Castro culture

Castro culture (Galician: cultura castrexa, Portuguese: cultura castreja, Asturian: cultura castriega, Spanish: cultura castreña) is the archaeological term for the material Celtic culture of the north-western regions of the Iberian Peninsula (present-day northern Portugal together with Galicia, western Asturias and north western León) from the end of the Bronze Age (c. 9th century BC) until it was subsumed by Roman culture (c. 1st century BC). The most notable characteristics of this culture are: its walled oppida and hill forts, known locally as castros, from Latin castrum "castle", and the scarcity of visible burial practices, in spite of the frequent depositions of prestige items and goods, swords and other metallic riches in rocky outcrops, rivers and other aquatic contexts since the Atlantic Bronze Age. This cultural area extended east to the Cares river and south into the lower Douro river valley.

The area of Ave Valley was the core region of this culture, with a large number of small Castro settlements, but also including larger oppida, the cividades (from Latin civitas, city), some known as citânias by archaeologists, due to their city-like structure: Cividade de Bagunte (Civitas Bogonti), Cividade de Terroso (Civitas Terroso), Citânia de Briteiros, and Citânia de Sanfins.

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