This study of the interaction of the southern Iberian early Iron Age communities with the eastern Mediterranean colonisers is based on archaeological evidence from the Guadalquivir valley, the adjacent Mediterranean coast, and a number of sites along the river Guadiana in the modern provinces of Huelva, Cadiz, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, Almeria, Alicante, J en and Badajoz. In addition to the settlement and cemetery evidence, various types of artefacts, ivory objects, gold jewellery, bronze work and pottery are examined. The investigation concentrates on the time between the 8th and 6th centuries B.C., but the final Bronze Age and, to a lesser extent, the later early Iron Age is also taken into account as the basis for comparison of the settlement pattern, burial custom, and technological and social development.