Posted on 05/15/2018 12:11:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...a magnificent hoard of ancient gold objects discovered by Spanish construction workers near Seville in 1958... 2,700-year-old treasure... sparked speculation and debate about Tartessos, a civilization that thrived in southern Spain between the ninth and sixth centuries B.C... That wealth, and the fact that the Tartessians seemingly 'disappear' from history about 2,500 years ago... Another side of the debate held that the jewelry came with the Phoenicians – a Semitic, seafaring culture from the Near East which first arrived in the western Mediterranean in the eighth century B.C. and established a trading port at what is now modern-day Cadiz... The treasure includes gold plaques in the shape of rectangles and ox hides, and weighs more than five pounds... research team used chemical and isotopic analysis to examine tiny gold fragments that had broken off from one of the pieces of jewelry. The analysis revealed that the material likely came from the same mines associated with monumental underground tombs at Valencina de la Concepcion, which date to the third millennium B.C. and are also located near Seville. The authors of the paper assert that the jewelry of the Carambolo Treasure marks the end of a continuous gold-processing tradition that began some 2,000 years earlier with Valencina de la Concepcion... Perea commends the new study in general terms, especially as isotopic and chemical analyses of gold objects are relatively rare in Spain. But she takes issue with the attempt to draw a direct association between the culture surrounding the Carambolo artifacts and that surrounding the earlier Valencina discoveries. “This line doesn’t exist. The only line that connects both worlds, may I say, is the material,” she says.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
subtitled: New analysis unveils the origin of the storied Carambolo Treasure, and despite previous claims, it has nothing to do with Atlantis.
Part of the Treasure of El Carambolo. This hoard was discovered at El Carambolo, Spain, 3 kilometers west of Seville and spurred interest in the local Tartessos culture, but recent scholars have debated whether the treasure was a product of local culture or of the Phoenicians.
One of *those* topics.
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Why do you suppose these items from 2700 years ago are more beautiful and unique than anything I could buy today?
Why do you suppose these items from 2700 years ago are more beautiful and unique than anything I could buy today?
You just got old school tastes.
Really old school;
That’s heavy
Wonder what happened to all that Inca and Aztec gold sent to Spain, then transferred to the USSR during the Spanish Civil war, where it disappeared, never to be seen again.
Jewish merchants took a portion with them when they were expelled in the 1600s. A lot of the rest was taken by English privateers (Drake, Grenville, Anson, that lot).
By 1700, the British were taking most of treasures that the Spanish were bringing back to a point they went broke. That and the never ending war in the Netherlands.
I recommend Imperial Spain 1469-1716, by Elliot.
Reminded me of the stolen gold of Tolosa that disappeared during Roman times, probably into the pockets of a Consul or general. The McCullough lady had a candidate in her books but I forget who he was.
maybe because it wasnt mass produced in china?
Yeah, they're not bad. The older the gold, the more likely it is to be 24 karat, that's one thing. Also, the goldsmiths worked for the ruler or other elite, so their work had to be great. Some Etruscan gold smith figured out how to leave a peachlike fuzz on the outside of a gold imitation of a peach. That technique wasn't figured out again until the 20th century.
Spanish gold was coined out and remained in circulation for 350 years, for one thing. That windfall led to Spain's being so rich that the serfs could afford servants, but, as in some of the OPEC member states today, there wasn't any other industry or innovation. There were no giant piles of bullion in Seville, it was all spent. Those palaces used to come in handy for Hollywood movies though.
Celtiberians, it figures.
Wow, that’s a fascinating story, looks like another one which grew in the telling, like the Oak Island Mystery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gold_of_Tolosa
http://romanhistorybooks.typepad.com/roman_history_books_and_m/2006/08/the_gold_of_tol.html
First of all, they are probably nearly PURE gold. And I agree that they are incredibly beautiful. In fact, I’m sure that they were stolen out of my very own jewelry box when my attention was distracted by politics! ;)
You know, I was thinking the very same thing. ;)
bkmk
I have read and reread Colleen McCullough’s series on Rome and enjoy them more and more every time. Her research is impeccable as far as I can tell and the way she is able to weave details of ancient life and history into a workable theory of what the principal characters were like and how they acted and spoke is just breathtaking to me as a amateur writer of fiction.
Her other books are popular but don’t have as much interest to me.
I may look for those on audiobook, that’s where I get my fiction, takes care of the dead time during commuting (or travel, but I rarely do that anymore).
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/colleen-mccullough/
Quite a bio/obit for her:
Whoopsie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ladies_of_Missalonghi#Allegations_of_plagiarism
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