sustainable , flourishing Phoenician colonies in the West by over a century. In so doing, our results buttress the "precolonization" theory, accord it a firm chronological framework, and demonstrate that the quest for silver (and probably other metals) was an incentive for Phoenician westward expansion. Furthermore, our results show that the Phoenicians introduced innovative silver production methods to historic Europe. silver | lead isotope analysis | Phoenicians | Sardinia | Iberia

The so-called Phoenician or Punic eye beads are a well-known type of glass artefacts circulating all over the Mediterranean Basin and Europe for most of the 1st millennium BCE. Glass beads were mostly produced in secondary workshops from imported raw glass or recycled artefacts but the specific sites of manufacture remain difficult to locate. Nevertheless, numerous chemical studies of glass from the area of interest proved that natron-based soda-lime-silica glass was the most widespread from 10th–9th century BCE to 8th–9th century CE.

A glass eye bead typologically consistent with the Phoenician ones was unearthed during the archaeological excavation of the Nin-Bèrè 3 settlement site in Mali in a context dating between the 7th and the 5th centuries cal BCE. The chemical analysis by means of Laser Ablation – Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) has been carried out in order to confirm the characteristic composition of Mediterranean Iron Age glass. Results show the bead to be soda-lime silica glass fluxed with mineral soda, and coloured and opacified with cobalt, copper, and antimony. The minor and trace elements are also consistent with said composition.

This exceptional find this far south expands greatly the area of distribution of these artefacts and it suggests a very early indirect contact between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. At the current state of research, this is the most ancient glass bead found south of the Sahara desert.

Frente a la atención que han recibido los materiales griegos del periodo fenicio arcaico hallados en el actual territorio de la provincia de Málaga (Andalucía, España meridional), la cerámica de este mismo origen de los siglos V y IV a.C. apenas ha sido estudiada. En este periodo tardío, la presencia de estos materiales importados no solo no disminuye, una vez superado el hiatus de las primeras décadas del siglo V, sino que, frente a su presencia eminentemente costera durante el periodo arcaico, ahora se extiende a todo el territorio malacitano, pero bajo el monopolio absoluto de las importaciones áticas, como ocurre en el resto de la Península Ibérica. Esta nueva etapa de los siglos V y IV a.C. responde a una nueva dinámica comercial, cuyo funcionamiento planteamos en este trabajo.

Faced with the interest that the Greek potteries dated in the Archaic Phoenician period from the current territory of the province of Málaga (Andalusia, Southern Spain) have received by the scholars, the pottery of the same origin in the 5th and 4th centuries BC have been scarcely studied. In this late period, the presence of these materials does not decrease, except the hiatus in the first decades of the 5th century, but now it extends to the entire territory of the current province of Málaga, compared to its almost exclusive coastal presence during the Archaic period. Now, the main novelty is the exclusiveness of attic imported products, nothing exceptional in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. This new stage corresponds to a new commercial dynamic, whose operation I propose in this paper.

Identification of Thrinakia as Cornwall, with St. Michael's Mount as the rocky Skulla and the coast as Charudbis. Lake Loe and Helston are the residence of the Furry's or Erinues who watch over Helios'cattle, i.e. ingots of tin and other metals.

Part V of Odysseus' Second Voyage  from Kirke to Ithaka.
Identification Scheria of the Phaeacans as Lanzarote, Canaries, with their Faycáns, on basis of courses, wind directions, distances, surroundings, double harbour, flora and fauna, customs and habits, relative position.

The Phoenician ship in the wreck of Bajo de la Campana (Cartagena, Murcia), probably came from Malaga and sank in front of the Mar Menor ca. 625-575 BC. During two survey campaigns in 1972 and 1988 were located, 6 tin ingots and some fragments, of which 4 ingots have been analyzed. The excavation campaigns between 2007 and 2011 have provided 162 new tin ingots and 41 new elephant tusks. However, the most important issue is that the main cargo of the ship was a ton of lead ore in the form of 10,000 nodules. The tin seems to be from the Iberian Peninsula, two of the samples are associated with Los Pedroches, Cordoba, in the geological region of Ossa Morena, and two others, perhaps with the Northwest. As in the Mazarrón II wreck, the silver-bearing galena seems to be the main object of Phoenician trade.

Keywords: Spain, Murcia, Phoenician wreck, maritime trade, lead ore, tin ingots

A shipwreck was discovered in deep-water during a systematic side-scan sonar survey conducted in 2007 by Malta's heritage authorities and the University of Malta. Located off the coast of the island of Gozo, Malta, this site was the subject of a series of further in-depth studies that spanned over 10 years. Throughout this period, a number of different technologies were used to explore, record and study the site. This paper provides an overall description, analysis and evaluation of the various technologies and methodologies used to investigate this site.

After ten years of work in Ayamonte, the results of the investigations have revealed the Phoenician origin of the city. The Protohistoric settlement dated between the centuries 8th-7th b.C. It is located in along the neighborhood of La Villa. Different types of archaeological interventions have been carried out and have generated exhibitions and scientific publications, making public the important Phoenician legacy existing in the city.

El yacimiento arqueológico del Turó del Calvari (Vilalba dels Arcs, Terra Alta)  está formado por una estructura arquitectónica aislada, de planta rectangular con los ángulos redondeados, de al menos dos pisos de altura y con una orientación intencionada.
Los materiales recuperados en el transcurso de la intervención, básicamente cerámicos, nos han permitido interpretar el edificio como un espacio de reunión de las élites territoriales donde se efectuarían ceremonias relacionadas con el consumo del vino, un producto de prestigio únicamente al alcance de los grupos de poder. Ocupado entre el 600 y el 550 a.n.e., su final fue provocado por un incendio intencionado extremadamente violento, que colapsó la estructura y la destruyó.

Kittim was a settlement in present-day Larnaca on the west coast of Cyprus, known in ancient times as Kition (Κίτιον) or Citium, in Greek and Latin respectively. This city-kingdom was established in the 13th century BC. and flourished as a bilingual and bicultural(Greek-Phoenician) settlement. Later on, the whole island of Cyprus became known as “Kittim” or “Chittim” (כִּתִּים) in Hebrew, including the Bible, where Kittim or Kethim, son of Javan, and Noah’s great-grandson is presented being its possessor. However the name seems to have been employed with great flexibility. It was often applied to all the Aegean and the Mediterranean islands and even to the West in general, but especially the seafaring West. Sometimes this designation was further extended to apply to Romans, Macedonians or Seleucid Greeks. In this paper we shall try to demonstrate the different meanings of “Kittim” or “Chittim”, using Hebrew, Greek and Roman Sources and trying to explain how the reputation of an ancient city has made its name designate a big part of the known world in Antiquity.