La Fonteta Ancient Phoenician Port City

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La Fonteta is an ancient Phoenician port city that was located in what is now the town of Guardamar del Segura, Alicante, Spain. La Fonteta was a Phoenician port situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Segura River that existed from the 8th century to the 6th century BC; excavations have exposed remains of a settlement whose dimensions suggest an urban area of perhaps eight hectares, making it one of the largest and best preserved Phoenician cities in the western Mediterranean. From its founding, the port city of La Fonteta had access to an environment that included a sanctuary located at Guardamar, which likely attracted a cult of Astarte, protector goddess of sailors, at a point of land on the coast crucial to marine navigation.

The archaeological record, with preservation favored by the sand dunes at Guardamar del Segura that buried the city, indicates that La Fonteta was one of the most important Phoenician cities of the 7th and 8th centuries BC. Bronze, ivory, and glass objects found in strata dating to the Atlantic Bronze Age at Peña Negra in the nearby Serra de Crevillent show trade in the area with the Phoenicians beginning as early as the 9th century and increasing...