The Iron Age settlement in the southwest of the Northern Meseta

Abstract

This article analyses the settlement dynamics in the southwest of the Duero basin throughout the Iron Age (ca. 950-50 cal BC). To that end, the different settlement patterns that can be distinguished in each phase are examined, as well as the transformations and continuities detected in the settlement during this period. The Iron Age in this area marks the full sedentarisation of the human groups, who will effectively appropriate the landscape through the construction of permanent settlements and cemeteries, as well as the configuration of the crop fields and pasture areas. In this period, we witness the appearance of stable villages, which are eventually monumentalised through the erection of important defensive systems and, in some cases, leading to the first cities (or oppida) in this area. On a demographic level, the Iron Age seems to correspond with a population growth that would enable the transformation of villages occupied by just a few hundred of people into cities inhabited by thousands.