Antiquity

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Chapter One traces Gibraltar’s history from the Palaeolithic era to the end of the reign of the Visigoths. Tens of thousands of years ago, Neanderthals sheltered in Gorham’s Cave on the eastern side of Gibraltar’s mountain. Sea levels were lower than they are today, and the mountain rose from a dry coastal plain. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, had been living across the strait in Africa for hundreds of thousands of years, but there is no compelling evidence of travel, commerce, or communication across the Strait of Gibraltar before the arrival of pastoralists and farmers in Iberia during the Bronze Age. By the ninth century BC, Phoenician and other travelers were routinely crossing and sailing through the strait. In the fourth century BC, a major port was established at Carteia, at the northern end of the Bay of Gibraltar. Carteia thrived under Carthaginian and Roman rule. Chapter One recounts major developments during the period of Roman rule, including the arrival of Judaism and Christianity in southern Iberia. It ends with the Muslim conquest of the kingdom of the Visigoths in 711. According to legend, the invading army landed on or near Gibraltar.</jats:p>