Phoenician Art: The Overlooked Legacy of an Ancient Power

What Set Phoenician Art Apart

Phoenician art developed between the 19th and 4th centuries BCE. You can still find traces of it across Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. These artists weren’t just copying styles. They pulled pieces from all over and made something that stood on its own. They were best known for small, detailed decorative work. What they left behind includes carved ivory panels, engraved metal bowls, and colorful glass pieces. For a long time, people lumped their work in with Syrian art. Only recently have scholars started to look at Phoenician art as its own thing. And it deserves that recognition. It’s one of the most overlooked artistic traditions in ancient history.

How Other Cultures Shaped Phoenician Art

The Phoenicians traded constantly. That meant they were always exposed to outside ideas, especially from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Aegean. You can see this influence clearly in their materials and designs. For example, their pottery shows a clear Aegean influence. Their metalwork reflects styles from Mesopotamia and Ugarit. Their ivory carving takes cues from Egypt. Even the symbols they used, like lotus flowers, palms, djed pillars, and the way they dressed human figures, borrowed from surrounding cultures. But they didn’t just copy. They picked what they liked and made it work for them.

Old Traditions in a New Age

One thing that sets Phoenician artists apart is how long they held onto Bronze Age styles. Even after the Iron Age began, they kept making things the old way. That makes dating their work tricky, because some pieces look much older than they really are. Most of their art focused on decorative objects. This includes ivory plaques, jewelry, metal bowls, seals, and glassware. A lot of these objects were sent overseas. Some were even made by Phoenician artists working abroad. Their skills were in high demand across the region.

Why Large Stone Works Are Rare

There aren’t many big Phoenician stone sculptures left. Stone was hard to come by in their homeland, so it had to be brought in. That made it expensive and not widely used. Still, a few examples survive. One standout piece is a male torso from Sarafand, dating to the 6th century BCE. The figure wears a pleated skirt, a belt, and a crescent moon necklace.

Stone relief carvings were more common. One well-known example is the aedicule from Sidon, a small shrine carved from stone. It had two columns and a central space where two sphinxes sat. A winged sun disk topped the structure. This type of design became popular later with Carthaginian artists. Phoenician sculptors also used these stone reliefs for grave markers and stelae. You’ll often see symbols like sphinxes, palmettes, solar disks with wings, and detailed column patterns. These works were originally painted, but not heavily. Just enough color was used to highlight certain features or details.

 

Blending Cultures: Phoenician Art in Sculpture, Ivory, and Metal

The Stele from Amrit: A Mix of Styles

One stone stele from Amrit, dated between the 9th and 6th centuries BCE, shows how Phoenician artists pulled visual elements from across the region. The male figure carved into the stone wears Egyptian-style clothing, including a skirt and headgear. At his feet, a lion walks over what looks like mountain stones, a detail straight out of Assyrian design. The man follows the usual style seen in most Phoenician figures. He stands in profile, both feet flat on the ground. His arms either hang loosely or one is bent, holding something. The face, as always, stares forward with no emotion.

The Sarcophagus of Ahiram: A Rare Masterpiece

One of the best-known works of Phoenician sculpture is the sarcophagus of King Ahiram of Byblos. It dates to the 13th or 12th century BCE. The stone coffin is rectangular, wrapped in a carved band of lotus buds and flowers. At each corner, a lion crouches and juts outward from the base. Relief scenes show a procession and a seated figure (likely the king himself) while mourning women stand nearby. This piece stands out as one of the few examples where Phoenician stone carving reaches this level of detail and symbolism.

Bronze Figurines: Small but Persistent

Bronze statues from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE have survived better than larger pieces, though they’re usually small, about 20 centimeters tall. Most are basic in form, with rough lines, but they each carry unique traits. Many of these come from Aleppo and nearby areas. Female figures are more common and usually wear a long tunic. Male statues often raise one arm and wear pointed hats. Some bronze figurines, like the ones found in the Temple of Obelisks at Byblos, were even covered in gold leaf.

Ivory Plaques: Widely Traded and Widely Imitated

Phoenician ivory plaques have turned up in many places far from home, including Nimrud in Mesopotamia, the Greek islands, and parts of central Italy. Only a few have been found at actual Phoenician sites. Most of the ones discovered abroad have Phoenician letters scratched into them, showing that they were either traded, offered as tribute, taken as war plunder, or made on-site in workshops run by Phoenician artists. These plaques were used to decorate walls, altars, incense burners, and furniture. The earliest date to the 9th century BCE. Most are rectangular and carved in high relief. Some have parts cut all the way through, giving them an openwork look. The most common images include lions, sphinxes, winged goddesses, and women peeking through windows. These pieces, like many Phoenician works, show strong Egyptian and Assyrian influences.

