Prehistoric and Ancient Iberian Peninsula: From Paleolithic Hunters to Iron Age Celts

Prehistoric and Ancient Iberian Peninsula

Lower Paleolithic (c. 800,000 years ago)

Lower Paleolithic: Early hominins, possibly Homo antecessor, inhabited the peninsula during the first glacial periods of the Quaternary era, around 500,000 years ago with Homo heidelbergensis. They used handaxes and bifaces.

Middle Paleolithic (100,000-35,000 years ago)

Middle Paleolithic: Neanderthals lived during the third interglacial period. Remains from around 63,000 years ago have been found at Pinilla del Valle.

Upper Paleolithic (35,000-10,000 years ago)

Upper Paleolithic: Modern humans spread across the peninsula during the last glaciation. The final Upper Paleolithic phase is the Magdalenian, which in northern Spain produced the rich rupestrian art of the Franco-Cantabrian region, including the Altamira cave.

Mesolithic (10,000-5,000 years ago)

Mesolithic: As large fauna disappeared, populations adapted by exploiting smaller game and resources, using microliths and leaving behind shell middens (concheros). Rock painting of the Levantine School is characterized by schematism, stylization and monochromy.

Neolithic (4,500-2,500 years ago)

Neolithic: The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and livestock raising, influenced by immigrants from the Orient and the first Mesopotamian contacts around 8,000 years ago. Cardial ceramic culture is marked by decoration made with cardium shell impressions.

Eneolithic / Copper Age (2,500-1,700 years ago)

Eneolithic: The first metals appeared, beginning with gold, silver and copper, followed by bronze, while stone tools remained in use. Links with Oriental immigrants searching for mineral sources led to the first settlements in Almeria and Cartagena, later Huelva and southern Portugal. Major cultures emerged in the southern part of Spain.

Megalithic Architecture

Megalithic builders constructed corridor tombs and false-dome tombs. Around 2,000 years ago, the Bell Beaker (vaso campaniforme) culture spread, named after its bell-shaped ceramic pieces.

Full and Late Bronze Age (1,700-1,000 years ago)

Bronze Age: Urban cultures developed with specialized labor, commerce, centralized power and social classes. Characteristic structures include:

• Talaiots: circular tower structures with a defensive function.
• Navetas: inverted, boat-shaped collective burial monuments.
• Taulas: large stone tables associated with religious practices.

Tartessos

Tartessos: Located in Andalusia, this society based its economy on agriculture, livestock and coastal trade. Monarchy is referenced in Greek texts of the 6th century BC, including Argantonios, the first famous Spaniard. The kingdom was around for roughly 500 years before being absorbed by the Iberian peoples, a group of peoples from the 6th century BC.

Iberian Culture

Iberian culture: Before the Roman conquest, which eventually occupied the south and east of the peninsula, Iberian societies developed a high culture. Cities were ruled by monarchs, and social structure included slaves and nobles. Settlements were small, walled and built in strategic high places for defense. Houses were irregular, with a single rectangular room. The economy combined agriculture and livestock with little mining, and trade with colonists used coins. The Iberians used their own writing system and alphabet. The Lady of Elche (Damas oferentes) is a notable example of their funerary and religious art.

Celtic Culture

Celtic world: Celtic groups migrated from central Europe into Catalonia, mixing with the local population. Their culture was less developed: they had no coins and no writing, and their art was considered less refined. The economy centered on sheep farming, with significant metallurgy and cereal cultivation on the Meseta. Commerce was limited. Society was organized in family clans led by a military aristocracy, and slavery was absent. They lived in high villages called castros, protected by double walls, in round houses made of adobe or stone with roofs of branches or straw. Animal sculptures were made to protect livestock, and their pottery featured geometric decoration.