Nuevas aportaciones al enclave fenicio de Ayamonte, Huelva (siglos VIII–VII a. C.)

Resultados de la Actividad Arqueológica Preventiva de Control de Movimientos de Tierra en el n.º 89 de la calle Galdames

Abstract

This article presents the results of a preventive archaeological surveillance of earthworks which was carried out between 2019 and 2021 at a site near La Villa de Ayamonte (Huelva). The investigation provides us with new information about the Phoenician enclave which evolved in this locality between the 8th and 7th century BC. The archaeological work revealed the existence of a stratigraphy consisting of thick alluvial layers and containing archaeological material of protohistoric date below the Calle Galdames which ran along an ancient water course. This separated the Cerro de las Flores to the West, on which Phoenician settlement remains are found in situ until today, and the hills of San Sebastián and San Francisco to the East. The sequence of layers rises only a couple of centimetres above the modern-day ground level and is of irregular height as it is aligned with the bedrock which surfaces in the rear third part of the area. Below the boundary of the area facing the Calle Gadames, however, it reaches a depth of two metres. This elevation documents steeper slopes than those which can be observed today at this street in this part of town; this can be traced back to the backfilling of the ancient river bed and might also explain why no structures were found during the archaeological activities. The archaeological material from these layers includes pottery of western Phoenician type, whose chronology can be linked to that of other excavations in this locality and falls within the second half of the 8th and the first half of the 7th century. The wide range of the material which includes table, cooking and transport wares as well as the remains of metallurgical activities proves the existence of a Phoenician enclave on the upper slopes of the east side of the Cerro de las Flores from which these elements must originate.