- The Celts in Spain -
surrounded by stone walls; the houses have round or oval ground-plans. The
basis of the economy was agriculture and livestock; the Roman sources especially
emphasize horse-breeding in Galicia and Asturia. The extremely rich mineral
resources, including copper, tin, gold and silver, for which the region was familiar in
classical times, were doubtless already being exploited in the pre-Roman period.
We are informed about personal appearance and weaponry only for the time
immediately preceding the Roman conquest. The weapons were the spear, dagger
and round shield. The social structure was different from that of the Meseta culture;
clan names are not present here. The many votive inscriptions give us information
about the indigenous divinities who, in the main, were worshipped on hilltops.
Among them one finds names such as Lucubo, Lucoubu (Lugus), Teutates,
Bormanus, who was venerated at thermal spring-sanctuaries in Gaul, and Adaegina,
who may be equated with a goddess of night. Tetes coupees, stone heads with torques
and multi-headed stone figures are also found. It is not in question that the north-
west of the peninsula spoke a Celtic dialect. The tribal name Gallaeci is enshrined
in the modern name of Galicia. Archaeological evidence for links with the Celtic
world is particularly clear in prestige objects: heavy gold torques, which can be
finely classified into subdivisions through the decoration on their terminals, occur
frequently in gold hoards dating mainly to the first century Be (Figure 28.12, no. 2).
Torques are often worn by the guerreros galaicos, life-size stone figures who are
armed with daggers and round shields; they are found mainly in the entrance areas
of castros (Figure 28.12, no. I). In addition there are many variants of fibulae with an
embellished foot, some of which are closely related to the western Hallstatt region,
while others are of obviously local character. Almagro argues that Celtic influences
were relatively late in reaching the north-west from the Celtiberian core area
(Almagro Gorbea 1991: 401). This is, however, contradicted by the complete absence
of long swords and La Tene fibulae. Even though the lack of swords might be
explained by the find circumstances, the absence of fibulae is nevertheless odd.
Perhaps the 'celticization' in fact took place at the same time as in the Meseta region.
Philological evidence can be similarly interpreted, based on a comparison between
Galician linguistic remains and those of the Celtiberian region and in Gaul (Albertos
Firmat 1975: 52). Of course, this does not exclude the movements of groups in some-
what later times. Thus the proper name 'Celtiber' (which occurs only once in the
north-west) proves that such an immigration took place.
A map, which contains the distribution of certain objects of the Castro culture
such as sculptures and jewellery, shows a north-south division of the region, which
approximately follows the course of the Rio Minho. Later, the Romans created the
administrative units of gallaeci bracari and gallaeci lucenses, and it is clear that these
are based on the old tribal areas (d. Figures 28.1 and 28.8).
Hardly any archaeological evidence for Celtic links can be found outside the
Celtiberian core region and the Galician-north Portuguese area of the Castro culture.
Lusitania, between the rivers Tagus and Douro, is almost totally without finds.
But here, the frequently occurring Celtic personal name 'Celtius' is evidence of the
immigration of Celtic groups into originally non-Celtic territory (Figure 28.1).
Pliny's account of the immigration of Celtiberians from Lusitania to Baetica refers
to the western part of Andalusia (Naturalis Historia 11.13). Untermann was able to
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