Map 39.1 Map of Phoenician sites in Portugal: (1) Castro Marim; (2) Tavira; (3) Lisboa; (4) Almaraz (Alamada); (5) Santarém; (6) Alto dos Cacos (Almeirim); (7) Santa Olaia (Figueira da Foz); (8) Conímbriga; (9) Alcáçer do Sal; (10) Abul; (11) Setúbal; (12) Castro dos Ratinhos (Moura); (13) Mértola; (14) Santa Sofia (Vila Franca de Xira); (15) Castro do Amaral (Alenquer); (16) Chões de Alpompé (Santarém); (17) Alto do Castelo (Alpiarça). A: necropoleis of Beja region; B: necropoleis of Ourique region.
Source: A. M. Arruda.
Alabaster vases (Cardoso 2004) and even a scarab (Almagro Gorbea and Torres Ortiz 2009) were found in Almaraz. The ceramics, painted with stripes and bands, and found in Santarém, are represented by vases characteristic of this time, with high and trunco-conical neck pithoi (Arruda 1999–2000: 191, fig. 122, nn. 3 and 4). Some have less common shapes, such as the carinated shoulder jar, similar to those found in the ancient levels of the tophet of Carthage (Arruda 1999–2000: 189n3).
It was also at this time that the local landscape underwent profound alterations: cultivated areas were expanded at the expense of the forest (Arruda 2003) and vines were planted. These data indicate, on the one hand, a demographic rise, and on the other, changes in the social and feeding habits, with evidence for the introduction of domestic fowl in the diet, as found in Santarém (Davis 2006).
Local influences recorded in the oldest Iron Age levels of these sites are still profound, and included a considerable amount of hand-made ceramics of indigenous tradition. In Lisbon, the recent discovery of two Phoenician inscriptions is of notable significance. The first, found in the Castle of St. George (Castelo de São Jorge), is a graffito carved on a fragment of ceramic (Arruda 2013). Paleographically, it can be dated to the beginning of the seventh century bce, in concordance with the “Mediterranean Chronology” (Zamora López 2014: 308–309), and the inscription is most likely a Phoenician transliteration of a local toponym (Zamora López 2014: 309–11). The second inscription (Figure 39.1), discovered near the river (Neto et al. 2016), is a funerary stone of the same period. It is a subrectangular slab of calcarenite whose lower part is unfortunately fractured (Neto et al. 2016: 125). The characters are distributed across three lines, the last one being incomplete, which mention two local anthroponyms (Neto et al. 2016: 126). It is important to stress that the autochthonous community adopted the Phoenician writing and language—crucial elements of one’s identity and surely a sign of a special relationship between the native and Phoenician cultures (on Phoenician inscriptions and the spread of the Phoenician script, see chapters 16 and 17, this volume).
Figure 39.1 Funerary Phoenician inscription from Lisbon.
Source: Guilherme Cardoso
In the course of the seventh century bce, other sites situated around the Tagus estuary (Santa Sofia, Castro do Amaral, and Chões de Alpompé on the right bank, and Alto dos Cacos, Alto do Castelo, Cabeço da Bruxa, and Quinta da Alorna on the left bank) were inhabited (Arruda et al. 2016), with or without previous Late Bronze Age occupation. They are all found by the riverside or in nearby areas, and together form a really dynamic network that systemically strove to create a space of its own. The physical geography helped develop a political, economic, and ethnic configuration. This network needs to be interpreted in relation to the river itself, for it links the two banks and constitutes a single shared space, with self-organization in a complex system filled with its own identity.
The data we have so far indicate that the extreme western part of the Tagus estuary was the first region that the Phoenicians colonized in Portugal’s territory. Other regions, some farther to the south, show no signs of such early contacts. This might mean that the process had been properly programmed, according to clear objectives established in advance and aiming to reach certain territories and networks.
