In Galicia and Northern Portugal a castro is fortified pre-Roman Iron Age Celtic village, usually located in a hill or some natural easy defendable place. The larger castros are called Citanias or cividades. Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... This article is about the European people. ... A village is a human settlement commonly found in rural areas. ...

Archeology

Castro de Baroña, Galicia, Spain.

Castros were located in the top of hills which allowed tactical control over the surrounding countryside, and provided natural defenses. These invariably had a fountain or small creek to provide water, and in some large reservoirs were built to use during sieges. Tipically a Castro has a triple loose stone and earth wall, which complements the natural defenses of the hill. The houses inside are about 3,5 to 5 metres long, mostly circular with some rectangular, stone-made and with hay roofs which rested on a wood column in the centre of the building. Their streets are somewhat regular, suggesting some form of central organization. Castros vary in diameter from some dozens of metres to several hundred. Castros were mostly places of refuge during the frequent Celtic Tribal Wars, although many, including all the Citanias, were inhabited continuously as well. Image File history File links Galice_castro. ... Image File history File links Galice_castro. ... Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Tactics is the collective name for methods of winning a small-scale conflict, performing an optimization, etc. ... The Jet dEau fountain in Lake Geneva in Geneva A traditional fountain is an arrangement where water issues from a source (Latin fons), fills a basin of some kind, and is drained away. ... A running stream. ... A reservoir is an artificial lake created by flooding land behind a dam. ... For the Boston area punk band see Siege (band). ... A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. ... Tribal refers to a culture or society based on tribes or clans. ...

History

Dunadd hillfort near Kilmartin in Argyll, Scotland as an example of Scotish and Irish Castro.

Many Castros were already inhabited during the Bronze Age, long before the Celtic Invasions and it is thought that the Iberian culture of these settlements largely survived the Celtic influx, with which it blended, adopting the Celtic Language as a lingua franca with their commercial contacts along the Atlantic Coast. Indeed many of the Megaliths from the Bronze Age like Menhirs and Dolmens which are frequently located nearby the Castros, predate the Celts in Portugal and Galicia as well as in Atlantic France, Britain and Ireland, but they were probably reutilized in syncretic rituals by the Celtic Druids. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1248x1008, 221 KB) Dunadd, Kilmartin Glen, Scotland Author: Wojsyl, August 2002 File links The following pages link to this file: Dunadd Castro (village) Celtic Gallaecia Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1248x1008, 221 KB) Dunadd, Kilmartin Glen, Scotland Author: Wojsyl, August 2002 File links The following pages link to this file: Dunadd Castro (village) Celtic Gallaecia Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it inhabited by the Iberians, speaking the Iberian language. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... Megalithic tomb, Mane Braz, Brittany A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones. ... A menhir is a large, single upright standing stone (monolith or megalith), of prehistoric European origin. ... T shaped Hunebed D27 in Borger-Odoorn, Netherlands, recent. ... Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Arch-Druid in his full Judicial Costume (1845 etching) In Celtic polytheism the word Druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies, which existed through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ...

Many Castros were destroyed by the Romans, but others were expanded into proper cities.