East meets West at Medellin in Iron Age Iberia.

East meets West at Medellin in Iron Age Iberia. MARTIN ALMAGRO-GORBEA (ed.). La necropolis necropolis:see cemetery. necropolis(Greek: “city of the dead”) Extensive and elaborate burial place serving an ancient city. The locations of these cemeteries varied. de Medellin I: laexcavacion y sus hallazgos (Bibliotheca bib��li��o��the��ca?n.1. A collection of books; a library.2. A catalog of books.[Latin biblioth Archaeologica Hispanica26/Studia Hispano-Phoenica 5). 352 pages, 474 illustrations. 2006(2007). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia; 978-84-95983-88-6paperback 50 [euro]. MARTIN ALMAGRO-GORBEA (ed.). La necropolis de Medellin II: estudiode los hallazgos (Bibliotheca Archaeologica Hispanica 26-2/StudiaHispanoPhoenica 5-2); pages 353-774, illustrations 475-860. 2008.Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia; 978-84-96849-46-4 paperback 60[euro]. MARTIN ALMAGRO-GORBEA (ed.). La necropolis de Medellin III:estudios analiticos; IV: interpretacion de la necropolis; V: el marcohistorico de MedellinConisturgis (Bibliotheca Archaeologica Hispanica26-3/Studia Hispano-Phoenica 5-3); pages 7751156, illustrations 861-962.2008. Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia; 978-84-96849-47-1 paperback60 [euro]. The Greek and Phoenician ships which since the eighth century BCplied the Mediterranean in grand style--and not only in a westerndirection--carried a cargo of material and intellectual goods that, bytheir nature and diversity, were destined des��tine?tr.v. des��tined, des��tin��ing, des��tines1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic.2. to cause profoundtransformations in the countries and amongst the people they reached.And they reached the end of the world, in our case the Pillars ofHercules Pillars of Hercules,ancient mythological name for promontories flanking the east entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. They are usually identified with Gibraltar in Europe and with Mt. Acha at Ceuta in Africa. , the golden apples of the Hesperides, opening up new horizonsand putting in train processes which, in Greece and Phoenicia as well asin the West, led, in different ways, to fundamentally new endeavours.These included first of all the transfer of technology, but also thetransmission of political ideas, religious beliefs and social behaviourand affected all domains: metallurgy (new casting techniques and the useof silver and iron), pottery (wheel-turning), architecture (introductionof rectangular building forms and of town planning town planning:see city planning. ), crafts, agricultureand husbandry husbandrycareful management of e.g. animals. Implies thrifty, humane, caring. See also animal husbandry. (such as the introduction of olives, donkeys or chickens).But these transfers did not take place on an equal basis, i.e.horizontally between culturally equal partners, but almost entirelyvertically, i.e. from a Greek-Phoenician-Orientalising culture to atechnologically more deeply rooted indigenous culture. The Orientalisingsphere embraced the indigenous culture groups of the Iberian Peninsula Iberian Peninsula,c.230,400 sq mi (596,740 sq km), SW Europe, separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. Comprising Spain and Portugal, it is washed on the N and W by the Atlantic Ocean and on the S and E by the Mediterranean Sea; the Strait of Gibraltar so that by the end of the process--from a cultural viewpoint and tosimplify grossly--the West had become part of the East. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The distribution maps illustrating the Greek and Phoenicianexpansions clearly show the difference between them, as the character ofthe respective occupations differed markedly. Whereas the Greek projectwas designed to last and to accommodate large numbers of emigrants, asseen in the size, population and type of urban foundation, thePhoenician expansion had other requirements, which tended to have alesser impact in specific locations. The Greek colonisation wasrestricted to the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, where the onlyGreek foundation (Emporion/Ampurias) is located. Here, however, we areconcerned with the Phoenician presence, which after the middle of theseventh century BC developed from probably sporadic (seasonal?) earliercontacts to a lasting presence; this entailed the establishment ofsettlements with an apparently stable population. Such a developmentincluded, for the first time, larger tracts of the landscape, asdocumented in the region around Malaga. It is also in this period thatwe find the first Phoenician cemeteries, which all lie in coastalregions in the vicinity of trading posts and settlements. Phoenician advances into the hinterland are first observed only inregions rich in mineral resources, that is in the mining areas of thesouth-west or 'pyrite belt'; evidently it was the silver ofIberia that was targeted. It is there that the technologicalachievements mentioned above are to be found in one form or another,providing evidence for Phoenician contact. Whether this implies thepresence of actual Phoenicians or of people in close contact with themis however very difficult to evaluate, since the populations intermixedover time. At best it provides a measure of the degree ofOrientalisation undergone. The cemeteries can provide useful data inthis respect and amongst them Medellin is by far the best known. Itforms the subject of the three volumes briefly introduced here. Medellin Medellin lies far inland, in the province of Badajoz inExtremadura. At first sight the presence there of a cemetery withOrientalising grave-goods might come as a surprise but we must rememberthat routes into the interior followed the course of the rivers; at anyrate it is in the settlements located in the immediate proximity ofrivers that the greatest number of Phoenician or Orientalising artefactsare found and Medellin is one such settlement. It is the site of a fordoffering a crossing point across the Anas/Guadiana. Such locations hadgreat importance in the history and geography of the Iberian Peninsula,as all north-south movement had to negotiate major rivers, whichinvariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil flow in an east-west direction. The significance of Medellinis apparent from the size of its cemetery and the quality and variety ofits finds. The cemetery was found fortuitously for��tu��i��tous?adj.1. Happening by accident or chance. See Synonyms at accidental.2. Usage Problema. Happening by a fortunate accident or chance.b. Lucky or fortunate. in 1960 during thedigging