## 1 Introduction  
The Phoenician arrival in the Iberian Peninsula, attracted by the wealth of metal resources [1], has been the subject of intense debate, primarily because written and archaeological sources differ significantly. Although classical sources point to the foundation of Gadir (Gadir) by the Tyrians in the 12 th century BC, there is no archaeological evidence for the first Phoenician contacts with the southern Iberian Peninsula before the 10 th century BC [2, 3]. Moreover, the Morro de Mezquitilla [4], La Rabanadilla [5], and the evidence from the Cine Comico in Cadiz [6] cannot be used to date permanent settlements before the end of the 9 th century BC or the beginning of the 8 th century BC. At that time, the places used as stopovers on long-distance journeys in the Western Mediterranean became proper urban colonies [7, 8] (Figure 1a,b). However, around the middle of the 7 th century BC, there was a further expansion of these settlements into surrounding areas. The results were larger settlements, such as the well-documented examples in the region of Velez-Malaga [9]. The archaeological campaigns undertaken between 1964 and 1984 by the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut (DAI) at the sites of Toscanos, Morro de Mezquitilla, Alarcon, Jardin, Trayamar, and Chorreras [10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15] offered the first \({}^{14}\)C dates related to stratigraphic contexts of the beginning of the 8 th century BC for some of these early colonies. These excavations also enabled the recovery of large ceramic assemblages of Western Phoenician products, leading to a profound impact on the interpretation of the Early Iron Age archaeological record in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. Traditionally, the development of the Iberian culture had been discussed in the light of the Greek colonisation, but the recognition  
Figure 1: Map of the locations of Phoenician colonies in Ibiza (**a**), on the southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula (**b**), and the Early Iron Age reception sites of Phoenician pottery along the northeastern coast (**c**). of the intense activities of Phoenicians as pioneer traders acted as a timely counterbalance. In fact, the Phoenician presence in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula (Figure 1c), its associated trade network, and the interaction with indigenous communities did not become a key topic in the study of protohistory until the end of the 1960s [16]. From then on, wheel-thrown pottery, identified by typological and macroscopic observations [17; 18; 19; 20], was used as an indicator of interaction with the known Phoenician colonies. To suggest the mechanisms that were prominent in the Phoenician economic system in the Western Mediterranean, it is essential to understand the dynamics between the southern colonies and the northeastern indigenous communities. It seems that the Phoenicians favoured long-distance and regular commerce, and we can identify this fluid and intense presence thanks to the recovery of the first wheel-thrown pottery in indigenous contexts from the 8 th century BC to ca. 575 BC. However, we lack explicit knowledge of how this system operated, and there are still many questions to be answered about the early presence of Phoenician traders in this part of the Iberian Peninsula, especially whether they established themselves in the area in permanent settlements. Additionally, we must not forget the possible role played by the southeastern indigenous potters after the arrival of Phoenician pottery since, in some cases, wheel-thrown pottery was already being made in indigenous settlements by the end of the 8 th century BC [21]. The existence of such indigenous wheel-thrown pottery brings an added complexity that is only now beginning to be explored. In 2002, the Universitat de Barcelona launched an analytical programme on Phoenician pottery recovered from different sites in Catalonia to shed light on its provenance [22].