17 - Mobility, Interaction and Power in the Iron Age Western Mediterranean

Summary

This chapter explores the interactions that took place in the western Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age between different communities that are usually grouped together under the homogenising and external labels of indigenous, Phoenician and Greek. It argues that the degrees of interaction and the local logic of actions are keys to a nuanced understanding of these situations. The chapter focuses on the practical decisions and actions of all the parties involved, both foreign and indigenous. Finally, it highlights relevant local practices of daily life such as knowledge transfer of pottery production techniques, social heterogeneity, Phoenician settlements, regimes of value in domains ranging from metal exchange to wine trade, changing patterns of food consumption and the creation of new foodways and even the display of forms of violence, taking into account the social, cultural and economic transformations of all the actors involved.