Prehistory . Originally it was under a tumulus covered by stones rich in
mica The oldest human occupation of Galicia dates to the
Palaeolithic, when Galicia was covered by a dense oak
temperate rain forest. The oldest human remains found, at
Chan do Lindeiro, are from a woman who lived some 9,300 years ago and died because of a landslide, apparently while leading a pack of three
aurochs; the genetic study of her remains revealed a woman that was an admixture of
Western Hunter-Gatherer and
Magdalenian people. This type of admixture has been observed in France, also. Later on, some 6,500 years ago, a
new population arrived from the
Mediterranean, bringing
agriculture and
husbandry with them. Half of the woodland was razed to pasture and farmland, almost replacing all of the woodland some 5,000 years ago. This new population also changed the landscape with the first permanent human structures, megaliths such as
menhirs,
barrows and
cromlechs. During the Neolithic Galicia was one of the foci of
Atlantic European
Megalithic Culture, putting in contact the Mediterranean and south
Iberia with the rest of Atlantic Europe. Some 4,500 years ago a new culture and population arrived and presumingly admixed with the local farmers, the
Bell beaker people, coming ultimately from the
Pontic steppe, who introduced
copper metallurgy and
weaponry, and probably also new
cultivars and
breeds. Some scholars consider that they were the first people to bring
Indo-European languages into Western Europe. They lived in open
villages, only protected by fences or ditches; local archaeologists consider that they caused a very large culture impact, replacing
collectivism with
individualism, as exemplified by their burial in individual
cists, along with the reuse of old Neolithic tombs. From this period and later dates a rich tradition of
petroglyphs, which find close similarities in the British Isles, Scandinavia or
northern Italy. Motives include
cup and ring marks,
labyrinths, Bronze Age weaponry,
deer and deer hunting, warriors, riders and
ships. File:Labirinto do Outeiro do Cribo.JPG|
Outeiro do cribo ('sieve's hill') labyrinth File:Petroglifos do Castrinho de Conxo.jpg|
Castriño de Conxo, Bronze Age weaponry File:Laxe dos carballos 01.JPG|
Laxe dos Carballos, deer hunting with leaf-shaped spears and
cup and ring marks File:Casota de Freáns (II).jpg|
Casota de Freáns,
Vimianzo, a
Bronze Age megalith with no corridor or tumulus File:Tesoro de Caldas de Reis (37624896942).jpg|
Caldas de Reis hoard, one of the largest in Western Europe, circa 1,800 BCE File:Poboado da idade de bronce de Campo Lameiro.jpg|Interior of a Bronze Age cabin (recreation),
Campo Lameiro During the Late Bronze Age and until 800-600 BCE the contacts with both southern Spain to the south, and
Armorica and the
Atlantic Isles to the north, intensified, probably fuelled by the abundance of local gold and metals such as
tin, which allowed the production of high quality
bronze. It is at this moment that began the deposition or hoarding of prestige items, frequently in aquatic context. Also, during the Late Bronze Age a new type of ceremonial
henge-like ring structures, of some 50 metres in diameter, are built all along Galicia. This period and interchange network, usually known as
Atlantic Bronze Age, which appears to have had its centre in modern-day
Brittany, was proposed by
John T. Koch and
Sir Barry Cunliffe as the one that originated
Celtic languages —as a product of pre-existing and closely related Indo-European languages— which could have expanded along with the elite ideology associated with this cultural complex (
Celtic from the west theory). Alleged difficulties with this theory and with pre-existing theories ("Celtic from the east") have led Patrick Simms-Williams to propose an intermediate "Celtic from the centre" theory, with an expansion of Celtic languages from the Alps during the Bronze Age. A recent study shows the large scale admixture of an earlier population from Britain with people arriving probably from France during the late Bronze Age. These people, in the opinion of the authors, constitute a plausible vector for the expansion of Celtic languages into Britain, as no further Iron Age people movement of relevant scale is shown in their data. File:Deposito da Samieira.JPG|Late Bronze Age hoard of Samieira, unearthed in 1948 at some 50 metres from the seashore, and initially consisting of 152
