Recursos naturales y economía de los cántabros de la Edad del Hierro Environment, natural resources and territory in the Cantabric Iron Age

Abstract

This paper introduces the conclusions of a research work carried out by the author in the Northern Spanish Meseta, in the inner side of the Cordillera Cantábrica. This work gives a new vision of the economical activities and the life conditions of the Cantabros in the end of the Later Age. This research use the Greco-Latin sources, the publications among the archaeological investigations in the area and ethnographical information contrasted with the author’s Etnoarchaeological fieldwork on the area during four years. The aim of this work is the construction of an Economical Model. This ones tries to explain the relationship between the Cantabros and their environment through the practical of gathering and pastoralism with mining in the periglaciar areas of the mountains and low intensity agriculture. Through this work hypothesis the settlement patterns, the conception of territory and the use of war as a complex practice of relationship with another ethnic groups are explained.