of a well, which gave the site its name: Necropolis del Pozo. Itseems that this site is but one of a series of cemeteries which all lieon the flat river terraces to the south-west of the settlement. Theremarkable preservation of the finds is owed to the riverine riv��er��ine?adj.1. Relating to or resembling a river.2. Located on or inhabiting the banks of a river; riparian: "Members of a riverine tribe ... day. The three volumes under review present in 1145 pages what was foundat Medellin over 19 excavation seasons staged in 1969-70 and thenbetween 1982 and 1986. These were area excavations complemented bysondages of varying shapes and sizes within the excavated surfaces. Astratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat sequence of four horizons could be observed consistentlybut the lowest (IV A) was hardly differentiated from the subsoil subsoilLayer (stratum) of earth immediately below the surface soil, consisting predominantly of minerals and leached materials such as iron and aluminum compounds. Humus remains and clay accumulate in subsoil, but the teeming macroscopic and microscopic organisms that make (IV B).The cemetary belongs entirely to IV A. Volume I contains a generaloverview of the circumstances of excavation, the history ofinvestigations and the catalogue of burials. Volume II considers thefinds by categories such as personal ornaments, including scarabs andfinds of ivory which, being one of the most important assemblages ofsuch material in the western Mediterranean, have contributed to the fameof Medellin. Next come bronze and iron artefacts with belt buckles,fibulae, horse harness A horse harness is a type of horse tack that allows a horse or other equid to be hitched to pull various horse-drawn vehicles such as a carriage, wagon, plow or sleigh. and weapons, followed by the pottery whichincludes Greek, Phoenician and indigenous wares like the well-known urnsof Cruz del Negro type and wheel-turned grey ware, as well as coarsewares. The volume ends with the graffiti and inscriptions recovered;these are, perhaps surprisingly, quite frequent. Volume III is devotedto scientific analyses, to the appraisal of the data, to theconstruction of the chronological sequence Noun 1. chronological sequence - a following of one thing after another in time; "the doctor saw a sequence of patients"chronological succession, succession, successiveness, sequencetemporal arrangement, temporal order - arrangement of events in time present in the cemetery, andto wider interpretations concerning demography, religion, ritual andbelief; it also considers the historical and cultural context, anelement that far exceeds the usual expectations of excavation reports.In this, the publication offers a panorama of the state of knowledgeconcerning the period in question in the west and southwest of Spain.Further, far-reaching considerations, for example an attempt to link theplace-name Conistorgis/Conisturgis (of uncertain attribution) topre-Roman Medellin--Metellum in Roman times--or a bid to reconstruct apolitical alliance in the form of an amphictyony amphictyony(ămfĭk`tēō'nē, –ŏ'nē, –ənē'), in ancient Greece, a league connected with maintaining a temple or shrine. of Tartessianlocalities cannot be discussed in detail here. Line drawings, text andoccasional photographs document well a work written largely by MartinAlmagro-Gorbea, with contributions on aspects of metal and ceramic findsby Fernando Lopez Fernando L��pez (April 13, 1904—May 26, 1993) was a Filipino statesman. A member of the influential L��pez Family of Iloilo, Fernando L��pez served as Vice President for three terms, under President Elpidio Quirino (1949—1953) for the Liberals and Ferdinand Marcos Ambite, Mariano Torres Ortiz, Javier Jimenez Avila andAlfredo Mederos. The scientific analyses are the work of a further dozenspecialists. In this context, let us note that the cemetery containedthe graves of equal numbers of men and women, but hardly of anychildren. The cemetery consists entirely of cremations. Individual context(here conjuntos) allow us to distinguish between a series of deposits orburial rites: 1) urn burials within pits; 2) pyre burials; 3) so-calledsilicernia, i.e. deposits of grave-goods without a grave context; 4)square or rectangular barrows or stone settings. In all, the corpuscontains 261 contexts, of which 175 are burials accompanied bygrave-goods. In phase I (mid seventh century BC to end of sixth centuryBC) the dominant burial type consists of pits with urned burials, but inphases II (575-500 BC) and III (500 BC to second half of the fifthcentury BC) burials and silicernia dominate, representing a marked shiftin burial practice. Dating is based on numerous calibrated radiocarbondates. A remarkably large amount of high value or prestige goodscharacterises the cemetery's assemblage: ivory, hinges andornamental studs or nails decorating the burial couches (klinai),fibulae and horse harness, distributed apparently quite homogeneouslyamongst the graves. This leads the excavators to interpret the site asthe cemetery of a rather urban population and to assign it to theTartessian culture, a culture which grew and flourished as a result ofcontact between the indigenous population of south-west Spain and thePhoenicians. Altogether the exceptional nature of the cemetery ofMedellin comes out clearly, particularly when compared to regions to thenorth and west in which conditions that could be described asprehistoric prevailed over large areas. There is hardly anything fromthis neighbouring world present in the cemetery and coarse wares areinfrequent. Medellin's character, in fact its exceptional character(when contrasted with the Indo-European cultural milieu of the centralIberian plateaus) as an advance post of southern Orientalising culturesis evident. Set against the background sketched in the opening remarksof this review article, this is the fundamental contribution of thereport. The authors, especially the principal author, deserve our respectand gratitude; Martin Almagro-Gorbea has been able, despite multiplecommitments and adverse conditions and through sheer hard work,doggedness and enthusiasm, to bring the publication of Medellin tocompletion. Medellin, from the first results of his 1969-70 campaignwhich he was able to incorporate into his 1973 doctoral dissertation onEl Bronce Final y el periodo orientalizante en Extremadura (published in1977), has indeed been his lifelong companion. Thomas G. Schattner, Deutsches Archaologisches Institut Madrid,Calle Serrano 159, 28002 Madrid, Spain (Email: schattner@madrid.dainst,org) (Translated from the German by Reviews Editor)