Metalwork: Craftsmanship Known Across the Mediterranean

Phoenician artists had a strong reputation in the ancient world for their metalwork. Homer even mentions it in the Iliad, where Achilles gives a silver crater from Phoenician Sidon as a prize during the funeral games of Patroclus. Another famous example is King Hiram of Tyre, who was hired by King Solomon to make massive bronze decorations for the Temple in Jerusalem. These included two large bronze columns and a huge basin with ox figures as its base, measuring about 4.5 meters wide.

Phoenician metal artists also made smaller but highly detailed bowls from bronze, silver, and gold. Most of these were crafted in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Many have been found in far-off places like Nimrud, Delphi, and Salerno. Some of these carry inscriptions in Phoenician, which helps historians trace where they came from.

Designs That Tell a Story

The images stamped into these bowls show the same habit of blending styles that’s seen across all Phoenician art. Inside, most have a central medallion and rings of decoration that move outward in bands. Geometric shapes and floral patterns are common. So are human figures, animals, and mythical creatures like sphinxes.

One bowl found in Olympia stands out. It has a star with eight points and a ring of rosettes in the middle. Around the edge, there’s a frieze showing people playing music, carrying out rituals, and one scene of a man killing a griffin. Each part of the design is split by a standing nude woman, likely a goddess. This bowl sums up Phoenician style. It mixes parts of Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian traditions, but does it in a way that’s rich, balanced, and entirely its own.

Phoenician Glassware and the Art of Ancient Decoration

Phoenician cities became known for glassmaking. They exported so much glass that many ancient writers thought they had invented it. They didn’t. The glassmaking process actually came from Egypt. But the Phoenicians picked it up and made it better. They learned how to make clear, see-through glass, which was a big step forward. Still, most Phoenician artists preferred working with opaque colored glass. It looked more like ceramic and was easier to shape into detailed forms.

They made bottles, bowls, and jars, mostly small ones used to hold perfume. The most popular forms were tiny versions of amphorae and alabastra. Decoration was simple but sharp. The glassware was usually striped in dark blues and bright yellows. These colors came from cobalt, copper, and iron oxide. Artists often added zigzag patterns to break up the lines and give more contrast.

Phoenicians and the Story of Glass: Fact, Legend, and Craftsmanship

There’s an old tale recorded by Pliny the Elder about how glass was discovered. According to the story, a Phoenician ship stopped near the southern coast of Tyre. Sailors went ashore and used chunks of potassium nitrate from their cargo to build a cooking fire. As the fire burned on the sandy beach, something strange happened. The heat melted the nitrate and fused it with the fine sand. What came out looked like glass - clear, glossy, and different from anything they’d seen before.

It’s a good story, but probably not how glass was really invented. Historians still don’t agree on who invented glass. Some credit the Phoenicians. Others say it started in Egypt, where glasswork had been done earlier. More recent research points to Mesopotamia as the real starting point. From there, the craft likely spread to Egypt and later reached the Levant, carried along by political changes, trade routes, and cultural exchange.

What is clear is that the Phoenicians didn’t invent glass, but they did perfect it. They figured out how to work with it in ways others hadn’t. They made it practical, portable, and beautiful. Their glass came in rich colors and bold shapes, depending on what it was used for. For daily needs, they made cups, flasks, and small bottles for perfume or oil. For jewelry, they crafted glass beads and pendants with careful detail and bright colors.

Even if they didn’t start the glass industry, most historians now agree on one point: the Phoenicians invented glassblowing. This technique changed everything. And for a long time, it was something you’d mostly find in Sidon. From there, Phoenician sailors took it with them across the Mediterranean, selling glass wherever their ships docked.

Terracotta, Pottery, and Scarab Seals in Phoenician Art

The Phoenicians also made terracotta figures, especially female ones. These were simple in style, not highly detailed, but they were often painted with rich colors. Most of these figurines turned up in tombs. The clay itself wasn’t great. The region didn’t have strong natural clay, so the pottery wasn’t as refined as Greek or Etruscan work.

