- Chapter Twenty-Eight -
small number of Celtic immigrants came up the valley of the Ebro into the eastern
Meseta, there to establish their knowledge of metallurgy, and were thus rapidly
integrated into the local elite. They could be jointly responsible for the flourishing
state of metallurgy, which can be seen at the Moncayo from the middle of the century
onwards. The Moncayo is situated in the core of that region in which the biggest
concentration of objects displaying Hallstatt and La Tene influences is found and
which, at the time of the Roman conquest, was settled by the Celtiberians.
Inscriptions testify to the worship of the Celtic deity Lugoves (in Osma, Soria).
The potsherd with the portrayal of Cernunnos comes from Numantia (Figure 28.10,
no. 1). It is, perhaps, no coincidence that it was just those gods who were patrons of
craftsmanship who were worshipped.
The radical changes of 400 BC must be linked to military operations. It seems
possible that there is a connection between these events and the breakdown of late
Hallstatt culture and the start of the Celtic immigration which followed. For it is
those very cemeteries which now develop, such as Luzaga (Guadalajara), and which
contain La Tene fibulae in association with reworked La Tene swords, already men-
tioned (see Figure 28.6, nos. 1-3). Fibulae showing horsemen displaying severed
heads suspended from the horse's neck are vivid testimony to the military clashes on
the Meseta (Figure 28.6; see no. 4). The influence of Celtiberian culture spreads from
the core area around the rivers Douro and Jalon to other groups. It is no coincidence
that it was in the upper Ebro region (Miravecche GrQup) and in Avila that the adja-
cent copper deposits were being exploited.
The finds referred to above are not the oldest indications of links with the Celtic
heartland. Contacts between the Iberian area and the region of late Hallstatt culture
can be shown in different ways: a spectacular find was the Iberian belt-hook which
was discovered in a secondary burial in the royal grave at the Magdalenenberg
near Villingen (Figure 28.II, no. 7) (Spindler 1983; fig. 16). It belongs to a group
which certainly dates to the sixth century BC and which was concentrated in the
north of the Meseta, focused on the area between the rivers Douro and Jalon
(Cerdeiio Serrano 1978: 288, fig. 2). The golden earrings with hour-glass-shaped
pendants from the royal grave at La Butte in Ste Colombe (Spindler 1983: 350, fig.
97) have a close parallel in the gold earring from Teruel (Schiile 1965) (Figure 28.11,
nos. 3-4 ). The armbands from the gold find of EI Carambolo (Carriazo 1973) bear
a striking resemblance to those of the Hochdorf prince (Figure 28.11, nos. 1-2). The
contacts between the Iberian peninsula and the Hallstatt princes were probably
based on economic links: gold-types in the late Hallstatt royal graves have very good
parallels on the Iberian peninsula (Hartmann 1970: 46ff.). It seems reasonable to
assume that this gold was traded through Massilia and in this way contacts with the
Hallstatt world were established. There are many signs that trading relations served
not only for the exchange of goods but also brought about the mobility of people.
Celtic groups later travelled to the Iberian peninsula along routes which had been
established through these trading contacts, extending up the river Ebro into the
Meseta region.
In the north-west of Spain and the north of Portugal, the so-called Castro culture
occurs; this culture is named after the numerous fortified hill-settlements which are
always found in easily defensible situations (Figure 28.1). There are considerable
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