Indígenas, fenicios y tartésicos en el occidente peninsular: mucha gente, poca tierra

The difference between Phoenician and Tartessian sites is often obtained through the typological studies of the red slip pottery that consists mainly in plates and cups. However, the archaeological data, namely some stratigraphic sequences, shows that the different morphologies observed result from different time scales and should not be considered as ethnic markers. On the other hand, a tartessian colonization of the Portuguese coast, carried out by land from a focus located in the Spanish Extremadura is highly debatable, because, again, the chronological data hardly supports it. Naturally, the relations between the Sado and Tagus valleys and the medium Guadiana existed, but it seems necessary to consider the possibility that they developed in a West / East route and not the reverse