Jugs were common. Most had a lip or spout for pouring, and the best ones had a red-burnished finish. Decorations were rare. If there were any, they were made with basic lines and geometric shapes carved into the surface.

Another standout in Phoenician art is the carved seal. These were mostly scarab-shaped seals made from stones like carnelian and jasper. The flat side was engraved with names, animals, and symbols. People used them to stamp documents, but they also wore them as rings, pendants, and amulets. Designs often included sphinxes, solar disks, and winged figures.

Jewelry was also a strong part of Phoenician craftsmanship. They worked with gold, glass, and semi-precious stones like agate, onyx, and crystal. Common pieces included necklaces, earrings, pectorals, pins, and bracelets. Some gold jewelry had raised patterns made using repoussé, a method where the design is pressed from the back. They also made small glass discs with holes so they could be sewn onto fabric as decoration.

The Role of Pottery in Phoenician Daily Life

Phoenician pottery didn’t get the same attention as Greek pottery, and there’s a reason for that. It was plain. It didn’t aim for beauty the way Greek ceramics did. But it served a purpose. It was practical, not flashy. The design came from older Syro-Palestinian styles that had been around since the end of the Bronze Age.

Pottery was used in every part of daily life - at home, in trade, and for burial. Most of it fell into two main types: open vessels and closed vessels. Open shapes, like plates or shallow bowls, were used for eating and serving food. Closed forms, like amphorae, had lids and were used for storing grain, wine, or oil. Drinking jugs had a squared-off lip for pouring, and some had long spouts attached to the side. Those spouts often included a filter at the base.

Some jars were used in burials. Amphorae, in particular, were placed in tombs to hold cremated remains. Sometimes the top was sealed with a ceramic plate to close it off.

Phoenician potters also pulled ideas from other cultures. Cyprus and Samaria had a clear impact. Imported jars from the west (places like Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Iberian Peninsula) either showed up directly or were copied by local artists. This blend of local and foreign styles is part of what shaped Phoenician pottery, even if it wasn’t the most beautiful ceramic work of the ancient world.

Jewelry, Trade, and the Rise of a Portable Art

The Phoenicians were quick to see the value of small, beautiful things. Jewelry was light, easy to carry, and easy to sell. It was more than decoration. It was business. They realized early on that the market for jewelry would be strong. As they explored and expanded, they brought their craftsmanship with them.

Gold was their top material. It held up best over time and was in steady demand. Silver wasn’t used much because it corroded easily. They also used bronze, precious stones, and colored glass. Their jewelry designs took cues from Egypt, which had the most admired style in the region. Common themes included flowers like the lotus and rosette, along with animals such as scarabs, lions, hawks, and sphinxes.

Phoenician jewelers made earrings shaped like solar disks or crescent moons. They made gold bracelets, rings, and necklaces with glass beads. Many pendants carried both decorative and symbolic meaning. Their work blended beauty and purpose.

Bronze and Ivory: Art from Imported Materials

The Phoenicians were skilled in bronze and ivory, even though they had to bring in the raw materials from faraway lands. Ivory came through trade routes from India, passing through Chaldea, Arabia, and Egypt. Bronze, which is a mix of copper and tin, also relied on outside sources. They got copper from Spain and tin from the British Isles. Islands like Cyprus and Malta became supply hubs, where raw materials were stored before being shipped out or crafted.

Despite the long supply chain, Phoenician artists made the most of what they had. Their bronze work was solid and detailed. Their ivory carvings were smooth and precise. These items were sought after and made their way into homes, temples, and tombs all across the ancient world.

Trade, Expansion, and the Role of "Minor" Arts

Phoenician goods were everywhere. Their products combined practical use with artistic flair. This blend made them valuable. Phoenician art was portable, made for travel, and built for trade. It didn’t need to be huge or flashy. It just needed to move easily and sell well. The Greeks later called this kind of craft “athyumata,” meaning minor arts. But that doesn’t mean they lacked value. These pieces did more than just look good; they brought in money, opened doors, and built networks across the sea.

Their reputation spread quickly. Sailor-merchants carried these items from one coast to another. The demand was high, and so was the profit. That’s why many of their pieces ended up in the hands of foreign rulers. Some were taken as loot during invasions, while others were traded legally and ended up in elite collections.

The Legacy of Phoenician Purple and Lost Textiles

One of the most admired industries in Phoenician culture was their textile work, especially the production of purple dye. This dye, made from murex shells, was rare and expensive. Wearing purple became a status symbol, a sign of power and wealth. Phoenician weavers produced fine fabrics colored with this deep purple, and buyers across the ancient world waited for their arrival.

