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Archaeological Tavira
Tavira
9 SpotsIn the period running from the late eighth century to the sixth century BCE, a population from the easternmost part of the Mediterranean settled on the Santa Maria Hill.
Excellent sailors and traders, the Phoenicians colonised the westernmost part of the Mediterranean sometime around the ninth century BCE. Various vestiges from this period have been found in Tavira, including at the Palácio da Galeria, at the Antigo Solar dos Cortes Reais and at the Convento da Graça, where a Phoenician necropolis dating from the second half/late seventh century BCE was identified. The ashes of the bodies cremated here were placed in ceramic urns.
As the sixth century dawned, the strong Syrian/Carthaginian influences that had been in evidence since the eighth century gave rise to Turdetania, which stretched from the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar) to the Sacred Cape (Cape St. Vincent).
Vestiges from this period, identified in the present-day Islamic Museum, have made it possible to determine that fishing and preserving activities took place here: a mooring jetty, a storehouse for amphorae containing fish products and, believe it or not, the oldest tun fishing net currently known.
