- chapter 17: Etruria Marittima –
The Punic-Phoenician Colonial Context: Malaga and Carthage. Etruscan imports
in the bay of Malaga appeared in signifi cant quantity in the Phoenician foundations of
Toscanos (mouth of the Vélez), Cerro del Villar (mouth of the Guadalhorce) and in the
heart of the ancient Malaka (mouth of the Guadalmedina). These port sites are tied
to the old, indigenous habitations of Veléz-Malaga for the Velez valley, Cartama and
Churriana for the Guadalhorce valley.^105 During the long-standing excavations begun
in ad 1964 at Toscanos, Hans Georg Niemeyer and Hermanfried Schubart underlined
the importance of this littoral zone for the foundations of the Phoenician colonies for
Greek commerce linked to the port which the texts call Mainake, and they confi rmed
the presence of Etruscan goods.^106 The excavations at Toscanos have brought about many
controversies, both for the chronology of the large ditch and its ramparts in large, carved
stone blocks and also over the identifi cation of Structure C, which the excavators took for
a large warehouse or storage room, and others have identifi ed as a building for aristocratic
residential or even ceremonial use.^107 Our work in the center of the city of Malaga has
allowed us to identify the fi rst Etruscan ceramics of Punic Malaka and to link several
exceptional discoveries to a sanctuary at the peak of the citadel.^108 Near to Malaga, the
insular port of Cerro del Villar has also revealed Etruscan ceramics in a context, which
Maria Eugenia Aubet Semmler has identifi ed as a market, consisting of a street fl anked
by “casas de mercado.”^109
Concerning Carthage, other than the numerous and various Etruscan discoveries, we
know of at least one certain tomb of an Etruscan – more precisely that of a voyager
from Caere, as attested by the columnar cippus which the person in charge of the funeral
took care to order. The bronze statuette from Dar-Seniat is utterly exceptional as it
demonstrates the votive actions of an Etruscan woman (Fig. 17.12). The feminine world
is equally represented by Etrusco-Corinthian alabastra and the anforette in bucchero used
as perfume containers. The quarter close to the shore at Carthage has been the site of
deep excavations that have revealed Etruscan vases in bucchero, impasto and cream wares.
The surprising concentration of Etruscan objects at Carthage calls for an intense study,
so as to explain the presence of Etruscan women at Carthage and the possibility of mixed
marriages. The hypothesis of an Etruscan fonduk, as a scale of the maritime commerce
also merits examination. One might already affi rm, to judge from the Etruscan goods at
Carthage, that this Etruscan presence at Carthage would have been quite active during
the sixth century and continued up until the Hellenistic period.
Commercial and diplomatic relations: arguments in favor of the Etruscan
fonduk hypothesisThe historiographic sources and epigraphic documents provide precious evidence for
interpreting Etruscan enterprises outside of Etruria, especially for establishing diplomatic
alliances. The most explicit texts are those pertaining to relations with Carthage –
especially the Caere-Carthage coalition during the Battle of Aleria and matters pertaining
to the Tyrrhenian Sea^110 – as well as the fi rst Roman-Carthaginian treaty, for which Caere
played a premier role.^111 Amongst the inscriptions found in Etruria, the gold Pyrgi
Plaques have shed new light on the relations (social, religious, diplomatic and economic)
between Caere and Carthage for the crucial period that extends from the end of the sixth
century to the fi rst decades of the fi fth.^112