Prehistoric Timeline 800,000BCE-200BCE
 

 
 
-800,000 BCE Homo erectus arrives in Iberian Peninsula

(This skull belonged to a Paleolithic man who hunted deer and bison with tools made of wood and stone.)

 
-500,000 BCE Stones used as tools by hominids (probably Homo erectus)
 
-300,000 BCE Tribes of Homo erectus live in hunting camps
 
-100,000 BCE  Neanderthal man in Gibralter
 
-35,000 BCE Cro-Magnon man evolves in Spain
 
-18,000-14,000 BCE Drawings by cave dwellers (Altamira, Ribadesella, Nerja)

 

 
(Bison cave painting, from Altamira)

 
-5,000 BCE Farming begins in Iberian Peninsula
 
-2,500 BCE Los Millares is inhabited by early metal workers their work shows belief in the afterlife.

 

(Examples of bronze-age metal work.)

 
-1,800 BCE-1,100 BCE Civilization of El Argar, an advanced agrarian society, fourishes in  southeast Spain
 
-1,100 BCE Phoenicians believed to have founded modern day Cádiz
 
-775 BCE Phoenicians establish colonies along the coast near Málaga
 
-700 BCE Semi-mythical kindgdom of Tartessus at its height

 

(Worship of Phoenician deities, such as Astarte, a fertility goddess was incorporated into local religions.)
 

-600 BCE Greek Colonists settle on northern coast of Spain 

(The Greek colonists brought new technology to the peninsula, including the pottey wheel.)
 

-300 BCE La Dama de Elche carved

(This beautiful Iberian statue shows the Greek influence that was pervasive at the time the Dama was carved.)

 
-228 BCE Carthaginians occupy southeast Spain

(A Carthaginian necklace.)