La colonización fenicia inicial en el Mediterráneo Central. Nuevas excavaciones arqueológicas en Utica (Túnez) [The initial Phoenician colonization in Central Mediterranean: new archaeological excavations in Utica (Tunisia)]

In the paper are presented the first results of the Tunisian-Spanish research project in Utica (Tunisia). Particularly it is studied a complex formed by a water well linked to a partially excavated building. The well possibly was closed and blocked up using a ritual. The content of its interior is a deposit composed by bones of consumed animals, Phoenician, Geometric Greek, Sardinian, Lybian, Vilanovian and Tartesian pottery, principally formed by drinking cups and plates of table as well as amphorae, which bear witness to early Phoenician networks of exchange in the Central and Western Mediterranean and to a very ancient Phoenician settlement. The dates of C14 obtained with seeds of the interior of the well offer a chronology of the last quarter of the 10th century cal BC for the material set. These dates are identical to those of early Phoenician foundations in the Iberian Peninsula as Huelva, Carambolo and Rebanadilla. As a whole they define the most ancient horizon of the Phoenician colonization in Central and Western Mediterranean.Palabras clave: Colonización fenicia temprana, Utica, Norte de África, cerámica fenicia, cerámica griega geométrica, cerámica nurágica, cerámica vilanoviana, inicios del I milenio a.C., dataciones de C14Key words: Early Phoenician colonization, Utica, North Africa, Phoenician pottery, Greek Geometric pottery, Nuraghic pottery, Vilanovian pottery, early 1st millennium BC, C14 dates