The structure of Gadir’s urban area and its productive territory during the Urban Classic Period: changes and persistence

Abstract

The reaffirmation of the citizen’s political-administrative model opened up a new stage of prosperity in this ancient city of far western Spain. The splendour of Gadir in the 5th century B.C. has been revealed in classic texts and archaeological findings. Clearly, our knowledge of the urban morphology and historic development of the Punic city is quite limited. As for the Archaic period, we must rely on information provided by excavations conducted under the city’s Teatro Cómico, which have revealed remains from the Tyrian settlement, but the subsequent city remains a great unknown for researchers. Where did the population move to after abandoning the primitive settlement? Who is buried in the exceptional anthropoid sarcophagi? What hierarchical relationship existed between the population living on the islands and that living on the mainland? What was the role of the salted fish industry and its commercialization? Numerous questions arise, suggesting the inefficiency of the traditional paradigm in explaining the historical development of Gadir in postcolonial times as well as the need to find new interpretive models.