An ancient and mysterious Iberian culture called Tartessos existed between the ninth and the fifth centuries before the present. But new research and technology are showing new details about the society.

Nowadays, Tartessos is generally accepted as an Iberian civilization that developed from the fusion of native peoples with Greek and Phoenician conquerors. Its rich commercial sector and metal resources both contributed to its wealth. Early research shows that the Tartessos civilization was originally located in and around the Guadalquivir Valley in Andaluca. But more recent discoveries in the Guadiana Valley, further to the west and close to Portugal’s border with Spain, have led archaeologists to rethink how wide the Tartessos territory was.

Despite the importance of knowing why the civilization disappeared, the majority of current studies focus on the social and cultural impacts of the Tartessos. Sebastián Celestino Pérez, a scientific investigator at the Institute of Archaeology in Merida, said that “the so-called Tartessian tombs of the Guadiana seem to have the key to know this culture better.”