Hey Benstat,
Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. The contacts on your iPhone are linked to an email account, either iCloud or third-party. It sounds like during the troubleshooting you mentioned, the account that these contacts were linked to was either disabled or removed. First, make sure you still see all accounts from Settings > Contacts > Accounts. If you need to add an account, you can use this guidance from Add an email account - Apple Support.
"Set up automatically if you use a common email provider
If you use an email provider like iCloud, Google, Microsoft Exchange, or Yahoo, Mail can automatically set up your email account with just your email address and password. Here's how:
- Go to Settings > Mail, then tap Accounts.
- Tap Add Account, then select your email provider.
- Enter your email address and password.
- If you see Next, tap Next and wait for Mail to verify your account.
- If you see Save, tap Save."
All the best.