Phoenician spinning ring. Tartessos, 7th century B.C. Gold. Provenance: L. Vila Casas Collection, Barcelona, ca.1960. Catalogued in "Treasures of Antiquity in the Guadalquivir Valley" (Caja Sur Publications, 1997), fig.151, pg 138. Measures: 1.8 cm. cabochon. Revolving ring in solid gold, Phoenician workshop, dated in the seventh century BC. On one of its sides, on the scarab, it has a seal decorated with a divinity or griffin accompanied by the Egyptian ankh symbol, which shows the influence of Eastern cultures in Phoenicia. When the Phoenicians founded the city of Gadir (Cadiz) around 1100 B.C., the Tartessians had an evolved agriculture, were good navigators, had their own alphabet and worked extraordinarily the metals they obtained from their rich mines of gold, silver, copper and tin. Hecataeus of Miletus (6th century B.C.) wrote about Tartessos (an ancient kingdom located in the current Vega Baja del Guadalquivir) as a territory in which there were several cities. Herodotus frames it within the colonization and importance of the Phoenicians and their commercial relations with them. The most important archaeological remains found and of clear linkage of the Tartessian people to the south of our peninsula is found in the discovery of the so-called "Tesoro del Carambolo" found in Seville and formed by countless pieces of pottery and a very important collection of gold jewelry pieces of clear oriental tendency (with Phoenician influence) and without any doubt belonging to the culture of Tartessos. Today we can find numerous pieces of this treasure in the city of Seville and in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid. The Phoenicians were an important naval power in Antiquity, thanks to their solid vessels of resistant wood and large size. These same vessels allowed them to trade of great importance for them and for many cultures, providing them with techniques and materials from other areas outside their own in these exchanges. Dimensions 1.8 cm. cabochon. Condition Report Provenance: Collection L. Vila Casas, Barcelona, ca.1960. Catalogued in "Treasures of Antiquity in the Guadalquivir Valley" (Caja Sur Publications, 1997), fig.151, pg 138.