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The House of the Gallaeci


Castromao was a Romanized settlement of peasants and miners, but its architecture and urban planning are indebted to the minting tradition active during the Iron Age (8th century-Year 0). It was a complex community also made up of artisans (potters, blacksmiths, goldsmiths), as evidenced by the tools, casts and utensils found during the different archaeological campaigns. Between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, in Castromao the buildings were petrified and occupied the entire surface of the acropolis: 2.2 hectares. The consolidated wall works as a basic reference to organize the dwellings. In a social context of peace and economic prosperity, the Romanized Coelióbriga reached a size much greater than that defined today by the visible wall. This is evidenced by the appearance of multiple archaeological materials in the nearby village of Castromao, which leads us to think of an open village without a wall. The layout of the dwellings in this sector of the settlement responds to a set of structures built around a common courtyard, highlighting the main construction for housing that has a circular floor plan and a hall, with a central fireplace and a basin inside. On the other side of the paved area there is a second circular construction and a third quadrangular with rounded corners, possibly with a storage or stable function.



Bronze items found


Pin

It was recovered between pin moulds made of clay.

Omega brooch
It is a metallic brooch used since prehistoric times by Greeks and Romans.


Gold metallurgy

Two gold nuggets were found at this fort, one of the five Galician forts where evidence of gold metallurgy is documented. One of them, weighing 110 grams, appeared in this section of the site. The slag material and the mills to grind the metal, along with the Coelióbriga casts were concentrated among the dwellings closest to the wall, perhaps to ensure convenient and quick access in case of fire to the walkway, the main communication route of the fort. In the quarter next to the one with the tabula, ceramic adobe brick kilns appeared in the form of a small dome shaped vault on a flat base with a single opening, which was the entrance.

The portrait of a metallurgist, a distinguished and highly regarded profession during antiquity, could correspond to this description by the historian Robert Fossier:

“This man, lord of iron and fire, who works… in front of the villagers, trapped by fear and admiration, is like the lord of the community."

Through his hands and under his control pass the saddles, wheels, knives and plowshares, sickles, axes, axles, tires and barrel rings. He has the lord as a client, and hanging in his forge are the weapons of the warrior that he will straighten or weld again and burnish. He is the master tradesman ... he is not totally separated from the world of the countryside where he can have his own plot of land ... "