Sacred Precincts: A Tartessian Sanctuary in Ancient Spain

Archaeology Odyssey (via Web Archive) ^ | December 2003 | by Sebastián Celestino and Carolina López-Ruiz

[SunkenCiv]

When the Phoenicians arrived on the Iberian peninsula, probably at the end of the ninth century B.C., they came into contact with an indigenous people called the Tartessians... The structure at Cancho Roano... was not a palace at all; it was simply a Tartessian sanctuary, which over time became influenced by Phoenician culture. Scholars have only recently begun to separate Tartessian history from myth. When the Greeks reached the Iberian peninsula a few centuries after the Phoenicians, they called the land Tartessos... According to the fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus, Tartessian civilization was discovered accidentally by a Greek named Kolaios, who became extremely rich as a result of his trade with the Tartessians... From Herodotus, we also learn of a legendary Tartessian king named Arganthonius, who welcomed the Greek merchants with rich gifts. A number of other ancient works also make reference to Tartessos. One of them, Ora Maritima, a tantalizing Latin account of Phoenician travelers who explored the Atlantic coast up to Ireland and Britain, was written in the late fourth century A.D. by the Roman fabulist Avienus, who apparently based his text on a sixth-century B.C. Punic periplus... Exactly when the Phoenicians arrived remains in question. According to ancient sources, such as Strabo (c. 60 B.C.-21 A.D.) and Pliny (23-79 A.D.), they arrived in the late 12th century B.C. and laid the foundations of sites such as Cadiz (Gadir) and Utica. But archaeological excavations at these sites have not uncovered remains earlier than the eighth century B.C. [footnote: The same problem exists at Carthage: According to tradition, Carthage was founded in 814 B.C., but no Phoenician remains as early as this have been discovered.]

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeology Odyssey had that article about the so-called Tartessians, who were nothing but Celtiberians, as is obvious from the art and architecture they left behind. This "Tartessian" sanctuary does not long predate the Phoenician influences at the site.

There's no evidence that a) Tartessos was the Phoenician term for Spain, or b) that Herodotus' tale refers to a town in Spain. In fact, the reference to the "marvellous walls" immediately brought those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade.

Not surprisingly, the surviving version of the Periplus of Hanno doesn't mention Tartessos.

Also not surprisingly, the authors of the above piece note that no remains or even traces of the supposed city have been found in places where they are believed to be, such as the Guadalquivir valley. Nor have any remains of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean earlier than the late 9th century BC ever been found.

Phoenician pottery of a later time has however been found in sites on the Atlantic coast of Africa (Mogador for example), and the Periplus of Hanno refers to gorillas and to an erupting Mount Cameroon.

In fact, the term we use for that animal -- which was rediscovered in the 19th century -- was taken from the Periplus of Hanno as it was recognized from the description.

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[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Google

[wagglebee]

Bookmark for later.

[Ciexyz]

"Ancient civilizations" bump.

[SunkenCiv]

oops, a typo:

"In fact, the reference to the 'marvellous walls' immediately brought those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade."

s/b

"In fact, the reference to the 'marvellous walls' immediately brought to mind those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade."

[hershey]

That quote about blocks of stone laid so tightly in walls that you can't insert a knife blade evidently struck a chord. You hear present day archeologists say that from time to time at sites in Greece.

[Graymatter]

celtiber bump

[Ciexyz]

Our history lays buried in the ground, we just have to dig it back out!

[SunkenCiv]

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To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic was posted 12/12/2004.

One of *those* topics.

• Tarshish
• Tarshish (NLDAG)
• Caphtor

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[ckilmer]

When you read this stuff it becomes apparent that a whole lot of very basic things changed fundamentally in the first millennium BC —that set it off from the second third fourth and fifth millenniums.

That is the first millennium BC is the dawn of time/civilization as we know it.

[SunkenCiv]

The navigation of the Mediterranean resumed and/or kicked up a notch, for one thing. In the western Med the Phoenicians and their buddies the Etruscans took over from the earlier Mycenaean Greeks, and were a few centuries later trying to cope with or accommodate classical Greek colonists, and then just a few hundred years later, with the Romans.

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ancientnavigation/index

[SunkenCiv]

Periplus of Hanno
https://archive.org/details/periplushannoav00hanngoog

The Voyage of Hanno
http://www.metrum.org/mapping/hanno.htm

A Carthaginian Exploration of the West African Coast
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Hanno.html