Elements for the study of Northwestern Iberlan Iron Age Landscapes

Abstract

We try to offer a view of the Northwestern Iberian Iron Age from a Landscape Archaeology perspective, as a basis for further studies of the landscape of the Castro Culture. In that sense we adopt approaches 10 the landscape as a cultural construction and reconsider the usefulness of spatial analysis. We develop an operational distinction between three dimensions of the landscape: the subsistence studied through the analysis of the use of the soil; the social-political dimension studied through the occupation of space; and the symbolic dimension reflected in the conception of that space. We apply this scheme to the Northwestern Iberian Iron Age (Castro Culture), demonstrating, as their most important social and cultural features, their peasant and warrior character.