even though the tentative identification of Huelva with Tartessos was not discarded, but rather kept. Tartessos has also been identified with the biblical Tarshish.

First contacts with the local Phoenician presence have been hypothesised to have taken place as early as 1015 to 975 BCE. However, remains such as those found in the Méndez Núñez-Las Monjas go so far as to show a likely Phoenician settlement of the 9th century BCE,