IBEROS The founders of Europe

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, 2021

Catalan Historical Review, 2014

The formation of the Iberian culture in the extreme northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Interpretierte Eisenzeiten / Interpreted Iron Ages. 3. Linzer Gespräche zur interpretativen Eisenzeitarchäologie, 2009.ISBN 978-3-85474-205-0, 2009

Since the mid-seventh century BC changes of great importance occurred in the extreme northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, which finally led to the birth of the Iberian culture, as it also happened in much of the rest of the Mediterranean strip of the Iberian Peninsula. In this sense, this process would not present singular traits different from the rest of the mentioned territory even though at the beginning of the sixth century BC the Phocaeans settled on a small peninsula off the coast and in the mid-century moved to mainland to found Emporion. This fact raises many questions about the relationship between the Iberians who lived around Emporion and the Phocean enclave and how this influenced in the formation of the Iberian culture of this territory.

The Northwest Iberian Peninsula is not a uniform region. Geographers have divided it into two main biogeographic sub-regions: Atlantic and Mediterranean, each with its own characteristics, in terms of geomorphology and climate. The perception that these two sub-regions have distinct identities since, at least, the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, i.e. since the Chalcolithic period, has led us to analyse separately developments in the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE, which is viewed as a key period for understanding the emergence of the Bronze Age. During the Early Bronze Age new settlement strategies emerged in the Atlantic sub-region, associated with the appearance of innovative pottery shapes and decorations, resettlement of high-altitude areas for burial in small cairns, circulation of new prestigious metallic icons, the emergence of new styles of rock art, such as engravings of dozens of halberds, the emergence of the phenomenon of structured depositions of metallic objects, such as the deposits of halberds, or halberds and daggers, and, consequently, new social relationships, new power structures and new places for negotiating social relations, which revealed significant structural changes compared to Chalcolithic communities. In the Mediterranean sub-region, despite new locations for certain settlements, changes seem to have occurred across a broader timeframe, including the abandonment of several community and ceremonial spaces-such as walled enclosures or shelters with collective depositions-, the emergence of metallic deposits, consisting of halberds, and the timid adoption of new iconographies in rock art. These are characterised by phenomena of continuity or social resistance, and reveal that, in this region, social changes and new scenarios of power or social aggregation occurred in a manner that differed from the Atlantic sub-region. On the basis of the analysed data it seems possible to hypothesise that, during the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BCE, together with the phenomena of social resistance and permeability to new developments, the Northwest Iberian Peninsula was subjected to multiple and distinct influences that spawned the development of a mosaic of societies, apparently united and standardised by generalised phenomena. The factors that contributed to this change were multiple and distinct in each of the two sub-regions. This includes important external factors, such as the climate conditions in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE and events that occurred during the second half of this millennium, that had distinct repercussions on the two sub-regions; greater or lesser permeability to Atlantic contacts; 'dismantling' of supra-regional exchange networks with southern regions, as a result of social upheavals in the Southern Mediterranean. In terms of internal factors, it is worth highlighting the capacity for resilience and adaptation to changes. Phenomena such as the migration of populations of Pontic-Caspian origin during the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, revealed by DNA studies of human remains from the South, Southeast, and Southwest Iberian Peninsula, are not proven for this region, and therefore will not be taken into account. Keywords: Northwest Iberian Peninsula, sub-regions, transition from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BCE, continuity or change?

Re-Thinking Globalisation in the Ancient World (May 8-10th), 2018

The first traces of Greek presence in Iberia date from the beginning of and up until the middle of the 8 th century BCE.The first colonies were established by the Phokaian Greeks during the second part or the end of 7 th century BCE.However, Greek mariners had already started reaching the coast of Iberia from 9 th century BCE. They had been attracted by the existence of mining for various metals, salt and the wealth of Andalusia.The Greek presence in Iberia meant not only trade but also the advent of culture, art, architectural standards, funerary habits and open ideas. The presence of Greek diaspora in the west came into conflict with the interests of the Phoenicians and other competitors, especially during the time when the Phokaians were establishing colonies along the coast of Iberia, Southern Gaul and Corsica. This resulted in the Etruscans from the north allying with the Carthaginians in the south against the Greeks. The presence of Greeks in Iberia had, mainly, commercial and small industry character and no rural. The Phokaian Greeks established good neighbourly relations with the native populations of the Iberian Peninsula. This became clear from the accounts of the relationship between the Phokaians and the king of silver-rich Tartessos, Arganthonios.The Greek colonization reached its peak during the middle of 6 th century BCE, but after 535 BCE, when the Phokaians were defeated in a naval battle at Alalia (modern day Aleria) on Kyrnos (Corsica) by the Carthaginians and the Etruscans, the Greek cities in Iberia decreased.The revival of the Greek colonies and their commercial activities in Iberia are related to fourth century BCE.

Archaeological, Cultural and Linguistic Heritage. Festschrift for Erzsébet Jerem in Honour of her 70th Birthday, 2012