Early history Strabo cites
Ephorus's belief that there were Celts in the Iberian peninsula as far as
Cádiz. Celtic presence in Iberia likely dates to as early as the 6th century BC, when the
castros evinced a new permanence with stone walls and protective ditches. Archaeologists
Martín Almagro Gorbea and Alberto José Lorrio Alvarado recognise the distinguishing iron tools and extended family social structure of developed Celtiberian culture as evolving from the archaic
castro culture which they consider "proto-Celtic". Archaeological finds identify the culture as continuous with the culture reported by Classical writers from the late 3rd century onwards (Almagro-Gorbea and Lorrio). The ethnic map of Celtiberia was highly localised however, composed of different tribes and
nations from the 3rd century centered upon fortified
oppida and representing a wide-ranging degree of local assimilation with the autochthonous cultures in a mixed Celtic and Iberian stock. with possible location of tribes representing a warrior (3rd–2nd century BC) The cultural stronghold of Celtiberians was the northern area of the central
meseta in the upper valleys of the
Tagus and
Douro east to the
Iberus (
Ebro) river, in the modern provinces of
Soria,
Guadalajara,
Zaragoza and
Teruel. There, when Greek and Roman geographers and historians encountered them, the established Celtiberians were controlled by a military aristocracy that had become a hereditary elite. The dominant tribe were the
Arevaci, who dominated their neighbors from powerful strongholds at Okilis (
Medinaceli) and who rallied the long Celtiberian resistance to Rome. Other Celtiberians were the
Belli and
Titti in the
Jalón valley, and the
Lusones to the east. Excavations at the Celtiberian strongholds
Kontebakom-Bel Botorrita,
Sekaisa Segeda,
Termantia complement the grave goods found in Celtiberian cemeteries, where aristocratic tombs of the 6th to 5th centuries BC give way to warrior tombs with a tendency from the 3rd century BC for weapons to disappear from grave goods, either indicating an increased urgency for their distribution among living fighters or, as Almagro-Gorbea and Lorrio think, the increased urbanisation of Celtiberian society. Many late Celtiberian
oppida are still occupied by modern towns, inhibiting archaeology. Metalwork stands out in Celtiberian archaeological finds, partly from its indestructible nature, emphasising Celtiberian articles of warlike uses, horse trappings and prestige weapons. The two-edged sword adopted by the Romans was previously in use among the Celtiberians, and Latin
lancea, a thrown spear, was a Hispanic word, according to
Varro. Celtiberian culture was increasingly influenced by Rome in the two final centuries BC. From the 3rd century, the
clan was superseded as the basic Celtiberian political unit by the
oppidum, a fortified organised city with a defined territory that included the
castros as subsidiary settlements. These
civitates, as the Roman historians called them, could make and break alliances, as surviving inscribed hospitality pacts attest, and minted coinage. The old clan structures lasted in the formation of the Celtiberian armies, organised along clan-structure lines, with consequent losses of strategic and tactical control.
Late period The Celtiberians were the most influential ethnic group in Iberia when the Mediterranean powers (
Carthage and
Rome) started their conquests. In 220 BC, the Punic army was attacked when preparing to cross the Tagus river by a coalition of
Vaccei,
Carpetani and
Olcades. Despite these clashes, during the
Second Punic War the Celtiberians served most often as allies or mercenaries of
Carthage in its conflict with Rome, and crossed the
Alps in the mixed forces under
Hannibal's command. Under
Scipio Africanus, the Romans were able to secure alliances and change the allegiances of many Celtiberian tribes, using these allied warriors against the Carthaginian forces and allies in Spain. After the conflict, Rome took possession of the Punic empire in Spain, and some Celtiberians soon challenged the new dominant power that loomed in the borders of its territory.
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus spent the years 182 to 179
pacifying the Celtiberians. Gracchus boasted of destroying over 300 Celtiberian settlements. In 155 BC, a raid into
Hispania Ulterior (Farther Spain) by the
Lusitani and the defeat of two successive Roman praetors encouraged the town of
Segeda in
Hispania Citerior (Nearer Spain) to rebel. The following year, it refused to pay tribute or provide a military contingent to Rome but formed instead a confederacy with neighboring towns and began the construction of a defensive wall.
Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was sent against the Celtiberians in 153 BC, with nearly 30,000 men. But the consul was late in arriving and ambushed soon after, with 6,000 Romans slain. A siege of
Numantia several days later, where the Segedans had taken refuge, was no more successful. Three elephants were brought up against the town walls but became frightened and turned on the Romans, who retreated in confusion. There were other setbacks, and the hapless Nobilior was obliged to withdraw to camp, where more men suffered frostbite and died of the winter cold. Nobilior lost over 10,000 men in his campaign. In 137 BC, the Celtiberians forced the surrender of a 20,000-man Roman consular army led by
Gaius Hostilius Mancinus. In 134 BC, the consul
Scipio Aemilianus took charge of the demoralised Roman troops in Spain and laid
siege to Numantia. Nearby fields were laid waste and what was not used burned. The stronghold of Numantia then was circumvallated with a ditch and palisade, behind which was a wall ten feet high. Towers were placed every hundred feet and mounted with
catapults and
ballistae. To blockade the nearby river, logs were placed in the water, moored by ropes on the shore. Knives and spear heads were embedded in the wood, which rotated in the strong current. Allied tribes were ordered to send reinforcements. Even
Jugurtha, who later would revolt from Rome, himself, was sent from
Numidia with twelve war elephants. The Roman forces now numbered 60,000 men and were arrayed around the besieged town in seven camps. The Numantines, "ready though they were to die, no opportunity was given them of fighting". There were several desperate attempts to break out but they were repulsed. Nor could there be any help from neighboring towns. Eventually, as their hunger increased, envoys were sent to Scipio, asking if they would be treated with moderation if they surrendered, pleading that they had fought for their women and children, and the freedom of their country. But Scipio would accept only
deditio (surrender). Hearing this demand for absolute submission, the Numantines, "who were previously savage in temper because of their absolute freedom and quite unaccustomed to obey the orders of others, and were now wilder than ever and beside themselves by reason of their hardships," slew their own ambassadors. After eight months, the starving population was reduced to cannibalism and, filthy and foul smelling, compelled to surrender. But, "such was the love of liberty and of valour which existed in this small barbarian town," relates
Appian, that many chose to kill themselves rather than capitulate. Families poisoned themselves, weapons were burned, and the beleaguered town set ablaze. There had been only about 8,000 fighting men when the war began; half that number survived to garrison Numantia. Only a pitiable few survived to walk in Scipio's triumph. The others were sold as slaves and the town razed to the ground, the territory divided among its neighbors. : one of four bronze plates with inscriptions. After Numantia was finally taken and destroyed, Roman cultural influences increased; this is the period of the earliest
Botorrita inscribed plaque; later plaques, significantly, are inscribed in
Latin. The
Sertorian War (80–72 BC) marked the last formal resistance of the Celtiberian cities to Roman domination, which submerged the Celtiberian culture. The Celtiberian presence remains on the map of Spain in hundreds of Celtic
place-names. The archaeological recovery of Celtiberian culture commenced with the excavations of
Numantia, published between 1914 and 1931. A Roman army auxiliary unit, the Cohors I Celtiberorum, is known from Britain, attested by 2nd century AD discharge
diplomas. ==Genetics==