Unfortunately, none of these original fabrics survived. Time wore them down, and we’re left with only written accounts from ancient authors. Still, the impact of Phoenician textiles is clear. The color purple is still tied to royalty today. Modern scientists have even started trying to recreate the ancient dye process by studying murex shells, hoping to match what the Phoenicians once made by hand.

 

How Phoenician Trade Shaped Greek Pottery and the Ancient Mediterranean

Who the Phoenicians Were and Why They Mattered

The Phoenicians spoke a Semitic language and built their reputation on maritime trade. Their trade networks helped spread goods, ideas, and culture all across the Mediterranean. We don’t actually know what they called themselves. The name "Phoenician" comes from Greek writers. It’s tied to the word phoinix, which means "purple." That’s probably because the Greeks believed the Phoenicians discovered purple dye, especially the kind known as Tyrian purple.

They weren’t a single nation with one ruler. Instead, they formed a loose network of city-states. Each city operated on its own, but they worked together when needed. Most of these cities first appeared in the Late Bronze Age, around 1500 BCE. That setup stayed more or less stable until about 300 BCE. Writers from the ancient world described the Phoenicians as clever, bold traders and sailors. But they also gave them a bit of a reputation. Some texts called them sneaky, greedy, and willing to do anything for profit. Homer’s Odyssey even calls them “illustrious” but notes how easily they could be bribed with loot.

Where They Lived and How They Traded

Phoenicia wasn’t a country with fixed borders. It was a stretch of land on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Today, that area includes parts of Lebanon, Syria, and northern Israel. The land was squeezed between mountains and sea, so space was tight. But it gave them access to trade routes both by land and water. The cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos were major hubs. They weren’t ruled by a central government. Each one handled its own politics, its own economy, and its own ships.

As they grew stronger in trade, the Phoenicians started setting up colonies. These weren’t just in the Levant. They also reached into the Aegean Sea and even parts of Greece. That movement west helped spread not only goods but also art and pottery. Some of the pottery found in Greek lands shows strong signs of Phoenician influence. This wasn’t a one-way exchange, either. As the Phoenicians built trading posts in foreign places, their own styles changed too. They picked up local styles and adapted them to their own needs.

Caught Between Empires, But Still in Control

The land they lived on sat between powerful neighbors. To the north were the Hittites. To the south were the Egyptians. To the east was Mesopotamia, where the Assyrians ruled. These empires were always expanding, fighting, or moving their borders. That put the Phoenicians in a tight spot. But they knew how to handle it. Instead of fighting for land, they offered value. They sold what others needed.

Egypt wanted timber. So the Phoenicians sold them wood from the forests in the Levant. Assyria needed metal. The Phoenicians delivered. They got much of that metal from places like Cyprus, which was rich in copper. They also pulled resources from Crete, Thasos, and other parts of Greece. They were middlemen in a massive web of trade, and they made themselves useful to everyone around them.

They didn’t just trade goods. They also provided skilled labor and knowledge. When the Persian Empire went to war with Greece and Egypt, the Phoenicians helped with ships and navigation. A coin minted in Sidon around 345 BCE shows a Phoenician warship. That coin tells us they were still active at sea, even toward the end of their era. It’s a sign of how long they stayed relevant in maritime affairs.

Phoenicians as Carriers of Style and Influence

The Phoenicians played a key role in how Greek pottery evolved. Their ships didn’t just move goods. They moved ideas. When they sailed from the Near East and Egypt to Greece and the Aegean islands, they brought with them items decorated in foreign styles. These included luxury objects with Egyptian and Mesopotamian designs. Through this steady trade, Greek artists came into contact with new visuals and techniques. Over time, Greek pottery started to show signs of this contact.

During the Orientalizing period, roughly the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, Greek potters began to borrow these eastern styles more openly. They picked up on new patterns, decorative forms, and ways of shaping pottery. But they didn’t just copy what they saw. They selected the features they liked and blended them into their own style. This created a fresh visual language in Greek pottery, heavily shaped by Eastern influence, yet clearly Greek in execution.

Phoenicians Moved More Than Just Their Own Goods

It wasn’t just that Phoenician traders brought eastern goods into Greece. They also helped carry Greek goods elsewhere. A lot of the Greek pottery found in places like Etruria, in northern Italy, probably got there through Phoenician trade routes. Many of those Greek vases in museums today may have reached foreign lands aboard Phoenician ships. This made the Phoenicians not just middlemen of commerce, but also cultural distributors. They had a hand in moving Greek art to markets far from its source.

