On the edge of history? The Early Iron Age of southern Portugal, between texts and archaeology

ABSTRACT

The Early Iron Age of southern Portugal has often been considered a protohistoric period. Despite the development of local writing systems as early as the seventh century B.C.E., the so far undeciphered nature of local epigraphy meant the scarce and contradictory information recorded by Greco-Latin authors was considered the primary source for the analysis of this period. The growth of archaeological data since the 1970s resulted in attempts to harmonize it with the written records through a ‘source bricolage’ which hindered the understanding of the diversity and complexity of the history of local communities. Recent research has demonstrated the dynamic nature of this period, while also identifying evidence that the local communities built and manipulated specific narratives about their past and their history, particularly visible in their funerary record. Older funerary monuments seem indeed to have been used as material mnemonic devices underlying the construction of group memories and histories.

KEYWORDS:

• Early Iron Age
• southern Portugal
• ‘source bricolage’
• funerary practices
• memory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: [Grant Number SFRH/BPD/115343/2016].

Notes on contributors

Francisco B. Gomes

Francisco B. Gomes is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UNIARQ – Centre for Archaeology of the University of Lisbon. His research is focused on the relationship between the southern Portuguese territory and the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, and particularly in exploring the impact of that relationship on the identities and political economies of local communities. He has approached these issues in his Ph.D. dissertation through an encompassing analysis of the Early Iron Age funerary record of southern Portugal and is currently conducting a research project focused on the consumption of Mediterranean goods by local communities between the Bronze and the Iron Ages.

Ana Margarida Arruda

Ana Margarida Arruda is a Principal Researcher at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon and a researcher at UNIARQ – Centre for Archaeology of the University of Lisbon. She has conducted extensive research on the Phoenician presence in the Portuguese territory, having excavated and studied several key sites, such as Santarém or Castro Marim, among others. Her research has also focused on the effects of the Phoenician presence on local communities and on the historical development of the southern Portuguese Iron Age, having conducted and supervised extensive research projects regarding that period in the Lower Tagus Valley, Algarve and Alentejo regions.