- Jean Gran-Aymerich –
The south-western Mediterranean and the Straits of Gibraltar have furnished very rich
elements of colonial architecture, exclusively deriving from oriental sources, Phoenician
and Punic. For example, the site of Toscanos has revealed a singular construction in use
in the sixth century and designated “storeroom C,” a sort of warehouse with three aisles
which some have taken as a prestige structure.^126 The port site of El Campello (Illeta dels
Banyets, Alicante) contains two buildings – A and B – interpreted as two cultic structures,
which may have had a hypothetical Etruscan infl uence (Fig. 17.16c).^127 At Cerro del Villar
(Malaga), Etruscan goods are concentrated in several constructions of the so-called “casas
y calle del mercado,”^128 and at Huelva most of the Etruscan ceramics have been located in
the buildings of the Calle del Puerto and its environs.^129 At none of these sites was there a
strong, direct correlation between Etruscan imports and any specifi c building.
However, the localization and the excavation of a coherent architectural ensemble with
its contents may permit the identifi cation of a fonduk, as is the case for the exclusively
Phoenician site of Abul at the mouth of the Sado River, to the south of the Tagus and
Lisbon, whose city center has otherwise recently furnished the vestiges of a Phoenician
habitation and presence since the seventh century.^130 The site of Abul itself goes back
to this early period and constitutes the sole complete example of an isolated warehouse,
composed of aisles and rooms around a central court. The residential character of this
complex and its attested ritual function augment its storage functions and unite the
ensemble of characteristics, which might correspond to a Phoenician fonduk established
on the Atlantic coast.
To conclude: the Etruscans, in the context of long-range expeditions and, as with
many aspects of their civilization, are, by their uniqueness, a subject of permanent
paradox for researchers. Etruscan naval activities beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea appear to
function without colonial foundations or their own ports. The Etruscans had developed
their long-range enterprises on a “non-colonial” thalassocracy. Rather than transporting
Etruscan freight on Greek or Phoenician ships, the entrepreneurs and shippers of the most
prosperous Etruscan maritime cities appear to have made use of ports open to their ships
and their products, thanks to prearranged treaties. The very clear increase in Etruscan
goods in the western Mediterranean, notable from the end of the seventh and throughout
the sixth century, would have resulted from the emergence of several base networks or
ports-of-call for the merchandise, the sailors and Etruscan voyagers.^131 These harbor access
points, guaranteed by treaty, manifest elements characteristic of establishments close to
the fonduks spread throughout the Mediterranean throughout the ages.^132
The Bibliography for this chapter can be found at the end of Chapter 19.
NOTES1 Ab Urbe Condita 5.33.
2 Main Etruscan cities involved in long-distance trade: Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci, Vetulonia,
Populonia, Felsina.
Etruscan major ports of trade, emporia or fonduk in the western connection: Carthage, Málaga,
Huelva, Marseille-Massalia, Saint-Blaise (Bouches-du-Rhône), Lattes-Lattara (Montpellier),
Empúries (Ampurias, Emporion), Ullastret (Puig Sant Andreu and Illa d’en Reixac). Aristocratic
residences in the European and Iberian hinterland: Hohenasperg, Heuneburg, Châtillon-sur-
Glâne, Mont Lassois-Vix, Bourges, Cancho Roano (Zalamea).
Main concentrations in Greek sanctuaries: Olympia, Delphi, Samos.