[EN] This paper aims to analyse the transformations of metal technology during the Late Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the effects of the contacts with Mediterranean societies. Special attention is paid to objects such as wheeled stands, rotary spits and metal vessels, which reflect the use of new techniques (lost-wax casting, casting-on, etc.). We argue against the idea that all these bronzes were imported from the central or western Mediterranean; in our opinion, most of them were locally produced and, though lost-wax casting was not a widespread technique in Late Bronze Age Iberian metallurgy, some bronzeworkers could make successful use of this innovation as a consequence of their contacts with Mediterranean craftsmen. Secondly, we reassess the dynamics of interaction between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean in the Iberian Late Bronze Age, as well as its relationship with Phoenician colonization. We argue that the goal of the Mediterranean presence in the west was not to prepare for colonization, but that this process generated a socio-economic context that made the colonization possible. The quest for ores and metals was not the only reason for the Phoenician presence in the western Mediterranean, though it was an important one. Finally, the continued production of pre-colonial forms and motifs in colonial times is discussed, aiming to assess the reasons for this phenomenon which is attested in north-east Iberian metallurgy. Our conclusion is that the long use of some of these pre-colonial objects as prestige goods may have motivated their imitation later.

El libro en el que es publicado este capítulo puede ser consultado en el enlace: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/32919

Peer reviewed

[ES]