Phoenician Architecture

L’origine del santuario tofet va ricercata nella madrepatria fenicio-cipriota o a Cartagine? Che ruolo ha quest’ultima nello sviluppo e nella diffusione del tofet? E cosa accade dopo la distruzione della metropoli punica? L’analisi delle tendenze storiografiche, delle fonti classiche e dei dati archeologici e lo studio della localizzazione e della cronologia dei santuari tofet, dei loro repertori ceramici, lapidei ed epigrafici porterà a riconoscere un’identità fenicia in quello che chiameremo “Circolo del tofet” (VIII - metà VI sec. a.C.) ed una dipendenza dalle scelte politico-religiose della città punica nel “Circolo di Cartagine” (metà VI sec. a.C. - 146 a.C.). La ricerca e lo studio dei tofet neopunici (II sec. a.C. - II sec. d.C.), localizzabili nella regione magrebina dopo la fine dell’imperialismo cartaginese, suggerisce, infine, che questa nuova categoria santuariale nasca e si diffonda in più siti proprio in virtù della loro acquisita indipendenza socio-politica e religiosa conseguente alla distruzione di Cartagine la quale aveva fino ad allora osteggiato la diffusione di santuari tofet nel proprio entroterra africano.

The origin of the Tophet sanctuary has to be found in the Cypro-Phoenician Motherland or in Carthage? What is Carthage’s role in the Tophet development and spreading? And what happens when the Punic city comes to its end and afterwards? The analysis of the historiographic tendency, either through the classical sources or the archaeological finds, and the study of the localization and the chronology of the Tophet sanctuaries, and their pottery and epigraphic repertoires will lead us to acknowledge a Phoenician identity in the so called “Tophet Circle” (8th - middle of 6th cent. BC) and a reliance on Carthaginian political and religious choices in the “Carthaginian Circle” (middle of 6th cent. BC - 146 BC). Moreover, research and study of Neopunic Tophet (2nd century BC – 2nd cent. AD) in the Maghrebian area right after the end of Carthage’s hegemony suggest that this new sanctuary category arose in several different sites because of their brand new political and religious independency, after-acquired the destruction of Carthage, the city which had hampered the Tophet diffusion in its own African hinterland.

In this paper the results of recent archaeological research
in the settlement of Cabezo Pequeño del Estaño
(Guardamar, Alicante) are presented. The research consists
of the study of the materials excavated in the 1990s
and an architectural analysis during recent restoration
works. This new research allows us to better understand
the first evidence of Phoenician colonization on the Alicante
Coast as well as the settlement pattern in the area
of the mouth of Segura River during the Early Iron Age.
The analysis of old pictures, made before the partial
destruction of the site, has allowed to reconstruct its
original dimensions (over one hectare) and a large part
of its walls. New data allow us to observe the urban
features of the site, which was previously published as a
small fort. In parallel, the archaeological materials from
its last occupation, dated to the end of the eighth century
BC, make us think that it was the first Phoenician site
in the Segura mouth. It was abandoned at that time and
the population moved to a larger site, located by the open
sea and known by the modern name of La Fonteta.

Este trabajo da a conocer los primeros resultados de
la investigación de los autores en el enclave fenicio del
Cabezo Pequeño del Estaño de Guardamar (Alicante) .
Dichos trabajos, consistentes en la revisión de los materiales
exhumados en los años noventa y en el estudio
arquitectónico con motivo de unas recientes tareas de
consolidación, ayudan a definir más claramente el primer
impacto de los agentes comerciales orientales en la costa
levantina de la Península Ibérica y a comprender el desarrollo
urbano del área del Bajo Segura que arrancó en
época arcaica (siglos VIII-VII a .C .) . El análisis de fotografías
antiguas, anteriores a la destrucción parcial del
enclave, ha permitido reconstruir su dimensión original
(superior a una hectárea) y buena parte de su lienzo
amurallado . Estos datos permiten considerar, además, el
carácter urbano del yacimiento, anteriormente publicado
como un pequeño fortín . En paralelo, los materiales arqueológicos
procedentes de su última ocupación, fechados
a finales del siglo VIII a.C., nos llevan a considerar
que se trató del primer enclave colonial del Bajo Segura,
abandonado en esas fechas por una población que se
trasladó a un enclave de mayor tamaño y ubicado en mar
abierto, conocido por el topónimo moderno de La Fonteta .

A well-known statue of enthroned goddess from Soluntum might be seen as an example of the persistence of ancient oriental iconography in Hellenistic Sicily. Although in 1831 the finding spot of the statue was clearly indicated by its discoverer, in the 20th  century this datum was forgotten. Scholars suggested that the statue could come from a different place, where the archaic town of Soluntum originally rose. Nowadays the discovery of the statue in a shrine of Hellenistic Soluntum is generally accepted. For reconciling the dating with the finding spot, scholars argue that the simulacrum had been moved to the new Hellenistic city after the destruction of archaic Soluntum.
This paper a) suggests a new hypothesis about the statue; b) underlines some new aspects of the finding spot;  c) proposes a new dating of the enthroned goddess from Soluntum, by introducing it in the Punic context of the Hellenistic age.

The archaeological excavations carried out under the former Teatro
Cómico have provided evidences of the earliest Phoenician presence in the city of Cádiz. Under modern and Roman remains, the Phoenician urban layout from the late 9th to the early 6th centuries BC has been uncovered. So a lot of information on building techniques and the urban layout of the city has been unveiled. This paper describes some of the most important architectural features of the ancient Phoenician city of Gadir such as houses, streets, ovens, floors, walls, and so on, that have practically remained archaeologically unknown until this excavation. The possible locations of the city firstly on the tiny islet of Erytheia and then on the bigger Kotinoussa island is also discussed.

Abstract: The archaeological intervention carried out in 2017 in Cerro Macareno has provided an enormous amount of information that corroborates and qualifies the data provided by the emergency excavations carried out in this site in the mid-seventies. The methodology applied has always been based on non-destructive techniques or low impact on the remains. Among the tasks developed, the cleaning of slopes and the study of the resulting stratigraphic sections in different points of the site stand out, which have allowed a comparative analysis of the different sequences obtained. Then, they have been compared with the plants and sections of the old excavations published, once they had been digitalised and georeferenced, especially the stratigraphic sounding carried out by M. Pellicer and his team in 1976. As a result, we have a systematization of the existing documentation and an update of the knowledge about the levels of occupation conserved and their chronology. Likewise, it has been possible to collect new data on architectural forms, materials and construction techniques, as well as on the building-repair-reconstruction guidelines of the buildings.