Stone sculptures of human or divine faces excavated in 2023 at the fifth-century BCE site of Casas del Turuñuelo (Badajoz, Spain). © Construyendo Tarteso.
What can we learn about Mediterranean history by studying pre-Roman social and economic networks in the region?
This project will bring novel data and perspectives to the study of economic, cultural, and territorial networks in the Mediterranean before the region was connected by Rome.
From the ninth century BCE the long coasts and fertile valleys of Iberia were tapped by Phoenician and Greek merchants and settlers coming from the eastern Mediterranean. An extended international network was created, which attracted the participation of Etruscans, Sardinians, Cypriots, and others. The interrogation of how these diverse groups first knitted an interconnected space is key to understanding the later Mediterranean of Classical and Roman periods in its cultural depth. Indeed, Iberia is a perfect laboratory for the study of the making of new economic, cultural, and environmental horizons before the Mediterranean was politically connected under Rome. In 2003 Michael Dietler and Carolina López-Ruiz organized a conference on this very topic at UChicago, which resulted in the volume Colonial Encounters in Ancient Iberia: Greek, Phoenician, and Indigenous Relations (2009). Following two decades of intensive research, some of the same and additional experts will meet in Chicago and be part of a new curated volume. Shifting the focus from colonial dynamics to the negotiation and construction of identities and territories, as well as new understanding of past environmental challenges, this project is designed to bring novel data and perspectives to an international audience.
Senior Lecturer of Ancient History
University of Málaga, Spain
Manuel Álvarez-Martí-Aguilar’s research interests include the modern historiography about the ancient world and the cultural intersections between local Iberian communities – Tartessos – and the Phoenicians. In recent years he has developed a line of research on the impact of earthquakes and...
Professor of Anthropology
University of Chicago
Michael Dietler is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, where he has been teaching since 1995. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1990 and his BA from Stanford University in 1974. He taught at Yale University from 1990 to 1995. He conducts...
Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Mythologies in the Divinity School, the Department of Classics and the College
University of Chicago
Carolina López-Ruiz specializes in Greek and Near Eastern mythology and religion, and also on the Phoenician-Punic world. Her books include When the Gods Were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East (2010), Gods, Heroes, and Monsters: A Sourcebook of Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern...
Postdoctoral Researcher
Institute of Archaeology in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Esther Rodríguez González is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Archaeology in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She is a member of the research project, Construyendo Tarteso, where she leads a line of research whose objective is to analyse the Mediterranean influence in...
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This conference will present novel data and perspectives on the social and economic networks in the ancient Mediterranean region.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
This conference will present novel data and perspectives on the social and economic networks in the ancient Mediterranean region.
