The period between prehistory and the start of history is known as protohistory, which was a time of great technological, social, ideologic and artistic changes, as well as changes in settlement structures. Levels of communication and business contact between the different peoples of the Mediterranean and Central Europe increased. Chronologically, this period developed throughout nearly the entire first millennium BC, encompassing part of the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, until the arrival of Roman conquest, around the change in era. The arrival of the Phoenician colonists, whose settlements along the peninsula’s coast would mark the beginning of the Iron Age. The identity of the different peoples ( Phoenicians, Greeks, Celts, İberians) became established, and upper social classes emerged – elites who stood out for their growing taste for imported objects.
Lady of Ibiza, clay, 4th-3rd century BC.
Photo: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, 2026.
The Lady of Ibiza was discovered at the necropolis on the island of Ibiza, where there are two different ancient phases of colonisation: the first, carried out by Phoenician colonisers (7th and 6th centuries BC) and a second, the Punic phase, from the 6th century BC, when modern day Ibiza came under the influence of Carthage.
It is a feminine figure cast using a mould, with the arms and part of its lavish decoration added later. It is decorated with plant motifs, both on the head and tunic, and the tunic also features the effigy of a Gorgon.
We do not know if the figure was merely an offering or if it represented a deity.
The Lady of Ibiza has been identified with the Punic Tanit, the goddess of fertility and rebirth who protected the dead in the afterlife.
According to another hypothesis it may represent the deceased woman transformed into a deity.
What is certain is that it was produced in a local workshop taking foreign elements from Sicily or Carthage, who had a strong influence at that time.
The confrontation between Carthage and Rome in the Second Punic War, which broke out in 218 BC, led to the decline of this society.
Sources
- National Archaeological Museum, pp. 38.
- Lady of Ibiza, Alicia Rodero Riaza, National Archaeological Museum, pp. 56.
- Information panels of National Archaeological Museum, Madrid.
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