02-01-2009, 03:22 AM
Well, the Ebro valley is a large place. To the north of the valley were the Vascones who were there before the first Hallstatt Celts arrived in the 9th century BC and are still there today as the Basque people. To the south of them are the Iberian tribes such as Ilercavones and south through Edetanos, Contestanos and as far as Bastetanos to modern Almunecar, east of Malaga. The Le Tene Celts didn’t make any cultural impact to note in these regions.
The Gauls did settle and influence their predecessors, Hallstatt Celts, to the east of the Ebro valley.
In response to your question ‘I didn’t think the Iberians ever dominated the whole northern front(just northeast and central), so I wonder who or what stopped the gauls(and the Iberians) along the northwest border. Vascones?’
The Vascones were to the north east on the eastern side of the Ebro valley and the Iberians only settled in the east and south east of the peninsula.
The Lusitanos and Vettones to the west were indo-European. The Lusitanos, who would go on to dominate the western region, had to fight for their independence from Celtic tribes.
In the North west region, tribes such as the Calaicos, who spilled out from the Lusitanos, did mix with the Celtic people.
The Iberians on the other hand were said to have been strongly influenced by both Phoenician and Greeks and shared their origins with North Africans so there would have been a culture and language barrier with the inland people.
‘I also seem to remember that the iberians was under the influence of some kind of hellenistic urnfield culture, influenced by the greek colonies along the coast. Can you correct me on this one, it seems rather unlikely that late, but what do I know...’
As far as i know the Greek influence in the Iberian peninsula was to bury the dead, where as the Urn field culture was a bronze age ritual with origins from the Celts to the west, Slavs to the north, Itallic’s to the south and Illyrians to the south east. The cremation continued for quite a while after the Punic wars. Most, if not all of Spain would cremate their dead.
Oddly enough the Phoenicians too, buried their dead, so in retrospect their must of been a mixture of burials and cremations along the south, south east and south west coast.
The Gauls did settle and influence their predecessors, Hallstatt Celts, to the east of the Ebro valley.
In response to your question ‘I didn’t think the Iberians ever dominated the whole northern front(just northeast and central), so I wonder who or what stopped the gauls(and the Iberians) along the northwest border. Vascones?’
The Vascones were to the north east on the eastern side of the Ebro valley and the Iberians only settled in the east and south east of the peninsula.
The Lusitanos and Vettones to the west were indo-European. The Lusitanos, who would go on to dominate the western region, had to fight for their independence from Celtic tribes.
In the North west region, tribes such as the Calaicos, who spilled out from the Lusitanos, did mix with the Celtic people.
The Iberians on the other hand were said to have been strongly influenced by both Phoenician and Greeks and shared their origins with North Africans so there would have been a culture and language barrier with the inland people.
‘I also seem to remember that the iberians was under the influence of some kind of hellenistic urnfield culture, influenced by the greek colonies along the coast. Can you correct me on this one, it seems rather unlikely that late, but what do I know...’
As far as i know the Greek influence in the Iberian peninsula was to bury the dead, where as the Urn field culture was a bronze age ritual with origins from the Celts to the west, Slavs to the north, Itallic’s to the south and Illyrians to the south east. The cremation continued for quite a while after the Punic wars. Most, if not all of Spain would cremate their dead.
Oddly enough the Phoenicians too, buried their dead, so in retrospect their must of been a mixture of burials and cremations along the south, south east and south west coast.