palstaves File:Espadas_da_Idade_de_Bronce.jpg|Bronze Age Galician swords, Museo de Pontevedra File:Casco de Leiro, Castelo San Antón (A Coruña).jpg|
Casco de Leiro File:Estela de Pedra Alta (50115198022).jpg|
Pedra Alta warrior stelle, Castrelo do Val File:Estela de Castrelo do Val.svg|1. sword and girdle. 3. v-notch shield. 4. cart with horses File:Laxe dos Homes - Cequeril - Cuntis.jpg|Horned-helmet figures File:Outeiro dos Lameiros - Sabarís - Santa Cristina da Ramallosa - Baiona - III milenio a. C..jpg|A rider The Bronze Age - Iron Age transition (locally 1000-600 BCE) coincides with the hoarding of large quantity of bronze axes, unused, both in Galicia,
Brittany, and southern
Britain. During this same transitional period, some communities began to protect their villages, settling in very protected areas where they built
hill-forts. Among the oldest of these are
Chandebrito in
Nigrán,
Penas do Castelo in
A Pobra do Brollón and
O Cociñadoiro in
Arteixo, on a sea cliff and protected by a 3-metre-tall wall, it was also a metal factory, perhaps dedicated to the Atlantic commerce, all of them founded some 2,900-2,700 years ago. These earlier fortified settlements seem to be placed to control metallurgical resources and commerce. This transitional period is also characterized by the apparition of
longhouses of ultimately north European tradition which were replaced later in much of Galicia by
roundhouses. By the 4th century BCE hill-forts have expanded all along Galicia, also on lowlands, soon becoming the only type of settlements. These hill-forts were delimited usually by one or more walls; the defences also include ditches, ramparts and towers, and could define several habitable spaces. The gates were also heavily fortified. Inside, houses were originally built with perishable materials, with or without a stone
footing; later on they were entirely made with stone walls, having up to two storeys. Specially in the south, houses or public spaces were adorned with carved stones and warrior sculptures. Stone heads, mimicking severed heads, are found at several locations and were perhaps placed near the gates of the forts. A number of public installations are known, for example
saunas of probable ritual use. Of ritual use and great value were also items such as bronze cauldrons, richly figured sacrificial hatchets and gold torcs, of which more than a hundred exemplars are known. This culture is now known as
Castro Culture; another characteristic of this culture is the absence of known burials: just exceptionally
urns with ashes have been found buried at foundational sites, acting probably as protectors. File:Castromaior 2014.png|
Castromaior,
Portomarín, Lugo File:Castromaior relevo.png|
Castromaior relief File:Monumento con Forno 2 retouched.JPG|Sauna of Punta dos Prados,
Ortigueira File:Torques de la cultura castreña.jpg|Gold
torcs from Xanceda,
Mesía File:Bronze votivo do Museo de Pontevedra.JPG|Sacrificial hatchet showing an ox, cauldron and torc File:Espadas de Antenas.jpg|Short swords File:Arracadas castrejas.JPG|Local ear pendants of ultimate Mediterranean origin Occasional contacts with Mediterranean navigators, since the last half of the second millennium BCE, became common after the 6th century BCE and the voyage of
Himilco.
Punic importations from southern Spain became frequent along the coast of southern Galicia, although they didn't penetrate very far to the north or to the interior; also, new decorative motives, as the
six-petal rosettes, are popularized, together with new metallurgical techniques and pieces (ear pendants) and some other innovations as the round hand mill. In exchange, Punics obtained
tin, abundant in the islands and peninsulas of western Galicia (probable origin of the
Cassiterides island myth) and probably also gold. Incidentally,
Avienus'
Ora Maritima says after
Himilco that the
Oestrymni (inhabitants of western Iberia) used
hide boats to navigate, an assertion confirmed by
Pliny the Elder for the Galicians.
Roman conquest and
caetra.
