The Phoenician Colonisation (9th-6th Century BC)
In the late ninth century BC, merchants from Phoenicia settled along the Southern shores of the Iberian Peninsula, reviving ancient Mediterranean trade routes that had been used since the second millennium BC to circulate Mycenaean, Cypriot and Sardian goods as well as others from Iberia itself.
The greatest attractions for these Eastern colonists were the silver from the mines of Huelva and western Seville, and the tin that could be obtained in Northern Portugal. Sporadic contact eventually inspired a desire for permanence, bringing a new human contingent that intermingled with the local population over time. With them came a new world of beliefs and values that was adopted by indigenous societies, giving rise to the phenomenon known as the Orientalising period. Two of the earliest and most important settlements were the Phoenician colonies of Gadir (Cadiz) and Ebusus (Ibiza).
Rituals for Death
Cremation as a burial rite became wisespread, particularly in the Ebro Valley, a tradition stemming from the shared history of Urnfield Culture and many Phoenician rituals, with necropolises located outside the settlements.
The grave was a pit or trench, occasionally lined with thin stone slabs, that was covered to form a tumulus of earth and stone, sometimes with markers. The cremated remains were placed in an urn or deposited directly on the ground, with grave goods that reflected the deceased’s social status.
Inhumation was common for young children, who were buried beneath the floors of dwellings, but rarely used for adults: exceptions were made for the first couple to be buried at a certain place, or foreign women who had married into the group.
Urn and offering vessels.
Photo: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, 2026.
The Funerary Ritual
The Phoenicians introduced a new burial ritual, cremation, which allowed the soul of the deceased to attain eternal life with the gods.
Necropolises were usually separated from settlements by a body of water, a River or even the sea. The highest-ranking members of the society were buried in hypogea with ashlar chambers and entrance passages, like family pantheons. The rest were buried in simpler graves such as the ‘pit tombs’, trenches with side niches.
The body was prepared with perfumes, wrapped in a shroud and cremated either inside or outside the tomb. Grave goods consisted of items owned by the deceased, such as jewellery, and others used in ceremonies such as the libations of wine or water offered to the gods.
Information panels of National Archaeological Museum, Madrid.
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