Castro dos Ratinhos is another site where archaeology has revealed Phoenician presence. This important Late Bronze Age settlement situated in Moura, in the interior of the Alentejo, revealed a structure identified as a temple (Berrocal Rangel and Silva 2010). The building presents a structured plan based upon a preexisting architectural design (Prados Martínez 2010: 260), and using the “Phoenician module,” of 52 cm, with multiples organized in a canonical form (Prados Martínez 2010: 267). According to radiocarbon dates, it was planned and built at the end of the ninth century bce, and its outline was of Langbau (long building) design, or “Syrian type,” originating from northern Syria and southern Anatolia (Prados Martínez 2010: 267). Its interpretation as a temple is certain (Berrocal Rangel and Silva 2010: 135; Prados Martinez 2010: 209–76), but we need to remember that it stood among circular—that is, indigenous-type—domestic structures.
While the rectangular building, divided into three cells and identified as part of the “Acropolis,” is of clear exogenous origin, it is more difficult to categorize in terms of its cultural provenience, the artifacts related to the construction recovered in the same archaeological levels. The hand-made ceramics clearly dominate the first of these phases, constituting approximately 80 percent of the findings (Berrocal Rangel and Silva 2010: 278). A similar situation is encountered in Santarém (Arruda 1999–2000), in the Tagus estuary, where we find identical proportions. Turned ceramics are scarce and do not include the more usual pieces like ceramics painted in black or red stripes and bands, or with a red slip, even if certain vases “receberam um engobe obtido com um pigmento vermelho, de escassa qualidade” (bear a red pigmented slip of poor quality) (Arruda 1999–2000).
It has been argued that at Castro dos Ratinhos, the cult was directed toward an oriental divinity, probably Asherah, of Canaanite origin (Prados Martínez 2010: 273). This implies the physical presence of people coming from the eastern Mediterranean and that these groups would have lived peacefully with a local community already settled there for a considerable amount of time.
Nevertheless, if there are other possible explanations for the Oriental characteristics revealed at the Ratinhos sanctuary (Arruda 2014: 527), it is clear that contact between local and Oriental communities happened at a very remote time in the past, under conditions that are difficult to establish, as we rely mostly on the adoption of cultic models. It is also important to stress that the site was rapidly abandoned in the eighth century bce (Soares and Martins 2010)—evidence for some kind of failure.
The Later Phoenician Phase
At a later phase, the elements indicating the Phoenician influence of the Mondego and Sado estuaries are abundant and significant. Starting with the latter, one site stands out for various reasons. It is the unique and singular building of Abul, located on a small, low-altitude mound on the Sado River, built on the ground with no previous occupation (Mayet and Silva 2000). The structure had a rectangular plan, and in the middle of its open-air central courtyard stood a small altar (Mayet and Silva 2000). A perimeter corridor separated this courtyard from the small rectangular compartments aligned against the wall of the building (Mayet and Silva 2000). The floors of the courtyard and the compartments were covered with clay, and adobe bricks were used in the construction of part of the walls, where some of the stone foundations were still preserved (Mayet and Silva 2000). In terms of the Mediterranean Chronology, this structure, built at the beginning of the seventh century bce and abandoned at its end, was classified as a trading post by the archaeologists who excavated and published the site. Other interpretations are also possible. It may instead have been a small sanctuary (Mayet and Silva 2000), with architectonic parallels in Cancho Roano (Extremadura), situated between two important indigenous sites: Alcáçer do Sal, upstream, and Setubal, at the river’s mouth (Arruda 1999–2000). Whatever purpose it actually served, the building of Abul definitely had an exogenous origin. This is clear from its architecture, unparalleled in the region, and also by the nature of the remains found on the site, especially the ceramics. They show absolute mastery of the production of wheel-made pottery, such as red-slip plates and cups, pithoi with red and black painted stripes and bands, “Cruz
del Negro”-type urns, and R1-type amphorae. However, the discovery of a graffito consisting of characters belonging to the autochthonous Tartessian or Southwestern script (Correa 2011), carved onto a ceramic fragment, once again indicates an existing relationship between the two communities indigenous and Levantine.
