The Treasure of El Carambolo was found in El Carambolo hill in the municipality of Camas, 3 kilometers west of Seville, on 30 September 1958. The discovery of the treasure hoard spurred interest in the Tartessos culture, which prospered from the 9th to the 6th centuries BCE, but recent scholars have debated whether the treasure was a product of local culture or of the Phoenicians. The treasure was found by Spanish construction workers during renovations being made at a pigeon shooting society.
The original treasure
One of the pectorals
Image: Astarte 7th cent. A.D. Museo Arqueológico de Sevilla
Image: El Carambolo Phoenician Statuette of Astarte
Tartessos is, as defined by archaeological discoveries, a historical civilization settled in the southern Iberian Peninsula characterized by its mixture of local Paleohispanic and Phoenician traits. It had a writing system, identified as Tartessian, that includes some 97 inscriptions in a Tartessian language.
Tartessos around 500 BCE
Tartessian winged feline statue at the Getty Villa
Cancho Roano archaeological site located in Zalamea de la Serena, Extremadura
Treasure of El Carambolo, exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Seville