Early Iron Age pottery in south-western Iberia: archaeometry and chronology

Our current knowledge about the beginnings of the Early Iron Age in the south-western part of the Iberian Peninsula remains rather limited. The chronology and the nature of the first contacts between Phoenicians and Tartessians are among the unsolved issues plaguing the archaeology of Iberia’s Early Iron Age. This paperargues that through systematic spectrographic analysis of pottery specimens from Tartessian sites (Setefilla and eleven other sites) it is possible to tackle these issues. Our methodology is based on both destructive and non-destructive analysis of ceramic samples. For the latter a highly sensitive portable X-ray fluorescence device is employed. The paper is also concerned with the strong need for a reliable 14C-based chronology for the development of Tartessian material culture. A new approach for refining our chronological framework for this period is proposed that aims at providing us with a better grasp of the development of interactions and interdependences between the Phoenicians and the Tartessians over time.