At the same time, the Phoenicians were producing their own art. Like the Greeks, they weren’t shy about adapting styles from Egypt and the Near East. They merged outside influences with their own craft traditions. The result was a unique visual culture that reflected both their seafaring lifestyle and their place in a world of competing empires.

What We Still Don’t Know About the Phoenicians

Most of what we know about the Phoenicians comes from what others wrote. Greek, Roman, Assyrian texts, and the Hebrew Bible give us glimpses of who they were. But firsthand records from the Phoenicians themselves are scarce. We don’t have clear details about how they saw themselves. We’re missing a lot of their written history. Whatever massive amounts of documents they once had are mostly gone. That loss makes it harder to understand their identity and culture.

Even so, their impact is clear. One of their most important contributions was the alphabet. The Greek alphabet is thought to have grown from the Phoenician one. So did the Punic script used by the Carthaginians. That influence changed how people wrote and communicated across the Mediterranean. It shaped written language in ways that lasted long after the Phoenicians were gone.

 

Ancient Phoenician Burial Jars Unearthed in Lebanon’s City of Tyre

What Archaeologists Found in Tyre

In 2008, a team of Lebanese and Spanish archaeologists uncovered a major find in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. They found over 100 large earthenware jars dating back almost 2,900 years. These jars weren’t just used for storage. The Phoenicians used them to hold the burned bones of the dead. It was part of their burial practice. The remains were cremated first, then placed inside these clay containers.

The dig revealed two types of jars. The larger ones held the actual remains, acting like tombs. The smaller ones were left empty. But they weren’t useless. They were symbolic. Archaeologists believe the Phoenicians used them to represent the soul of the dead. According to Ali Badawi, the lead archaeologist working on-site in Tyre, each jar had its own role in the ritual.

The Work Behind the Discovery

This site has been under investigation since 1997. Badawi and a Spanish team from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona have been excavating it slowly. Only about 50 square meters could be dug up each year. This wasn’t just because of the usual limits of archaeology. Political and security problems in southern Lebanon also played a part.

Their last round of excavation happened in 2005. Then everything came to a stop. In 2006, war broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, with much of the fighting happening in southern Lebanon. The conflict made it impossible to continue. Unrest in 2007 kept the site closed as well. Digging only resumed in 2008, when conditions allowed it.

Why This Matters for Phoenician History

The Phoenicians are best known for their coastal cities like Tyre and Sidon, and they thrived from around 1500 BCE to 300 BCE. But while we know a good deal about their colonies in Spain, Italy, and Tunisia, less is known about their homeland, which is modern-day Lebanon.

Maria Eugenia Aubet, who leads the Spanish team, said these findings are helping fill that gap. The burial jars don’t just tell us about death rituals. They also show that the Phoenicians believed in an afterlife. These people weren’t just traders and seafarers. They had spiritual ideas that shaped how they treated the dead. And this site in Tyre gives a rare look at those beliefs in their original homeland.

 

Phoenician Pottery in the Western Mediterranean: Trade, Colonies, and Indigenous Influence

How Phoenician Pottery Reached Northeast Iberia

One of the best spots for studying early Phoenician pottery in the western Mediterranean is the Iron Age site of Sant Jaume, in the northeast Iberian Peninsula. This place stood out because of how well it was preserved and how many whole pots were found there. The ceramic collection is one of the strongest examples of early wheel-thrown pottery. It points directly to trade with Phoenician colonies in the west. These colonies had a clear interest in the region’s metal resources, and their pottery is strong proof of that connection.

Tracing the First Phoenician Contacts in Iberia

The story of how the Phoenicians first arrived in Iberia has been debated for years. Ancient texts claim that Tyrians founded Gadir, now Cádiz, in the 12th century BCE. But archaeology tells a different story. So far, there’s no real evidence of contact before the 10th century BCE. Key sites like Morro de Mezquitilla, La Rabanadilla, and the Cine Cómico in Cádiz show signs of Phoenician presence, but they don’t prove full-time settlement until the end of the 9th or start of the 8th century BCE.

What likely started as short stopovers on trade routes slowly turned into full-blown colonies. By the mid-7th century BCE, those coastal bases began spreading into nearby areas. Settlements like those found around Vélez-Málaga show this change clearly. They grew bigger and more established.

