THE CELTS
IN
ANDALUCIA
AND
EXTREMADURA
Research for the Comenius Project
2003 / 2004
© Adolfo Deaño 2004
INTRODUCTION
- This presentation is made up of different parts:
- Chronology of the Celts in Spain
- Celtic Beturia
- Celtic Traces by classical writers
- Main features of the Celts in Spain
- Some problems
- The Celts in Andalucia and Extremadura: archaeological sites
- Present-day locations of allegedly Celtic origin in Andalucia and Extremadura.
- Materials for investigation
- Open questions for further study
- Appendixes
The Celts in South-West Spain
¿When did Celts arrive in Hispania?
1. BASIC CHRONOLOGY
c.950 B.C Arrival of the “Urns Fields Culture” people from Central Europe
480 B.C Mercenaries in the Iberian Peninsula(Iberians, Celtiberians, Celts) take
part in the Battle of Himera
195 B.C Military campaigns by Consul Catón against Celtiberians
182 B.C The first Celtiberian War by the Romans: it is attested the biggest
Celtiberian army never known before: 35.000 men.
153 B.C Second Celtiberian War by the Romans: Defeat of the Arevacian city of
Numancia.
104 B.C Cimbrians and Teutons ( Germanic Tribes ) invade Hispania but they are
defeated by Celtiberians.
We deduce that Celts arrived in Spain first c.1000 B.C (thet came in 2 stages: first the “Urns Fields Culture” and then the “Hallstat culture ”althought it is thought that Hallstat Celts never reached the peninsular south )
2. CELTIC BETURIA
¿What is “Celtic Beturia?
- Beturia was the area comprising the lands between the GuadalquivirRiver or “Betis” and the GuadianaRiver or “Anas” from the 6th to the 1st centuries B.C
- Celtic Beturia was placed on the most western part of Sierra Morena up to the GuadianaRiver, the Andévalo in Huelva and the Alentejo in Portugal up to the Algarve.
- Beturia was divided into two depending on the peoples who lived there. Thus we have: Celtic Beturia and Turdulian Beturia.
- The Celts living in Beturia were called CELTICI.
3. CLASSICAL WRITERS
There is no apparent agreement among the information they provide. The three main classical authors who give us information about the Celts in the south-west part of the Iberian Peninsula are the following:
- ESTRABO
- PLINIUS
- POLIBIUS
- According to Estrabo, Turdetanians and Turduli were the same people.
- According to Polibius and Plinius, they were different peoples. (Plinius also talks about the turduli veteres en Lusitania (corrent Portugal).
The Celts, people of Indoeuropean origin migrated from the North of Spain to the South reaching even Portugal ( Lusitanians) looking for inhabited places.
- According to EFORO FROM CUMAS(Greek writer), the Celts reached “Gades”, present-day Cádiz, in Andalucía.
4. MAIN FEATURES OF THE CELTS IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA
- 2 types of funeral rites:
-Burial of small children into their own houses
-Cremation in a funeral pyre for adults
- Society divided into “centurias” y “gentilidades”
-It is believed that this was a way of organization between the tribe and the family.
-The men as head of the family but women also play a main role in it.
-Different social classes: warriors aristocracy, freemen and serves or slaves.
-Their economy was based on: agriculture, animal breeding, fruits gathering, hunting, fishing and perhaps plunder others.
-They use to live in high difficult inaccessible areas in Castros (small stone fortresses)
-Handicraft: pottery, iron , bronze, sculpture (Los verracos)
-Religion: it is estimated that they worshipped more than 300 gods. (???)
5. SOME PROBLEMS
- We do not know where the exact boundaries where between those territories.
- What relationship did Celts have with the mythic Tartesos (older than the Celtic one but sharing the same space: mines, animal breeding, fruits recollection)?
- How did they disappear? Were they conquered by the Tartesians, Carthaginians or Romans? Did they submit to other peoples without military opposition? It remains a mystery to us today.
THE CELTS INANDALUCIA AND EXTREMADURA
6. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
- Archaeological site: “El Molino de la Laguna” ( “La Sepultura”) “tholo” shrines (Paymogo, Huelva, Andalucía)
- Archaeological site: “El Castañuelo” (Aracena, Huelva, Andalucía)
- Archaeological site: “Nertóbriga” (Fregenal de la Sierra, Badajoz, Extremadura)
- Archaeological site: “Castrejón de Capote” (Higuera la Real, Badajoz, Extremadura)
7. PRESENT-DAY LOCATIONS OF CELTIC ORIGIN (IN ANDALUCÍA AND EXTREMADURA)
- Niebla, old “Ilipla”, ( Huelva, Andalucía)
- San Nicolás del Puerto or Alanís de la Sierra, old Celtic “Iporci”, (Sevilla, Andalucía)
- Monesterio, old Celtic “Cúriga” ,(Badajoz, Extremadura))
- Aroche, old “Turóbriga”( Huelva, Andalucía)
- “Arabriga” (north of Cáceres, Extremadura) Not found
- Zafra, old “Segeda” (Badajoz, Extremadura)
- El Viso del Alcor, old “Bastilippo”, (Sevilla, Andalucía)
- Jerez de los Caballeros, old “Seria”, (Badajoz, Extremadura)
- Ronda la Vieja, old “Acinipo”, (Málaga, Andalucía)
- Ronda, old “Arunda”, (Málaga, Andalucía)
- Morón de la Frontera (Sevilla, Andalucía), o Moura (Portugal),
8. MATERIAL FOR INVESTIGATION
- Berrocal Rancel, L. (1992):Los Pueblos Celtíberos del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica ,ed. Complutense.
