Eshel Tzilla, Erel Yigal, Yahalom-Mack Naama, Tirosh Ofir, Gilboa Ayelet
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel;
Department of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Mar 26;116(13):6007-6012. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1817951116. Epub 2019 Feb 25.
When and why did the Phoenicians initiate long-term connections between the Levant and western Europe? This is one of the most hotly debated questions in ancient Mediterranean history and cultural research. In this study, we use silver to answer this question, presenting the largest dataset of chemical and isotopic analyses of silver items from silver hoards found in Phoenician homeland sites. Intertwining lead isotope analysis of silver items with precise archaeological context and chronology, we provide analytical evidence for the onset of Phoenician westward expansion. We suggest that the quest for silver instigated a long, exploratory phase, first in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and Sardinia, and subsequently in the Iberian Peninsula. This phase preceded the establishment of sustainable, flourishing Phoenician colonies in the West by over a century. In so doing, our results buttress the "precolonization" theory, accord it a firm chronological framework, and demonstrate that the quest for silver (and probably other metals) was an incentive for Phoenician westward expansion. Furthermore, our results show that the Phoenicians introduced innovative silver production methods to historic Europe.
腓尼基人何时以及为何开启了黎凡特与西欧之间的长期联系？这是古代地中海历史与文化研究中争议最大的问题之一。在本研究中，我们用白银来回答这个问题，展示了来自腓尼基本土遗址银窖中银器的化学和同位素分析的最大数据集。将银器的铅同位素分析与精确的考古背景和年代学相结合，我们为腓尼基人向西扩张的开端提供了分析证据。我们认为，对白银的追求引发了一个漫长的探索阶段，首先在安纳托利亚（小亚细亚）和撒丁岛，随后在伊比利亚半岛。这个阶段比在西方建立可持续、繁荣的腓尼基殖民地早了一个多世纪。通过这样做，我们的结果支持了“前殖民化”理论，为其提供了一个坚实的时间框架，并证明对白银（可能还有其他金属）的追求是腓尼基人向西扩张的一个诱因。此外，我们的结果表明，腓尼基人将创新的白银生产方法引入了历史上的欧洲。
