Stanford Journal of Archaeology Ana Delgado and Meritxell Ferrer 18 CULTURAL CONTACTS IN COLONIAL SETTINGS: The Construction of New Identities in Phoenician Settlements of the Western Mediterranean

The Phoenician settlements of Cerro del Villar (south of Spain) and Mozia (Sicily) constitute two appropriate settings to analyze the processes of formation of new identities in the western Phoenician colonial areas. The material culture of these settlements, founded during the 8th century B.C.E., express the coexistence of Phoenicians with various western Mediterranean populations. The present study analyzes how the inhabitants of these colonies consciously used their material culture to construct new identities. Architecture, technological innovation, ritual and tableware for the service of food and drinks show a formal homogeneity that expresses links with the metropolis and with other Phoenician Mediterranean settlements. All these elements are highly visible and public, which contrasts with the presence of material elements of local cultures or hybrids in the domestic sphere, or in workshops associated with handcrafted processes already known by the local groups. Architecture, technology, ritual and tableware were all used actively in the construction of new identities in these settlements. These new identities go beyond ethnicity and are the expression of social and political negotiations within colonial spaces