ABSTRACT
The last chapter described the rise of a series of cultures in the Iberian peninsula. They attained their apogee in the chalcolithic epoch, then seem to decline in the bronze age and finally to vanish without a trace. Incidentally points of contact with the north and with the east have been noted. The influence of the Iberic cultures must then have been considerable. But the interpretation of the foreign connections is a point keenly debated. To the orientalists the cultures of Iberia are only poor reflections of the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean; they may indeed have mediated between the latter and more northerly lands, but made little or no original contribution to historic progress. To the occidentalists the Peninsula was a creative and vital force which inspired not only the dwellers on the coasts of the Atlantic and the Western Mediterranean, but provided a stimulus even to the inhabitants of the Ægean isles and the Nile valley. The issues here raised are far-reaching and must be discussed consecutively under several heads.