Castro culture. First recorded contact with Rome happened during the
Second Punic War, when
Gallaecians and
Astures, together with
Lusitanians,
Cantabrians and
Celtiberians —that is, the major
Indo-European nations of Iberia— figured among the mercenary armies hired by
Hannibal to go with him into Italy. According to
Silus Italicus's
Punica III: Fibrarum, et pennæ, divinarumque sagacem Flammarum misit dives Callæcia pubem, Barbara nunc patriis ululantem carmina linguis, Nunc, pedis alterno percussa verbere terra, Ad numerum resonas gaudentem plaudere cætras. Hæc requies ludusque viris, ea sacra voluptas. Cetera femineus peragit labor: addere sulco Semina, et inpresso tellurem vertere aratro Segne viris: quidquid duro sine Marte gerendum, Callaici conjux obit inrequieta mariti. ,
Festa do Esquecemento "Opulent Galicia sent her youth, expert in divination through the entrails of beasts, the flight of birds and the divine lightnings; sometimes they delight to chant rude songs in their fatherland's tongues, other times they make the ground tremble with alternative foot while happily clashing their
caetra at the same time. This leisure and diversion is a sacred delight for the men, the feminine laboriosity do the rest: adding the seed to the furrow and working the ground with the plough while the men idle. Everything which must be done, with the exception of the hard war, is made restlessly by the wife of the Galician." He later also mentions the
Grovii of southern Galicia and northwestern Portugal, with their capital
Tui, apart from the other Galicians; other authors also marked the distinctness of the Grovii: Pomponius Mela by addressing that they were non Celtic, unlike the rest of the inhabitants of the coasts of Galicia; Pliny by signalling their Greek origin. The Roman contact had a very large impact on the Castro Culture: an increase in commerce with the south and the Mediterranean; adoption or development of sculpture and stone carving; the
warrior ethos appear to increase in social importance; some hill-forts are built new or rebuilt as true urban centres,
oppida, with streets and definite public spaces, as
San Cibrao de Las (10
ha) or
Santa Trega (20 ha). File:Muros de San Cibrao de Las.jpg|Gates of the oppidum of Saint Cibrao de Las File:Castro de San Cibrao de Las, 2014. PNOA cedido por © Instituto Geográfico Nacional.jpg|Aerial photo of San Cibrao de Las File:A Guarda-Castro de Santa Trega.jpg|Santa Tregra, A Guarda File:2014 Castro de Santa Trega. A Guarda. Galiza.jpg|Santa Trega with the
Minho in the background File:Caetra de Lucus Augusti.png|
As minted circa 20 BCE during the conquest of Galicia, Asturia and Cantabria File:Caetra dupondio lucus augusti.svg|Arms of the Gallaeci: knife,
javelins,
falcata and
caetra File:Capela de Formigueiro - Amoeiro.jpg|Equitation scene, Formigueiro,
Amoeiro In 61 BCE,
Julius Caesar, commanding thirty
cohorts, launched from
Cádiz a maritime campaign along the Atlantic shores which ended in
Brigantium. According to
Cassius Dio, the locals, who had never seen a Roman fleet, surrendered in awe. Recent excavations at the
Castro de Elviña hillfort, near A Coruña, have found both evidences of siege and partial destruction of the walls of the site, and also of a temple, dated to the middle of the first century BCE. Finally, in 29 BCE,
Augustus launched a campaign of conquest against Gallaecians, Asturians and Cantabrians. The most memorable episode of this war was the siege on the Mons Medullius, who
Paulus Orosius placed near the
Minho river: it was surrounded by a 15 mille trench before a simultaneous Roman advance; according to
Anneus Florus the besieged decided to kill themselves, by fire, sword, or by the venon of the
yew tree. Tens of Roman camps have been found related to this war, most of them corresponding to the later stages of the war, against Asturians and Cantabrians, some twenty of them in Galicia. Augustus' victory over the Gallaecians is celebrated in the
Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, Turkey, where a triumphal monument to
Augustus mentions them among other fifteen nations conquered by him. Also, the
triumphal arch of
Capentras probably represents a Gallaecian among other nations defeated by Augustus.