On the other hand, Alcáçer do Sal is a large indigenous village with a well-known necropolis (Arruda 1999–2000, 2009). Its funerary remains, housing, and cultic spaces all show strong signs of Oriental influence. The funerary practice, with its very specific treatment of the corpse, is remarkable: the incineration is done either in an ustrinum or in situ, in busta. In the first case, the ashes derived from the incinerations conducted in a designated area were put into a cinerary urn (in this case of the “Cruz del Negro” type), which was then deposited in a small ditch. In the second case, the graves were excavated in the rock, sometimes with the typically shaped steps, where the body was deposited and then incinerated, not always in its entirety. This kind of incineration in situ in a rectangular ditch was, until that time, unknown in that part of the western peninsula, but has parallels in various Mediterranean necropoleis. Incineration in an ustrinum, however, is a practice known since the Late Bronze Age, especially in the region of the Tagus Valley. However, this funerary ritual is also related to the treatment of the corpse in all areas colonized by Phoenicians, as well as in the motherland itself, as in Tyre Al-Bass (Aubet et al. 2004). The shape of the urn (of the “Cruz del Negro” type) emphasizes even more these complex relations. The archaeological remains found in the necropolis of Alcáçer do Sal also refer directly to the colonial Phoenician world with their ceramics, bronzes, painted ostrich eggs, and adornments. Among these, the rings with scarabs mounted on a gyratory mirror are most noteworthy (Almagro Gorbea and Torres Ortiz 2009). The study of this assemblage indicates that the funerary area was first in use at the beginning of the seventh century bce.
The main settlement of Alcáçer do Sal was situated on a high hill. Archaeological excavations of the site were almost always small-scale. Only in a few instances were the oldest layers reached. But on the rare occasions when they were reached, the area exposed was too small to allow a proper understanding of the urban organization. It was nonetheless clear that the constructions were mainly built with adobe bricks (Silva et al. 1980–1981). It was also possible to date the beginning of the occupation to the end of the Bronze Age, but it continued into the Iron Age, this time with Semitic characters as documented in the production of ceramics that constituted the Phoenician “package” made of pithoi with painted stripes and bands, R1-type amphorae, and red-slip plates and cups. The indigenous influence is still clear in the use of hand-made vases, whose shapes and surface treatment belong to the local tradition. The occupation of the residential area did not start before the seventh century bce—a chronology compatible with the data of the necropolis.
Furthermore, a cult area was identified at the top of the hill. However, most of the remains found therein date to a rather recent phase of the Iron Age (fourth to third centuries bce). Some materials provide evidence that the cult celebrated in that urban sanctuary began even in the archaic phase. One example is the bone plaque bearing an udjat on one side and a quadruped on the other (Arruda 2014: 520).
Oriental influence is very clear on a site in Alcáçer do Sal, situated at the foot of the hill, near the river. The material collected there is very rich and diversified and shows evidence for the existence of a “port sanctuary.” It includes bone pieces used in inlayed furniture, decorated with Oriental iconography, such as a tree of life (Arruda 2014: 524). A bronze lion’s head, certainly part of a piece of furniture, perhaps a throne (Arruda 2014: 522), was also found. The metallic assemblage also comprises a grater, a Cypriot-type ladle, and a group of pieces that belonged to a goldsmith’s workshop—more precisely the two plates and three cubic weights that complied with two different systems—both Phoenician (Arruda 2014: 520–24). The three small anvils were also probably related to goldsmithing (Arruda 2014: 523). The ceramic vases are very well preserved.
In conclusion, Alcáçer do Sal was of great importance during the Iron Age. This may be explained by the presence of Levantine people in the region who were responsible for the construction in the vicinity of a new building, that of Abul. Moreover, a unique and special space was created here, where relations between the indigenous and exogenous communities, their elite in particular, brought about significant interaction.
In the case of Setubal, located at the mouth of the estuary, we have far fewer data. However, amphorae, pithoi, and red-slip vases were found in superimposed layers from the Late Bronze Age where hand-made production still dominated. They point to a parallel situation to that of Alcáçer do Sal.
In the Mondego estuary, which was, as far as we know, the territorial limit of the Phoenician presence in Portugal, Santa Olaia is noteworthy (Rocha 1908; Pereira 1997; Arruda 1999–2000). This site is located on a small elongated hill, on the right bank of what used to be, during the Iron Age, a vast estuary. As with Abul, there was no previous occupation; the site must therefore have been established ex nihilo. This explains the scarcity of hand-made ceramics. The urban space was surrounded by a defensive wall (Pereira 1997), and the walls of the houses, rectangular in plan, were built of adobe bricks resting on stone foundations (Rocha 1908). In the area annexed to the defensive wall and inside it, a group of metallurgical ovens was identified (Pereira 1997). They were apparently used only for ingot production, and not for objects.