What Excavations Revealed About Early Colonies

Between 1964 and 1984, German archaeologists carried out a series of digs across southern Iberia. They worked at places like Toscanos, Morro de Mezquitilla, Alarcón, Jardín, Trayamar, and Chorreras. These excavations gave us the first carbon-14 dates tied to solid layers from the early 8th century BCE. Along with that came large finds of western Phoenician ceramics. This changed how experts viewed the Iron Age in northeast Iberia.

Before then, scholars mostly focused on Greek influence when talking about the rise of Iberian culture. But the Phoenician role as early traders started to change that view. By the end of the 1960s, researchers started paying more attention to the impact of Phoenician networks, especially their reach into indigenous areas in the northeast.

How Wheel-Thrown Pottery Marks Phoenician Trade

Phoenician wheel-thrown pottery became a clear marker of early contact. It was easy to recognize by shape, texture, and how it was made. These ceramics showed up in local settlements starting in the 8th century BCE and continued to appear until around 575 BCE. Their presence shows that the Phoenicians had steady trade going with local communities. But we still don’t fully understand how that trade system worked. And it’s still not clear whether those early Phoenician merchants built long-term homes in the area or kept moving between places.

When Local Potters Took the Wheel

Another thing that adds to the picture is the role of native potters. At some sites, local craftspeople were already making wheel-thrown pottery by the late 8th century BCE. This means the influence of Phoenician ceramics may have gone deeper than just trade. Some of the styles might have been copied or adapted by local makers. That overlap between foreign goods and local production is only just starting to be studied, but it’s an important piece of the puzzle.

The Role of Sant Jaume in Understanding Phoenician Trade

In 2002, the University of Barcelona started a research program to analyze Phoenician pottery found at different sites in Catalonia. The goal was to better understand where this pottery came from. Through that work, Sant Jaume stood out as a very important site. Its excellent preservation and large amount of material helped show what kinds of Phoenician products were being traded during the Early Iron Age. These findings gave clues about how wide and complex the trade networks really were. Other research on Phoenician imports from the Central Mediterranean has shown that the distribution of these goods was more complicated than people first thought.

Where Sant Jaume Is and Why It Matters

Sant Jaume is located in Alcanar, Montsià, in Catalonia, Spain. It sits on top of a small hill, 224 meters above sea level, near the southern end of the Montsià Mountains. The site is 5 kilometers from the mouth of the River Sénia, 20 kilometers from the River Ebro, and only 2 kilometers from the coast. It’s a small settlement, just about 700 square meters, but it had strong defenses and a round layout. It was only occupied during one period, from the 8th to 6th century BCE.

The main idea researchers are exploring is that Sant Jaume may have been a fortified home, possibly the base of a local chief or ruling family. From this hilltop, leaders could have controlled nearby sites like Moleta del Remei, la Ferradura, la Cogula, and el Castell d’Ulldecona. This local power group is often called the Sant Jaume Complex. Still, newer work at the site suggests that it might have been a Phoenician factory instead, though more research is needed to confirm that theory.

What the Buildings and Pottery Tell Us

None of the buildings found at Sant Jaume seem to be regular homes. They were two-storey structures. The lower levels were likely used for keeping animals and for handling crops and livestock. The upper floors stored goods, raw materials, and many objects, including a large amount of pottery.

The pottery found at the site falls into two main groups. One is hand-made pottery that looks like Late Bronze Age styles. The other is wheel-thrown pottery, which matches types made in Phoenician colonies across the western and central Mediterranean.

The wheel-thrown ceramics include several types. There are amphorae known as T.10.1.2.1 and another new kind labeled T.2.1.1.2 or something close to it. There are also large storage jars, known as pithoi and pithoid vessels, narrow-necked jars like the Cruz del Negro type, and a few tripod mortars or vessels.

In addition to these common pieces, the site also has fine tableware. These include bowls with angled sides, plates, red-slipped jugs, dipper jugs, and oil bottles. The oil bottles are a recent find and still under study. Because of that, they haven’t been added to the standard chart of Phoenician pottery types from the site yet.

Amphorae are the most common type found in the collection. Most of them match Type T.10.1.2.1, which is the most typical form of ancient Phoenician pottery in Western Mediterranean colonies. However, there are other amphora types in the collection that are clearly different from this standard type. These other types have a larger, more flared rim and a more cylindrical body.

