On Cultural and Material Boundaries: “Fingere l’identità” Ten Years Later

Abstract

In the fortieth issue of the Rivista di Studi Fenici, ten years ago, I presented a discussion of the Phoenician identity and of the "borders" of a Phoenician region, primarily through the analysis of the material culture. Over the last decade, many contributions have been published; some new acquisitions, including on the theoretical level, have changed the interpretative framework. Therefore, in the light of recent studies, the question discussed here is whether it still makes sense to go in search of the borders of Phoenicia, following the fil rouge of material culture, used as a cultural marker.