The foundation of Santa Olaia must have been Phoenician. This hypothesis is supported not only by the topographical and geographical characteristics of the site itself but also by the exclusively Iron Age chronology of its occupation. Its architecture, with constructions made of mud and clay, is remarkable in this context (Rocha 1908). The typology of the ceramic remains and their general characteristics indicate an occupation that probably began in the seventh century bce and expanded during the following century. The types include red-slip plates and cups, lamps, pithoi, urns with red, black, and even white painted stripes and bands, and amphorae.
The existence of a roman town in Conímbriga, located on a wide plateau cut by deep valleys, in the area of the ancient Mondego estuary, was preceded by an Iron Age occupation. An earlier occupation dates back to the Late Bronze Age (Correia 1993). Unfortunately, later Roman civil and religious constructions affected the area, making it impossible to study a complete stratigraphical sequence of the pre-Roman occupation. The housing structures found in the area of the forum and on the terraces of the Trajan baths were of rectangular design, with foundations made of stones bonded with clay and adobe brick walls. Several pits, excavated in the limestone tuff, were found on the terrace of the Flavian temple. These pits are generally ovoid and indicate the existence of hut floors where wooden structures used to stand supported by posts, for which there is evidence (Arruda 1988–1989, 1997). The ceramic remains are abundant and include hand-made vases, whose shapes and decorations are inspired by Late Bronze Age models. The wheel-made ceramic set is composed of thin gray polished ware, red-slip plates and cups, vases painted with polychromatic stripes and bands (pithoi with bifid handles, pots, and supports), and type R1 amphorae (Correia 1993). An ivory comb, clearly imported, completes this panoply of artifacts of undeniably Near Eastern origin (Correia 1993).
Phoenician Presence in the Southwest of Iberia
The presence of the Phoenicians on the southern littoral zone—the Algarve coast—is documented mainly in its eastern part. Located on the mouth of the ancient Guadiana estuary, Castro Marim was occupied during the Late Iron Age—an occupation that overlies an earlier Bronze Age one. This is confirmed by extensive field studies on the site (Arruda 1999–2000). There is considerable archaeological evidence for the Orientalizing phase. This includes diversified remains and relatively well preserved defensive, housing, and cultic structures. It has been clearly demonstrated that after the seventh century bce, the local
population had come into contact with the Phoenician colonists settled in the region near the Straits of Gibraltar. These relationships with the Occidental Phoenician world were evidenced in both archaeological remains and architecture. The finds include red-slip plates and cups, ceramics with painted bands and stripes (pithoi and urns of the “Cruz del Negro” type), and R1-type amphorae. A fortified wall of casemates, red painted floors, and other floors decorated with shells, adobe bricks, and taipa (rammed earth) walls all form part of the architectural remains. Some “Tartessian” elements, like belt buckles and Greek imports (from Corinth), indicate the diversity of supply centers during the first half of the first millennium bce.
Together with other constructions and housing, it is worth noting the structure interpreted as a cultic area. It is composed of rectangular compartments, with a central combustion installation (altar) and internal benches. The floors were made of shells or red clay. Built during the seventh century bce, the space continued to be used for cultic purposes—an interpretation based upon deposits of materials classified as bothroi, dated to the fifth and fourth centuries bce. The presence of glass pendants representing the goddess Astarte indicates that the cult was directed to this divinity. The end of the sixth century bce and the first half of the fifth century bce correspond, at Castro Marim, to moments of accentuated decline. Around 425 bce, a recovery occurred when new structures were built on top of the old ones which had been deactivated and flattened.
Studies of the faunal remains from Iron Age Castro Marim indicate the presence of domestic fowl and donkey from the initial phases of occupation (Davis 2007). And as far as cereals are concerned, carpological studies have demonstrated an accentuated dependence on barley. Further evidence at Castro Marim for trade with North Africa and/or the Near East, and therefore possible Phoenician influence, is the presence of fragments of ostrich egg shell (Davis 2007, 2015).
The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean Page 88