Restoring contacts from water damaged phone

I can’t seem to locate my contacts from my previous iphone6 plus. It was salt water damaged and will no longer turn on. I’ve bought an iPhone 8, and restored the last backup from my previous phone. Everything appears to have backed up and restored to new phone except my contacts. I’ve tried various ways to locate the contacts without success. Is it possible my contacts were never being backed up to begin with?? Thanks for any help