Castros (Spain): Difference between revisions

Castro of Coaña, next to Coañas (Asturias).

Castro of Fazouro, Foz, (Galicia).

Cabins the Castro of Santa Tegra, in the Mount of Santa Tegra, (municipality of A Guarda, Galicia).

A Castro is a fortified settlement, usually pre-Roman, some from late Bronze Age and Iron Age, the oldest research associated with the culture Celtic. These are frequently found in the Spain, particularly in the northwest with the Castro culture and on the plateau with Las Cogotas culture.

The word castro comes from the Latin castrum, which means "hill fort".

Castros of the Castro culture

Main article: Castro culture

The castro is a fortified [[village that began to inhabit from the 6th century B.C., lacking streets of right angles and full of construction almost always circular. The oldest houses were mostly of straw-mud and the latest masonry. The roof was made of branches and mud and after long poles. Basically, they were unique rooms. These are located in naturally protected areas (heights, riots rivers, small peninsulas), close of sources and arable land and on the border between these and higher areas of grazing.

The castros were protected by one or more moats, parapets and walls that bordered the inhabited recint, may have in its acceses a torreón that controlled the entry ways to itself or another strategic location.

In times of conflict, the people who lived in open field moved to these buildings, located at strategic locations to ensure their safety. Could also have other purposes such as control of territory, vigilance of crops, etc.

Its situation on the territory compared to other castros suggests that there was a definite strategy when choosing its location, allowing the communication by signals between them as a defensive network.

The maximum flowering time is between 4th-2nd century B.C. and show greater business contact with the outside of the south than the north, and the coastal than the inland. Some historians argues that in the first mid-1st century B.C. seems to have a multiplication of castros (either for population growth or for other reasons). At the end of the century, coinciding with the final phase of the Roman conquest, some with signs of destruction of the walls and in some cases immediate reoccupation.

See Also

• Castros in Asturias
• Castros in Ávila
• Castros in Cantabria
• Castros in the Basque Country
• Castros in Galicia
• Hill fort
• Oppidum
• Gaztelu zahar

External links

• Official website of the Castro of Chao Samartín and its Museum. A look at the Castro culture in western Asturias and archaeological research in motion
• Castros catalog of Ferrol, Narón and Valdoviño.
• Veton territory. Necropolis of La Osera, Castro of la Mesa de Miranda, Chamartin de la Sierra (Ávila)
• The Recent prehistory in Asturias
• Castros and castra in Cantabria. Fortifications from the beginning of the Iron Age to the wars with Rome. Catalog, review and update