In Spain, search is on for the lost civilisation of Tartessos
Secrets of ‘Western Europe’s oldest civilisation’ are slowly being revealed
For centuries, the lost civilisation of Tartessos has been shrouded in mystery. But 3,000 years after flourishing in the Iberian peninsula, its secrets are slowly emerging thanks to the meticulous work of archaeologists.
Viewed by historians as Western Europe’s oldest civilisation, Tartessos has long been considered a “mysterious” puzzle, but little by little the pieces “are falling into place”, archaeologist Sebastian Celestino Perez said.
Standing by a mud and stone structure where researchers are hunched over with trowels and brushes at the Casas del Turunuelo excavation in Spain’s western Extremadura region, Celestino Perez said the site contains “great riches”.
A member of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), he has led the excavation team since it began working at the site in 2015 and where last year they discovered five stone faces, two of them with intricately carved stone earrings.
Celestino Perez said at the time it represented a “profound paradigm shift” in their understanding of this ancient civilisation and why it suddenly disappeared after 400 years.
“It was the first time that human figures from the Tartessian world had been found,” said the bespectacled 66-year-old with a white beard, who described the site as being in “excellent condition” and believed working there was “the best”.
MyThS debunked by archaeology
A society that emerged out of the contact between the indigenous Iberian population and traders either from Phoenicia or Greece, Tartessos flourished from the ninth to the fifth century BCE in an area extending from Extremadura to the southern Andalusia region and an adjoining area in Portugal.
Described in the ancient writings of Herodotus and Pliny the Elder as being rich in metals and minerals, Tartessos has long been the subject of outlandish theories, largely due to its often contradictory descriptions.
Some called it a city, a kingdom, a river or a body of water, while others have even linked Tartessos to Atlantis, says Esther Rodriguez, who runs the site with Celestino Perez.
But the archaeological findings have “debunked” such theories and enabled experts “to begin to understand who the Tartessians really were”, she said.
Excavations first began after the discovery in 1958 of the socalled El Carambolo treasure hoard just outside the southern city of Seville which offered the first proof of the existence of Tartessos.
Since then, they have intensified with the use of new technologies to recreate threedimensional images of the various remains.
The excavations have shown that the Tartessians used “elaborate means of construction”, explained Rodriguez, painting a picture of a civilisation which prospered thanks to the rich metal resources in the area which were favoured by the Greeks and the Phoenicians.
burIed TeMple coMplex
So far, several dozen Tartessian sites have been identified, notably along the Guadiana River valley which runs through Spain and Portugal.
Of that number, three have been extensively excavated: Casas del Turunuelo, La Mata and Cancho Roano.
There archaeologists uncovered a monumental complex covering 500 square metres which was built in the sixth century BCE and housed three stone temples, each constructed
on top of the previous one and all facing the rising sun.
According to Javier Paredes, former mayor of the nearby town Zalamea de la Serena, the site was used as “a large gathering place” that was used for religious purposes and trade.
Inside the complex, archaeologists found bronze figurines, gold jewellery, marble slabs and pieces of pottery, some from Greece, revealing trading connections.
Archaeologists say the site was burned down by the Tartessians themselves two centuries after construction following an animal sacrifice, with the entire complex then covered with earth.
And Casas del Turunuelo appeared to meet a similar fate, with archaeologists finding the bones of 42 horses lined up alongside each other.
Sudden dISappearance
The fact that the sites were buried explains their “very good state of conservation”, said Celestino Perez, explaining that all Tartessian sanctuaries in the area suffered the same demise around 400 BCE when the civilisation ended.
It is not clear why they were buried, but “completely covering the structures would have involved many days of work”, said Rodriguez, pointing out it was likely “a way of protecting” these sanctuaries.
In recent years, many theories have been put forward to explain the disappearance of Tartessian civilisation, including severe drought or recurrent flooding, both of which would have left the land unworkable, forcing the inhabitants to leave.
But so far, historians have had to rely on hypothesis alone in the absence of written evidence: although the Tartessians did use a script based on the Phoenician alphabet, nobody has yet managed to decipher it.
“Our understanding is growing but we still have a lot to learn,” Celestino Perez admitted. (AFP)
“Our understanding is growing but we still have a lot to learn