Antonio M. Sáez Romero

Importaciones efesias en Cádiz: nuevos hallazgos de La Punta del Nao (La Caleta)

Recent underwater archaeological surveys (2008-2010) carried out in La Caleta area brought to light interesting material from different historical phases in the Bay of Cadiz. Some small amphorae produced in the hinterland of Ephesus are studied in this paper, all of them found in La Caleta, as first evidence of imports from the Aegean metropolis in Cadiz. Those Ephesian pieces could be a representative example of the long distance commerce and the high quality products consumed by the Gaditan elites during the Roman period and the Late Antiquity. To examen in detail this trade we will also refer to the Ephesian agricultural production, particularly wine, and the production and commercial structures of the Aegean metropolis.

Nuevas investigaciones arqueológicas subacuáticas en el área de La Caleta (Cádiz, España). Estudio de las evidencias de época púnica (siglos VI-III a.C)

The coastal area of La Caleta, which is located in the northwestern side of the current island of Cadiz, is a major landmark for underwater archaeological research in the Atlantic coastline of the Iberian Peninsula. During the last decades, it has provided important discoveries both from geo-archaeological campaigns and from non-scientific activities. The historical interpretation of this set of findings has been diverse, as much as it has been the publication of the results of the archaeological surveys, so the information about the site remains disperse and blurred nowadays. Also, key issues like the discovery of items identified as part of cultic ceremonies (such as miniature amphorae, perfume-burners or tymiatheria, terracottas, etc.), and the vicinity of some of the pre-Roman sanctuaries mentioned in classical literary sources, have focused most of the efforts on the study of the site, leaving a secondary role for other crucial topics. This paper discusses briefly the previous research and finds, and provides a panoramic picture of the results of recent archaeological surveys developed between 2008 and 2010. The study of the discoveries dating from the Punic period (6th- 3rd centuries BC) will be our main purpose, but new hypothesis about the geo-archaeological evolution of La Caleta and its surroundings and their role as port and cultic areas will be al so discussed.