Castros The ancient home of the Gaulish people

Situated in an impressive enclave on the top of a hill in the fishing village of A Guarda, at the confluence of the estuary of the river Minho and the Atlantic, is the impressive Santa Trega hillfort, whose period of occupation spans from the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC.

The site had a strong strategic and symbolic component , as there are a number of Bronze Age rock engravings on its slopes. After successive excavations, it is known that it covers an area of more than 20 hectares, although only four sectors are currently visible: the northern or Calvo quarter, the central or Mergelina quarter, the southern gate and several huts on the summit.

The first written references to this site appear in the second half of the 19th century and include a series of casual finds of archaeological artefacts scattered all over the hill, from the summit to the banks of the river Miño. Of particular note is a bronze statuette found in 1860 representing Hercules.

The archaeological site of A Lanzada, in Sanxenxo, located by the sea in a place of extraordinary beauty, had a very long period of occupation during which it was put to various uses. The most significant phases are the Galician settlement (5th-2nd century BC), the salted fish factory (3rd-2nd century BC), the Roman occupation and necropolis (1st-3rd century), the small church and necropolis (4th-5th century) and the medieval fortress (11th-15th century).

Like other ancient settlements from the Late Bronze Age on the coast, A Lanzada is still inhabited in the Iron Age, but with a peculiarity: there is no evidence of fortification, which makes it unique in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It is of considerable size and represented a long-lasting trading emporia that continued to grow over the centuries and the introduction of the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula into the trade circuits of the ancient world.

The best known of the documented elements is the extensive necropolis, exceptional for the good state of preservation of the bones. In the Middle Ages, the occupation of the area shifted towards the tip of the cape, where in the 11th century a fortress was built to defend the coast from Saracen and Norman incursions.

Like the Santa Trega hillfort, the period of occupation of O Facho was very long, since its life spans from the 8th century BC to the 4th or 5th century BC. This site crowns the summit of the hill of the same name in Cangas, a site with splendid views of the Cíes Islands and the Costa da Vela.

O Facho is a unique site, internationally renowned for housing a sanctuary from the Roman period in which more than a hundred aras have been documented. It brings together structures from different historical periods and its peculiarities are such that the possibility that the religious universe reflected in the Roman-era aras could recreate cults from earlier times has been assessed.

Thus, it is possible that the Iron Age site corresponds to a sanctuary in which ritual activities were carried out.

This site in the municipality of Oia is also located in a privileged landscape setting and helps us to understand the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. It was occupied between the 10th and 8th centuries BC.

A fortified enclosure with a great wall was built here. Outside the walls there is a rock art station where the engravings of incomplete circular combinations linked together stand out.

These decorative motifs, exceptional in Galicia, are identical to those documented in the final phase of megalithic art in places such as the Gavrinis dolmen in Brittany, France. A Cabeciña is part of a network of hill forts that was essential for the exchange of ideas and objects at the beginning of the first millennium BC.

El Castro is located in the vicinity of the current port area of Vilagarcía de Arousa, in a large site that was once bathed by the sea. In Alobre we can understand how the proximity of an environment was the basis of the economy of this human group. In this case, fishing was an extremely important part of the economy of the settlement. This is an excellent example of how most of the coastal forts in the province of Pontevedra functioned.

This settlement was studied in the 19th century by numerous experts who date its occupation to between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century BC. The materials documented during the excavation campaigns show strong links with the Mediterranean world, especially with the south of the Iberian Peninsula, the Italic Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, which makes it a site of exceptional heritage and scientific interest.

The metallic remains are particularly relevant, especially the bronze ones, with more than 400 examples.

The fortified settlement of Castrolandín, very close to the centre of the spa town of Cuntis, which dates from the late Iron Age, was inhabited between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC. Excavations carried out in 2004 documented the existence of eighteen structures of varying chronology, functionality and number of floors, ten of which can be visited.

The settlement had a monumental stepped entrance defended by two towers. Inside the croa or acropolis, different structures were distributed, forming family units with small courtyards, stairways, storerooms and houses. In Roman times the site was almost entirely abandoned, with only one house remaining standing.

In the region of O Salnés, immersed in nature, we find O Castro mountain in Ribadumia. This fortified settlement was occupied between the 6th century BC and the 1st century BC. The three sectors opened in the campaigns since 2011 allowed the discovery of castro constructive remains with the peculiarity that they were totally different.

In the northern sector, a living area composed of several circular and oval huts was documented; the central sector can be considered the craft area, with remains of four structures, one of them related to metalworking; and in the southern sector, a rectangular building was identified, interpreted as a storage area due to the discovery of Roman amphorae. In the four excavation campaigns carried out, an area of 4,800 square metres was excavated and 2,039 stratigraphic units and more than 100,000 archaeological pieces were documented. The most abundant material is pottery

This important archaeological site is located next to the beach of O Carreiro, in O Grove, and enjoys a privileged view of the Arousa estuary. The data obtained during the excavations indicate the presence of a salting factory, perhaps related to a Roman villa or prior to it. An ecclesiastical building and a burial necropolis were erected over the remains of the Roman settlement. Finally, a tower was installed and the structures were monumentalised, perhaps in relation to the surveillance of the Arousa estuary due to the Viking threat.

The interior of the province of Pontevedra is home to a real archaeological treasure in Campo Lameiro. There we find the Penalba hillfort, in an area with a high concentration of rock art engravings, originally a stable settlement from the Late Bronze Age with an agricultural and gathering economy. The Pedra da Serpe, a petroglyph associated with fertility rituals, is preserved on the hilltop. In a second phase, the defensive system of the settlement was built.

The Troña hillfort is a settlement located in the municipality of Ponteareas. Like many of the hill forts in Galicia, it was at its height of splendour between the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. Walls, moat and parapets make up the defensive system of this settlement. The site is home to thirty buildings of different types: circular, elliptical, square and rectangular constructions can be seen. An important heraldic petroglyph known as A Serpe de Troña, an engraving on the vertical face of the rock, stands out in the enclosure.

Also known as Castro da Porteliña, A Subidá is a Romanised settlement that is temporarily located between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D. It covers an area of more than three hectares delimited by a double wall. It is located between the parishes of San Xurxo de Mogor and San Xián and the Coto das Penizas hiking route runs through this site, which starts at the wash of the river Lameira and climbs a kilometre towards the settlement.

This hillside was probed in the 1980s, and several circular houses were discovered. In 2011, work was carried out again on the site to restore several dwelling structures.

Many materials have been documented at the Subidá hillfort, but the most notable are those related to metallurgy. Pendants, crucibles and other materials allow us to approach one of the most important activities of the Iron Age, not only in the northwest, but in the whole Iberian Peninsula. The Museum of Pontevedra holds a large part of the bronzes found.

The museumisation of Toiriz by the Provincial Council of Pontevedra turned the Silleda castro into a cultural and tourist reference within the heritage of the province of Pontevedra. It is one of around 20 settlements from the Castro period that are known to exist in this municipality in the Deza region.

Castro de Toiriz, dating from the Iron Age, is made up of two walled enclosures, an almost circular one located at the top of the hill, in the crown (Eira dos Mouros) and another, which develops at a lower level next to the previous one to the south and east. Towards the outside of the latter enclosure there is a parallel defensive system consisting of a moat and parapet.

Since 2004, work has been carried out to restore and enhance its value, and in 2006 the Colectivo pola Recuperacióin de Os Castros de Toiriz was created to work on its recovery. From the remains of ceramics that were found, archaeologists estimate that the fortified village may have been built around the 4th century BC. In addition to their heritage value, the Castros de Toiriz are the subject of numerous popular legends.