The Celtiberian towns of the Eastern Meseta

Abstract

The geographical territory of the Celtiberians is analyzed according to their environmental and economic characteristics, with special emphasis on the eastern plateau of Castile where the Celtiberia Ulterior was located in the High Douro basin. In this framework, the archaeological evidence allows to analyze the background and beginnings of the Celtiberian urbanism, which started before the first information available from the Greco-Roman throughout the Roman conquest of the area. The bulk of archaeological and textual documentation provides a better understanding of the Celtiberian settlement organization, including the city-state as a key reference, the territory, urbanism, defenses, domestic architecture, demography, and the forms of government and their reflection in the funerary rituals. Finally, the paper analyzes the transformations that took place in this polity after the Roman conquest.