- Almagro-Gorbea, M. y Berrocal-Rangel, L. (1997): Entre íberos y celtas: sobre santuarios comunales urbanos y rituales gentilicios en Hispania. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de castellón, 18
- Berrocal Rangel, Luís (1994): Castros y Oppida en Extremadura. Editores: Martín Almagro y Ana María Martín.
9. OPEN QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
We intend to carry out our investigation on the Celts mainly in Andalucia (our home region) and Extemadura. But investigation in these places is by no means easy at all due to the lack of present-day evidence. Therefore we think it more reasonable to follow the research of writers such us Luis Berrocal Rangel, who is the highest authority in Celts in the South-west of the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Spain. We are trying to find out some of his books but it is not easy since they are not new (1994) and they are highly specialized. However, we keep on trying to find them out as soon as possible to widen our knowledge about the Celts.
There seems to be some influence of Lusitanians on the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula. This can be one more way to go on our investigations trying to find out what relationship there was between them and the Celtici(in Spanish lands)
In Spain there was a time when the North was primarily Celtic (peoples coming from Central Europe) and the South was mainly Iberian (peoples coming from Africa). It would be interesting to undergo a research about Celts on the one hand, and Iberians on the other; paying attention to their individual features which would be later compared. Then we could deepen on Celtiberians in other parts of Spain just to make a more complete study of the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula.
We believe that the work would be somehow incomplete without a reference, slight as it could be, to the actual lands and territories where the Celts dwelled for some time; that is the mountain ranges in the South part of Extremadura, North part of Seville, Aracena and Picos de Aroche in Huelva, etc. We would like to draw attention to the kind of environment they lived in, the landscape, the flora and fauna, the main geographical features they might have known without forgetting on current life in the small white villages which we can visit in those wonderful lands.
10. APPENDIXES
10.1 Map of Spain: different regions
10.2 Map of Andalucia: our region
10.3 Map of Huelva: featuring Aracena
10.4 Map of Huelva: featuring Aracena Mountain Range
10.5 Map of the Iberian Peninsulafeaturing the Celtici(1)
10.6 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici (2)
10.7 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici (3)
10.8 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici (4)
10.9 Linguistic Map of the Pre-roman Iberian Peninsula
10.10 Rio Tinto Mines and images of Sierra de Aracena y
Picos de Aroche Mountain Range
HOW TO INTERPRETE THE SEQUENCE OF PICTURES
10.1 Map of Spain: different regions
This map is intended to present Spain with all his regions. Andalucia and Extremadura are in the South-West area next to Portugal.
10.2 Map of Andalucia: our region
This map is intended to present Andalucia region. We will focus on Huelva and Sevilla provinces.
10.3 Map of Huelva: featuring Aracena
In this map we can have an idea of the size and shape of the province of Huelva. North we can see Aracena.
10.4 Map of Huelva: featuring AracenaMountain Range
In this map we can see present-day locations which were refered to previously in our work: Aracena, Aroche, et. (in Huelva, Andalucia) and Fregenal de la Sierra, etc (in Badajoz, Extremadura). Perhaps a better map of Extremadura should be provided.
10.5- 10.8 Maps of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici (1 to 4)
A series of four maps drawn from the Internet which show the presence of the Celts in our area of study.
10.9Linguistic Map of the Pre-roman Iberian Peninsula
In this map we can see a linguistic map with the pre-roman languages spoken in the Peninsula. We should focus on section C-18 which displays “other Celtic dialects” referring to those spoken by the Celtici. In section C-20 we find a “Later Celticized area”. Also notice the closeness of Lusitanians on the West and Iberians in the East.
10.10 Rio Tinto Mines and images of Sierra de Aracena y
Picos de Aroche Mountain Range
This double section of pictures briefly shows two of the most important natural resources of our section of study:
- Rio Tinto Mines: the Celts surely took benefit from this place underwent mining.
- Fauna and Flora typical from that area: oaks, black pigs (credos ibéricos), hams, typical mountain villages, characteristic vegetation, etc.
Note: This photos are intended as a brief introduction to the current view of that area. There can be more investigation eventually.
10.1Map of Spain: different regions
10.2 Map of Andalucia: our region
10.3 Map of Huelva: the main Celtic area in Andalucia
10.4 Map of Huelva: featuring AracenaMountain Range
10.5 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici(1)
10.6 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici(2)
10.7 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici(3)
10.8 Map of the Iberian Peninsula featuring the Celtici(4)
10.9 Linguistic Map of the Pre-roman Iberian Peninsula
10.10 Rio Tinto Mines and images of Sierra de Aracena y
Picos de Aroche Mountain Range
RIO TINTO MINES
SIERRA DE ARACENA Y PICOS DE AROCHE ( MOUNTAIN RANGE )
Please, any comment would be welcome. Thanks very much.