Languages and ethnicity Pomponius Mela (a geographer from Tingentera, modern day
Algeciras in Andalusia) described, circa 43 CE, the coasts of northwestern Iberia: Frons illa aliquamdiu rectam ripam habet, dein modico flexu accepto mox paululum eminet, tum reducta iterum iterumque recto margine iacens ad promunturium quod Celticum vocamus extenditur. Totam Celtici colunt, sed a Durio ad flexum Grovi, fluuntque per eos Avo, Celadus, Nebis, Minius et cui oblivionis cognomen est Limia. Flexus ipse Lambriacam urbem amplexus recipit fluvios Laeron et Ullam. Partem quae prominet Praesamarchi habitant, perque eos Tamaris et Sars flumina non longe orta decurrunt, Tamaris secundum Ebora portum, Sars iuxta turrem Augusti titulo memorabilem. Cetera super Tamarici Nerique incolunt in eo tractu ultimi. Hactenus enim ad occidentem versa litora pertinent. Deinde ad septentriones toto latere terra convertitur a Celtico promunturio ad Pyrenaeum usque. Perpetua eius ora, nisi ubi modici recessus ac parva promunturia sunt, ad Cantabros paene recta est. In ea primum Artabri sunt etiamnum Celticae gentis, deinde Astyres. In Artabris sinus ore angusto admissum mare non angusto ambitu excipiens Adrobricam urbem et quattuor amnium ostia incingit: duo etiam inter accolentis ignobilia sunt, per alia Ducanaris exit et Libyca "That ocean front for some distance has a straight bank, then, having taken a slight bend, soon protrudes a little bit and then it is drawn back, and again and again; then, lying on a straight line, the coast extends to the promontory which we call Celtic. All of it is inhabited by Celtics, except from the Durio until the bend, where the Grovi dwelt —and through them flow the rivers Avo, Celadus, Nebis, Minius and Limia, also called Oblivio—. On the bend there is the city of Lambriaca and the receding part receives the rivers Laeros and Ulia. The prominent part is inhabited by the Praestamarci, and through them flow the rivers Tamaris and Sars —which are born not afar— Tamaris by harbour Ebora, Sars by the tower of Augustus, of memorable title. For the rest, the Supertamarici and Neri inhabit in the last tract. Up to here what belongs to the western coast. From there all the coast is turned to the north, from the Celtic promontory to the Pyrenees. Its regular coast, except where there are small retreats and small headlands, is almost straight by the Cantabrians. On it first of all are the Artabri, still a Celtic people, then the Astures. Among the Artabri there is a bay which lets the sea through a narrow mouth, and encircles, not in a narrow circuit, the city of Adrobrica and the mouth of four rivers." The Atlantic and northern coast of today's Galicia was inhabited by Celtic peoples, with the exception of the southern extreme. Others geographers and authors (Pliny, Strabo), as well as the local Latin epigraphy, confirm the presence of Celtic peoples. As for the language or languages spoken by the Galicians previously to their
romanization, most scholars usually perceive a primitive
Indo-European layer, another later one hardly distinguishable from Celtic and identifiable with
Lusitanian, most notable in the south, the Gallaecia Bracarense (as a result, Lusitanian is sometimes called
Lusitanian-Gallaecian) and finally Celtic proper; as stated by Alberto J. Lorrio: "the presence of Celtic elements in the Northwest is indisputable, but there is no unanimity in considering whether there was an only Indo-European language in the West of Iberia, of Celtic kind, or either a number of languages derived from the arrival of non-Celtic Indo-Europeans first, and Celts later on". Some academic positions on this issue: •
Francesco Benozzo, proponent of the
Palaeolithic continuity theory, considers that Celtic language is autochthonous in Galicia. Since recent genetic studios show that European and Iberian Palaeolithic population was assimilated by larger migrant populations proceeding first from the Balkans and
Anatolia, and later from Central Europe and ultimately from the
Pontic steppe, this theory is probably flawed. • For
John T. Koch and
Barry Cunliffe, proponent of the
Celtic from the West theory, the Celtic language would have expanded during the late Bronze Age from the European Atlantic fringe, including Galicia, to the east. For Patrick Simms-Williams, Celtic expanded from modern day France during the late Bronze Age. and
Francisco Villar defend that Lusitanian is a non Celtic Indo-European language related to
Italic languages because, in their opinion, the Indo-European
aspirated stops have evolved into /f/ and /h/. At the same time, all along the area of this language, and specially in modern-day Galicia, a Celtic language was spoken; this language, a
q-Celtic language similar to
Celtiberian, is the
Western Hispano-Celtic. • Joaquín Gorrochategui, José M. Vallejo, Alberto J. Lorrio, García Alonso, E. Luján and others, consider that Lusitanian is not a Celtic language, but they don't consider it closer to Italic, neither, but part of a group of IE dialects which later evolved into Celtic, Italic and Lusitanian. On the other hand, Celtic speakers lived in close proximity to the Lusitanian. In this context, Gallaecia Bracarensis was clearly in communion with the Lusitania, while Gallaecia Lucensis had its own Celtic profile. •
Jürgen Untermann, continued by his disciple Carlos Búa, defended that along the westernmost part of Iberia there was essentially just one language or group of languages, Gallaecian-Lusitanian or Lusitanian and Gallaecian, which in their opinion was definitely Celtic and not Italoid, as shown by the ending of dative plural (-bo, -bor hos) and the evolution of the
syllabic consonants, in particular -r̥- > -ri-. • Local scholars and researchers of toponymy and lexicon of pre-Latin origin (J. J. Moralejo, Edelmiro Bascuas) saw at least two layers of Indo-Europeans: one early layer of a very primitive IE language which preserved p, most notable in river names, and a later Celtic layer.
