Pappa, E. 2010. Reflections on the earliest Phoenician presence in north-west Africa By Eleftheria Pappa

https://www.academia.edu/524856/Pappa_E_2010_Reflections_on_the_earliest_Phoenician_presence_in_north_west_Africa?email_work_card=title In the last few decades, and especially in the 1990s, Morocco has enjoyed an extensive programme of research, with prolific results for the study of the Phoenician and Punic periods (El Khayari 2004;. This area of North-West Africa entered into the orbit of the cultural currents of the socalled Phoenician 'expansion' in the central and western Mediterranean, a phenomenon dated to ca. late 9th/8th-6th centuries BC 1 . Sites with Phoenician/early Punic material have been identified both on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of the country (Fig. ). Most of these are situated in or near estuarine environments, such as those formed by the rivers Lucus, Sebú and Bou Regreg (López Pardo 2002, 31-33). Lixus, located on the Atlantic coast, on the bank of the river Lucus, has yielded the earliest evidence for Phoenician presence in the region, dating to the late 9th or early 8th century BC (Akerraz/El Khayari 2000; Álvarez et alii 2001; Belen et alii 2001; Habibi et alii. 2005) 2 . Further south on the coast, 7th century BC Phoenician pottery has been identified at the site of Sala, situated close to the estuary of the Bou Regreg, close to the modern capital of Rabat (Boube 1984, 166-167). Contemporary activity has also been detected at Mogador, a small island located 700 km from the Straits of Gibraltar, off the coast of Essaouira 3 . On the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, sites with potentially 7th to 6th century BC Phoenician material have been identified at Sidi Driss by the wadi Amokrane and at Ras Kebdana, close to the estuary of the wadi Moulouya (El Khayari 2004, 152). 1 For late 9th century BC radiocarbon dates for Phoenician presence in Carthage (Tunisia), see Docter et alii 2005, for Huelva (Spain), see Nijboer/van der Plicht 2006. For recent developments in the chronology of Phoenician settlements, see the contributions in Sagona 2008. 2 The latest excavations in the area of Lixus, as part of a Spanish-Morrocan project, have led to a series of monographs and articles; see e.g. Habibi/Aranegui Gascó 2005. 3 Recently Mogador and its surrounding region have been the focus of a multidisciplinary project by the German Archaeological Institute, jointly undertaken by the Madrid Department and the Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures. ...