The coastal plain near Barcelona conserves remains from the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods.

Later, in the thirrd and second centuries BCE, the area is settled by the Laietani, an Ιberian people, at Barkeno on the Táber hill (in the present-day Ciutat Vella, or "Old City") and at Laie (or Laiesken), believed to have been located on Montjuïc.

Both settlements struck coinage which survives to this day.

At around the same period, a small Greek colony, Kallipolis, is founded in the region, though its exact location is unclear.

Hannibal allegedly founds the port of Barcino (deriving its name from the Barca family).

Up until this point, the northern limit of the Punic territories had been the Ebro river, located over one hundred and fifty kilometers to the south.

This military occupation is often cited as the foundation of the modern city of Barcelona, today the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia.