Vettonian cities

Abstract

The emergence of large fortified settlements, known as oppida, in “Celtic” Iberia during the Late Iron Age, is a process which begins to be known with more accuracy. As in other areas of temperate Europe, there were probably substantial differences between them, in terms of geographical setting, size, form, function and chronology. We know when some small settlements were founded, but the evolution of these communities into other ones that were somewhat larger and more complex is not clear. A basic question is whether the city grew in response to an internal process of evolution or to a changed model of society imposed by Rome. The exploration of the relationships between oppida, material culture and ethnicity is considered in this paper for the Vettones, one of the pre-Roman peoples in Western Spain. It is argued that the sociological interpretation of the cemeteries and the regional patterns of settlement offer interesting insights into the model of social organization of the indigenous societies between the fourth and first centuries BC.