This paper focuses on a century of interaction between a colonial agent (Rome) and an indigenous people (known in classical texts as the Laietani) who inhabited the area before the arrival of the conquerors. It investigates how contact between the two societies may be detected in the archaeological record, and, where possible, what changes in local culture resulted. The first part, which presents the archaeological sites of the Cabrera de Mar valley and its material culture, documents the contacts over time between those that occupied the valley and those who arrived from the Italian peninsula. A number of indices of such contacts are considered: architecture, construction techniques, imported pottery, epigraphy, and the monetary system. The second part considers whether it is possible to detect in the valley not only cultural contact but also cultural change.
Summary Ancient demography is a recurrent topic in archaeology, thanks to new methods and evidence from different surveys and excavations. However, different cultures or periods are studied on their own, without any comparison being made between them and of their population dynamics. The present paper seeks to advance the situation by defining methodologies to allow diachronic comparisons between two different periods and cultures. After setting out a methodological approach, the paper goes on to apply the same to a case study: namely the Roman conquest of north‐east Spain, comparing the demography of the ancient Iberian communities (fourth‐second centuries BCE) to the Roman colonization (first century BCE to first century CE). Roman urbanism is generally supposed to increase the population in a particular territory, but our present evidence refutes this point: a decrease in population is visible in urban or proto‐urban sites from the Iberian to Roman periods, though there is an increase in the rural densities.
Resumen: El objetivo de este artículo es reinterpretar un conocido yacimiento subacuático en Las Amoladeras, situado en La Manga del Mar Menor, cerca de Cabo de Palos. Para ello, tras llevar a cabo una revisión historiográfica, se han estudiado, contextualizado y realizado análisis isotópicos de algunos de los materiales más interesantes del yacimiento, así como de un plomo monetiforme del mismo tipo que los hallados en Las Amoladeras y cuya circulación se atestigua en las Islas Baleares. Los análisis de isótopos de plomo efectuados sobre los materiales permiten determinar el origen del mineral de los dos primeros objetos en Cartagena-Mazarrón y Sierra Morena respectivamente, mientras que para la fabricación del plomo monetiforme parece haberse utilizado una mezcla de metal. Partiendo de lo anterior, interpretamos el yacimiento como los restos de un pecio que debe fecharse alrededor del 50-30 a. C., y que transportaba un cargamento formado en parte, si no casi exclusivamente, por objetos metálicos, principalmente plomo, seguramente para ser vendido y reciclado. El yacimiento de Las Amoladeras debe, por lo tanto, enmarcarse en un marco histórico y económico muy concreto: el de la comercialización y reutilización del plomo en la Hispania tardorrepublicana.
The considerable linguistic variety in the Iberian peninsula in the pre-Roman period was reflected in inscriptions on coinage. Greek and Punic scripts were used in the colonies and cities with settlers belonging to these cultural groups. The north-eastern Iberian signary was used in the Iberian area and was borrowed in order to write the Celtiberian language while south-eastern Iberian is recorded in the south-eastern quadrant of the Iberian peninsula, including parts of the provinces of both Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. The script known as Tartessian, south-western, or South Lusitanian, about which almost nothing is known, was used on the coinage issued by the mint of Salacia (Portugal). Roman control was the reason why Latin was adopted as the language used for coin legends by many cities in Turdetania from the early second century BCE. As from c.45 BCE, the native scripts disappeared from coin legends.
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