What have the Remans Ever Done for UsP

Not a lot it seems. The Romans settled for many centuries in the area surrounding Gibraltar. But as Jon Lewes discovers they seemed to have preferred looking at the Rock to living on it.

The former city of Carteia, first Phoenician and then Roman,now the site of archaeological research with the ruins and remains open to the public, is situated strategically at the sheltered northern head of the Bay of Gibraltar. It had a population of 4,000 at a time when Athens, one of the world's largest cities, had 20,000, so Carleia can be considered to have been a sizable city for its time. Opposite Carteia, on the other side of the Bay,is what was at one time called Mons Calpe, and now Gibraltar.

William Serfaty, on the website hi Pillars of Phoenicians, explains "The Phoenicians called Gibraltar Calpe and the Romans continued with the name. In Aramaic/Phoenician the consonants in Cala meant Hollow and in Pietra meant stone, hence to them Calpe — Gibraltar (and other similar places)was the Hollow Stone, probably a reference to the caves they found here at sea level."

He further explains,"Recent excavations and topographical data shows that Carteia had a sheltered harbour capable of berthing up to 40 biremes of 80 feet in length at any one time. It is not excessive speculation that a craft seeking to go through the Strait into the Atlantic with out first 'reporting' and 'receiving clearance' from Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar would have received the immediate attention of a fleet of enforcers from the Bay, and if the intruders were missed by that sortie,there is the possibil ity of naval attacks emanating from a further settlement at the exit of the Strait, known to the Romans as Baelo Claudia from which it is pos sible the Phoenicians also operated at this time in addition to Tangier(ancient Tingis)".

Although no Roman remains or ruins have yet been uncovered in Gibraltar, perhaps because the presence of the Romans in Mons Calpe was only a small settlement rather than the larger prosperous trading townships of which there were many in the areas neighbouring Gibraltar, the search continues in Gorham's Cave and other sites,Jed by the Gibraltar Caves Project.

The area around the Bay of Gibraltar has been inhabited for millennia and the bay itself used by merchant shipping for at least 3,000 years. The Phoenicians had the settlement, Carteia, near Gibraltar, and the Romans established the town of Portus Alba('White Port')on the site of modem Algeciras. Semi-permanent settlements were later established by the Carthaginians and Romans. Further along the coast just after Tarifa the Romans established a trading town ship, Baelo Claudia, at Belon (now Belonia), which produced and distributed salted fish and garum,a fish sauce derived from fermented fish — a best-selling product as popular as tomato ketchup today. Two strong earthquakes brought to an end the success story of Baelo Claudia.

The great mineral wealth of Spain, its tin, copper and silver, was known at an early date to the Phoenicians who had preceded the Iberians and the Celts to the area. About the year lOOOBC they established a trading post at Gades(Cadiz), which later became one of the most important cities of early Spain.In 700BC the Greeks began to trade with the tribes of southern Spain and along the Mediterranean coast; although in 400BC they made settlements in north-eastem Spain they made none in the south of Spain or Gibraltar.

In 218BC the Romans arrived and made Spain a provincia, with the following centuries seeing Roman occupation and influence spread from this small enclave to cover the whole of the peninsula including what was to become Gibraltar. During the early Imperial period (27BC - 476AD)Roman-style rural settlements flourished in this province, bringing to the tribes the benefits of a higher civilization, prob ably including the alphabet. The arrival of the Romans acted as a physical manifestation of the growth of the Roman economy from c.50 BC to AD 200, with Julius Caesar being promoted to Governor of Hispania Ulterior(Spain)in BC 61. In AD 27 the Emperor Augustus renamed much of Ulterior'Baetica', now Andalusia,and in AD 69 the Emperor Vispasian, who was bom at Italica(afew kilometresfrom Seville), granted Roman status to all the towns in Hispania. The province of Baetica saw the development of the populations at Carteia, Munda, Malaca (Malaga), Hispalis (Seville), Italica, Gades(Ca diz) and Corduba(Cordoba).

Generally, Southern Spain's archaeological record is a rich one but for the Roman period it is unfortunate that archaeological research has yielded limited results — remains at Jerez, Medina Sidonia (Asido Caesarino), Tarifa and Baelo Claudia are still awaiting resources to continue archaeological excavation, preserva tion and classification.

Outside the Strait of Gibraltar were more Phoenician colonies, situated in Morocco,some on the shores of the Atlantic, some inland. The most important of those in Africa were Tingis, now Tangiers, and Lixus, now Chemmish,but besides these two important communities there were a great number of settlements without names, along the Atlantic coast as far as Cape

Non,opposite the Canary Islands.

Inland, a short drive from Tangiers, is Volubilis, in its time an important granary for the African Roman Empire, exporting olives and cereals all over the Roman world. It was also the meeting point between Berbers and Romans, where the two cultures metto trade even though the indigenous nomads of Morocco were never subdued by the Roman legions. The ruins of Volubilis, among the best preserved Roman re mains in the world and protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contain over 30 well-pre served mosaics, a forum, a triumphal arch, a basilica and three residential houses.

The recently-discovered site of Dhar Asekfane, near Ksar Sghir, is promising to be as important a site as Volubilis and is now the subject of a fight for it to be classified and saved from destruction.

Further exploration and archaeological exca vation in the areas surrounding Gibraltar and the other Pillar of Hercules, Ceuta, will almost certainly continue to yield a fascinating insight into the peoples and their activities more than 2,000 years ago, to further discover what was already known to Stabo, the Roman historian writing in 100 BC:

"So when you sail from Our Sea into the Exterior Sea, you have this mountain on your right hand; and near it, within a distance of forty stadia,is the city Calpe,an important and ancient city, which was once a naval station of the Iberians. And some further say that it was founded by Heracles, among whom is Timosthenes, who says thatin ancient times it was also called Heracleia,and that its great city-walls and its docks are still to be seen".

Gibraltar Neanderthals In Science and Technelogy Yearbeek

The 2008 edition of the prestigious Yearbook of Science and Technology published by Mc Graw-Hill in New York carries a three-page entry entitled Neanderthal extinction.Profes sor Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum was invited to write the entry. In it Professor Finlayson presents an up-to-date view of the question. The main sections of the entry are: effect of cold climates; arrival of modem hu mans;genetic mixing;exchange of ideas; and reasons for extinction.

The entry emphasises the late survival of