The Protohistoric settlement of Jardin de Ala (Salteras, Seville, South-Western Iberian Peninsula)

The paper presents the preliminary results of the archaeological excavation of the Protohistoric phase of Jardin de Ala settlement (Salteras, Seville, Spain), geographically located in the palaeoestuary of the Guadalquivir River. Radiocarbon dates this phase between early 11th century and the first half of the 9th century cal BC. The main archaeological structures were dug into the ground with different shapes and sizes. The paper offers an analysis of the overall pottery set in terms of the proportions of three main functional groups (storage, serving, and cooking vessels). A description of the traditional pottery types found in the site is made, as well as their contextualizations within a regional scale. Finally, the metalurgical remains and objects are studied by means of XRF compositional analyses. This settlement sheds light into the conceptual and historical debate on Precolonization and Phoenician colonization, and it provides several technological evidences, both of iron and silver production, which allow proposing a full integration in a context of direct oriental influence.