The pithoi also show noticeable differences in both shape and size. The jars with the most variety are the narrow-necked cylindrical ones, also known as the Cruz del Negro type. Almost every jar in this group has different features. The tripod mortars or vessels also show a clear lack of consistency in how they were made.

For the study, 58 samples were taken. Most were amphorae (32), followed by pithoi (5), tripod mortars (6), jars (10), plates (2), a single dipper jug (1), and two other ceramic pieces that couldn’t be identified (2). These samples add to earlier studies of Phoenician imports in the Central Mediterranean (4 samples) and handmade pottery (15 samples, though one more recently studied vessel hasn’t been published yet).

There’s strong evidence that many workshops in the southern Iberian Peninsula were producing amphorae. In fact, this region was the main source of the transport jars found at Sant Jaume, except for one group, CG10. For groups CG13, CG14, and some other outliers grouped as CG15, it’s harder to figure out where exactly they came from. These were likely made somewhere in Andalusia, especially in the provinces of Málaga, Granada, and Almería, where early Phoenician colonies existed. But since those areas have similar geology, it’s hard to tell them apart just by their material composition.

The same issue applies to the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Morocco, which has similar geological features to those in Málaga and Granada. We also don’t have enough studies on Moroccan pottery from this time, so we can’t rule out that CG13 and CG14 might have come from North Africa.

That said, scientists were able to tell the difference between pottery from the Guadalhorce Valley (West Málaga, group CGGUA) and from the Vélez Valley (East Málaga, group CGVEL-MAG) by using chemical and mineral tests. They also identified another group likely linked to the Phoenician site of Toscanos (CGTOS).

Even though some recent studies on Phoenician pottery have been done in Andalusia, we still don’t have the full picture. More large-scale studies are needed to better understand where these ceramics were made and to allow for better comparisons between different sites.

Some interesting differences also come up when comparing this early phase to later periods. Pottery from Ibiza (group CGEIV) has been found, but it’s rare at this early stage along the Catalan coast. This changed a lot during the Punic period, when pottery from Ebussus (Ibiza) became common at Catalan-Iberian sites.

It wasn’t possible to confirm where most of the tripod mortars or vessels came from, but they show a wide variety of styles. Most of them don’t seem to be connected to the Málaga or Granada areas. Two of them (MOS025 and MOS048) belong to the same group (CG21), but their origin is unknown. Only one piece, MOS030, might be linked to the T-10.1.2.1 amphorae found at Toscanos (group CGTOS).

Also, the narrow-necked cylindrical jars, known as the Cruz del Negro type, don’t seem to come from the same place as most of the amphorae. A possible origin in Gadir or near the Bay of Cádiz has been ruled out. These jars don’t match the known reference group from Camposoto (according to unpublished data in our database), nor do they match material studied by other researchers. Like group CG10, we haven’t been able to confirm a clear origin for them. But we can say with confidence that the CG10 amphorae did not come from Málaga or Granada. Their shapes also differ from the T-10.1.2.1 amphorae, which supports this view.

Past research has shown that trade between the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions at Phoenician sites in Andalusia was quite limited. Our findings show that the western Mediterranean had a strong role in trade, even reaching the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Still, for most of the pottery we studied (30 out of 58 pieces), we couldn’t confirm where they were made.

Even with this problem, the variety in the pottery suggests it came from cabotage trade. That means small-scale shipping along the coast, rather than a single colony controlling the entire trade system. The same kind of pattern has been seen in the metal trade, based on studies done in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.

While we’ve started to see important clues about where some Phoenician pottery came from, more detailed work is still needed. This includes chemical, mineral, and petrographic analysis. Future research would be useful in areas beyond the Guadalhorce and Vélez Valleys, especially in Almería, Murcia, Alacant, Morocco, and along the Atlantic coast of Huelva and Portugal.

 

In the end, Phoenician art spread to many colonies across the Mediterranean from the 8th century BCE. The most successful of these was Carthage. Carthaginian artists kept Phoenician styles alive up to the 2nd century BCE. Back in the Phoenician homeland, Greek influence grew starting in the 5th century BCE. This caused Phoenician art to mix more with Greek styles, leading to strange combinations like Egyptian-style coffins with Greek-style faces carved on them.

The Phoenicians were long known as skilled traders and sailors. But now, as more of their artwork is found and properly studied, they are also starting to be recognized as artists. Their craftsmanship is now being seen as just as impressive as what we find from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.