The Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Iron Age across the Iberian Peninsula, transcending the division between ‘Celtic/Indo-European’ and ‘Iberian/non-Indo-European’ areas which has characterized previous research. This division arose largely from diffusionist thinking that considered cultural development to be dependent on western European or Mediterranean influences respectively, and linked to historical processes led by the great Mediterranean civilizations (Orientalization, Phoenician, and Greek colonization). The chapter begins with an outline of the history of research, the geographical context, and the main types of periodization in use. It then offers a summary of the archaeological record employing a framework of ten regions, beginning with the north-west and ending with the north-east. The final section considers the main subjects of current research into the Iron Age on the Iberian Peninsula (ways of life, the economy, complexity, identity, ritual, and cultural expression).