Phoenicians and Atlantic Trade

Phoenician city-states such as Tyre, Sidon and Byblos, on the coast of modern Lebanon, participated in maritime networks across the Mediterranean. Settlements in southern Iberia, including Gadir in the Bay of Cádiz, linked migrants and local communities through commerce, metalworking and food production. During the first millennium BC, in the Iron Age, bronze continued to be used alongside iron. Tin therefore remained valuable for alloying with copper to make bronze, although trade involved many products and intermediaries.

The Galician evidence belongs chiefly to contacts with coastal communities, especially during the later Iron Age. Amphorae and other imported objects are firmer evidence than a single continuous voyage reconstructed from classical accounts of the Cassiterides, the “Tin Islands.” This chapter follows those exchanges as part of Galicia’s wider setting; it does not identify a Phoenician founding population in the Ribeiro.

Gadir, modern Cádiz, was a Phoenician settlement on islands in the Bay of Cádiz. Archaeology beneath the modern city preserves streets, houses and objects from the ninth century BC. This is direct evidence of settlement in southern Iberia, unlike the more dispersed evidence of exchange found farther north.

Ports in southern Iberia linked Levantine settlers and local communities through metalworking, food production and maritime commerce. Gadir provides the southern setting for this chapter; it should not be read as proof that every Atlantic journey used one port or that a similar colony existed in the Ribeiro.

Tartessian archaeology explores communities in southwestern Iberia whose culture developed through contact with Phoenician settlers and traders. El Carambolo near Seville preserves an important sanctuary context and a treasure of 21 gold pieces. These objects show skilled production and religious use, rather than giving us a simple portrait of one people or an unquestioned ancient capital.

Farther inland, Casas del Turuñuelo in Badajoz reveals a monumental building deliberately destroyed and buried at the end of the fifth century BC. A published study identified the remains of 52 animals, mostly equids, deposited in successive ritual phases. That is a specific history in the southwest, not evidence of a similar event in the Ribeiro. It enriches the southern context of Atlantic exchange while keeping the Galician evidence distinct.

Atlantic exchange connected southern Iberian ports with coastal communities in the northwest. The expression “tin route” summarises exchange networks whose precise routes and participants cannot always be established. Imported amphorae and other ceramics provide firmer evidence of contact than reconstructions of a single route. The cargoes, dates and participants changed over time; Phoenician settlement in the south and later Punic trade in Galicia are related but different histories.

The Miño and Sil valleys contain mineral resources and form part of the geography behind this story. However, the material reviewed here does not establish a continuous shipment route from Cartelle or Castrelo de Miño to Tyre. For the Ribeiro, the connection is a regional possibility to investigate, rather than a documented local trading itinerary.

Alcabre, Toralla, Montealegre and A Lanzada belong to the archaeological discussion of Mediterranean contacts on the Galician coast. Imported containers and tableware are evidence of exchange. Stone features interpreted as betyls or ritual spaces require an additional argument; identifying a particular god such as Baal goes beyond the presence of imported ceramics.

Sites also have different chronologies. Monte do Facho’s well-known sanctuary of the local deity Berobreo belongs to the Roman period. The ship carving at Auga dos Cebros is important evidence for ancient maritime imagery, but its exact date and identification as a Phoenician vessel remain interpretations. These finds should not be combined into a single, securely dated network of Phoenician temples.

The Mazarrón wrecks off Murcia provide direct evidence of Phoenician shipbuilding and coastal transport in southern Iberia. The nearly complete Mazarrón 2 dates to the second half of the seventh century BC. ARQVA describes a cargo including lead ore ingots, an amphora, a hand mill, rope and an anchor. These ordinary working objects reveal how a vessel was loaded and used.

The hull was recovered between September and November 2024 for conservation. It is a Mediterranean find, so it cannot establish the route or construction of a ship trading in Galicia. Cádiz adds another kind of evidence: its museum’s anthropoid sarcophagi illuminate burial practices and eastern Mediterranean connections. Together, ships, cargoes and graves enrich our understanding of the southern communities behind the Atlantic trade story.

Mediterranean goods show that communities in Atlantic Galicia participated in exchanges before Roman conquest. Imported wine containers, food products, glass and pottery broaden the picture of castro life: people encountered outside goods and adapted them locally.

This evidence does not establish that Phoenicians founded Ribeiro viticulture. The region’s later vineyard history is much better illuminated by monastic and estate documents. Moving from ancient trade to our families means changing sources: archaeological objects explain a setting, while dated records identify people and relationships.