Roman period After the Roman conquest, the lands and people of northwestern Iberia were divided in three
conventi (
Gallaecia Lucensis,
Gallaecia Bracarensis and Asturia) and annexed to the province of
Hispania Tarraconensis. Pliny wrote that the Lucenses comprised 16
populi and 166,000 free heads, and mentions the
Lemavi,
Albiones,
Cibarci, Egivarri
Namarini, Adovi,
Arroni, Arrotrebae, Celtici Neri,
Celtici Supertamarci, Copori,
Celtici Praestamarci,
Cileni among them (other authors mention also the Baedui,
Artabri and
Seurri); the
Astures comprised 22 populi and 240,000, of whom the Lougei, Gigurri and Tiburi dwelt lands now in Galicia; finally the Bracarenses 24
civitates and 285,000, of whom the
Grovi, Helleni,
Querquerni,
Coelerni, Bibali,
Limici, Tamacani and
Interamici dwelt, at least partially, in modern-day Galicia. The names of some of these peoples have been preserved as the names of regions, parishes and villages:
Lemos File:Roman-soldier-1878213 1920.jpg|Reenactors at Lugo's
Arde Lucus File:Aquis Querquennis. Baños de Bande. Galiza. 2013-5.jpg|Roman camp of Aquis Querquennis File:Galician-Celtic princeps - albioni.jpg|Nicer Clutosi's stelle File:Estela de Crecente. Séc I dC. Museo Provincial de Lugo.jpg|Apana Amboli's stele File:Tábula de hospitalidade - bronce - O carbedo - Esperante - O Folgoso do Courel. Museo Provincial de Lugo-2.jpg|Tabula hospitalis from Carbedo File:Castro de Viladonga-vista aerea.jpg|Romanized hill-fort of Viladonga, Castro de Rei During the
Diocletian reforms, late third century, Gallaecia was upgraded to
province.
Germanic era: 5th – 8th centuries In 409, the
Vandals,
Suebi, and
Alans, who had entered in the Roman Empire in 405 or 406
crossing the Rhine, passed into the Iberian Peninsula. After a year of war and plundering, they were pacified by the offering of lands where to settle. The Roman province of Gallaecia (including Gallaecia proper and the regions of
Asturia and Cantabria) were assigned to the Suebi and the
Hasding Vandals. Both groups clashed soon, in 419, and so the Vandals left to southern Iberia, where they incorporated the last remnants of Alans and
Silingi Vandals, who had been crushed by Rome in previous years. In 429 the Vandals left for Africa. In 430, a long term conflict broke in between the Suebi and locals who chronicler
Hydatius called
gallaecos (i.e.
galegos, the endonym of modern-day Galicians) and, initially,
plebs ("folk, common people"), in contrast with whom he called
romani: the rural landowners in Lusitania and the inhabitants of the cities. Soon, among those Galicians, appear also local noblemen and churchmen. As the
Britons in southern Great Britain, the Galician were forced to act autonomously from Rome, exercising home rule. They reoccupied old Iron Age hill-forts and built new strongholds and
fortification all along Galicia; the largest known today are at Mt. Pindo, Mt. Aloia and at Castro Valente. These fortresses were later used by locals against Visigoths,
Arabs and
Norsemen. In this conflict in between Galicians and Suebi, Rome and local bishops acted frequently rather as
intermediaries than as a part, and peace our truce was obtained or warranted with the interchange of prisoners and
hostages. In 438, both people attained a peace that would last for twenty years; by then old king
Hermeric, who had led their people at least since their arrival from
Central Europe, ceded the crown to his son
Rechila, who would expand the kingdom to the south and east, conquering
Emerita Augusta,
Mértola and
Seville, and moving his troops into eastern Hispania, defeating both Roman and
Visigoth armies along the way. His successor and son,
Rechiar, converted from
paganism to Catholicism upon being crowned, and married a Visigoth princess. He negotiated with Rome a new status for his kingdom and became the first post-Roman Germanic king to mint coins in his name. The chronicle of Hydatius also records naval raids of both Vandals and
Heruli on the Galician coasts during the 5th century.
Medieval era In 718 the area briefly came under the control of the Moors after their conquest and dismantling of the Visigothic Empire, but the Galicians successfully rebelled against Moorish rule in 739, establishing a renewed
Kingdom of Galicia which would become totally stable after 813 with the medieval popularization of the
"Way of St James". ==Geography and demographics==