PHOENSET
The first Phoenician settlers in Lisbon
(2024.14484.PEX)

The PHOENSET project investigates the earliest phases of Phoenician colonization in Lisbon and the Lower Tagus region, aiming to identify the origins of the groups that settled there and their processes of adaptation to a new environment. The research is based on 8th century BCE archaeological contexts discovered in 2014 during excavations at the present-day Hotel Aurea Museum, which revealed an important assemblage of both imported and locally produced ceramics. Through archaeometric and petrographic analyses, the project seeks to determine the provenance of these materials and reconstruct Mediterranean contact and supply networks. The study combines traditional archaeological approaches with advanced scientific techniques and compares the results with Mediterranean-wide databases. The outcomes will contribute to understanding the origins of the first Phoenician settlers in the Far West and the role of the Lower Tagus in early Iron Age colonization processes.
DESCRIPTION
The PHOENSET project focuses on the early stages of Phoenician colonization in Lisbon and the Lower Tagus region, examining the origins of external groups that settled in the area and navigated socio-economic, cultural, and environmental adaptation processes in a new territory.
This research is anchored in groundbreaking discoveries made in 2014 by NeoÉpica in Lisbon's historic area (now the Hotel Aurea Museum). These excavations revealed the oldest Phoenician contexts in the region, dated to the 8th century BCE. Among the materials uncovered are approximately two hundred ceramic fragments, encompassing both handmade and wheel-thrown productions (amphorae, plain, painted and red-slip ware).
Of particular significance are the wheel-thrown ceramics, which are clearly imported from Phoenician centers in southern Spain and potentially other Mediterranean regions, such as Lebanon, Tunisia, and Sardinia. These areas are the only ones documented during this period to employ Eastern technologies such as the potter’s wheel and double-chambered kilns for ceramic production.
In Portugal, these technologies would only be adopted starting in the 7th century BCE, underscoring the antiquity and uniqueness of these contexts. The levels identified at the Hotel Aurea Museum reflect the complex networks of contact, supply chains, and possible origins of these pioneering Phoenician settlers in the Far Western Atlantic.
The colonization of the Lower Tagus region represented the culmination of an ambitious venture that enabled the Phoenicians to unite, through the first Mediterranean koine, regions spanning present-day Lebanon, Cyprus, Tunisia, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, and Portugal. Studying the initial stages of Phoenician presence in Lisbon is thus essential to understanding this intricate historical phenomenon, characterized by migrations, intercultural encounters, hybridization processes, and environmental adaptations.
The findings will have significant repercussions within the international scientific community, providing a unique opportunity to trace the origins of these groups and reconstruct the phases of Phoenician colonization in the Far West.
This investigation adopts a multidisciplinary approach, combining traditional archaeological methods with advanced physicochemical and petrographic characterization techniques. Building on a specific research question and a detailed study of the material evidence, we propose conducting archaeometric analysis of the ceramic assemblage associated with the earliest settlers, recovered from the initial occupation levels of the current Hotel Aurea Museum. The availability of well preserved, stratigraphically secure contexts and a precise artifact repertoire makes it possible to analyze the entire assemblage, an unprecedented endeavor that will allow us to trace the origins of each artifact.
The analysis will cover wheel-thrown ceramics (imported) and handmade productions, aiming to establish links with local groups or identify potential external origins. This is particularly relevant given that indigenous mobility within colonial processes has already been documented in other areas of the Central and Western Mediterranean.
The results of the chemical and petrographic analysis will be integrated and compared with extensive Mediterranean-wide databases to determine the origins of the artifacts.
The project’s innovative character lies in its comprehensive analysis of the artifact assemblages from the oldest Phoenician occupation levels on the Portuguese coast, focusing on identifying the contact networks, supply routes, and origins of the groups involved. For the first time, the origins of the artifacts accompanying these settlers will be fully traced. This is made possible by the relatively small scale of the assemblage, recovered through modern excavation methodologies and meticulous recording practices.
The results will offer new perspectives on the significance of southern Iberia and the Central and Eastern Mediterranean in the early stages of Phoenician colonization in the Atlantic West. The provenance of the analyzed ceramics will form the foundation for reconstructing the origins of the individuals who sought a new life in this Lower Tagus region, contributing to the emergence of one of the primary Iron Age centers in Western Europe.
THE TEAM
The research team brings together the expertise necessary for the project’s success: team members possess extensive knowledge of Iron Age inquiries and material culture, alongside specialists in geology and archaeometry, with focus in the analysis and historical interpretation of ceramic materials; the team includes NeoÉpica researchers, whose expertise in stratigraphy and fieldwork will be invaluable.
Principal Investigator
Elisa de Sousa (UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa)
Researchers
Alberto López López (Universidade de Múrcia)
Benjamín Cutillas Vitoria (Universidade Complutense de Madrid)
Francisco João Bentes Gomes (UNIARQ – Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa)
João Luís Cardoso (Icarehb)
Patrícia Jordão (UNIARQ– Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa)
Paulo Rebelo (Neoépica, Lda – Arqueologia e Património)
Ricardo Ribeiro (Neoépica, Lda – Arqueologia e Património)
Consultant
Anno Hein (Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the N.C.S.R.)
FUNDING BODIES AND COLLABORATIONS
Supported by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project 2024.14484.PEX (https://doi.org/10.54499/2024.14484.PEX)
REFERENCES
Neto, N.; Rebelo, P.; Ribeiro, R.; Rocha, M.; Zamora López, J. A. (2016) - Uma inscrição lapidar fenícia em Lisboa. Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologia, 19, pp. 123-128.
 
Ribeiro, R.; Neto, N.; Rebelo, P.; Rocha, M. (2020) - Dados preliminares de uma intervenção arqueológica nos antigos Armazéns Sommer (2014-2015). Três mil anos de história da cidade de Lisboa”. In: II Encontro de Arqueologia de Lisboa. Atas. Lisboa: Centro de Arqueologia de Lisboa e Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, pp. 222-245.
 
Sousa, E. (2024) – The urbanization process in the mouth of the Tagus estuary during the 1st millennium BC. In Toscano-Pérez, C.; Bermejo Meléndez, J.; Campos Carrasco, J. M. (eds.) Tarteso. Los orígenes del urbanismo. Oxfordshire: Archaeopress Archaeology, pp. 237-256.
 
Sousa, E.; Ribeiro, R.; Rebelo, P.; Neto, N. (2024) - The earliest evidence of Phoenician presence in Lisbon: the Sommer Warehouses interventions (Rua Cais de Santarém, Lisbon, Portugal). Trabajos de Prehistoria, 81-1, 965. https://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2024.965