Castro Culture - Economy and Arts

Economy and Arts

As stated, while Bronze Age economy was based on the exploitation and exportation of mineral local resources, tin and copper, and on mass production and long range distribution of prestige items, Iron Age economy was based on an economy of necessity goods, as most items and productions were obtained in situ, or interchanged thought short range commerce.

Anyway, in the southern coastal areas the presence of Mediterranean merchants from the 6th century BCE onward, would have occasioned an increase in social inequality, bringing a large number of importations (fine pottery, fibulae, wine, glass and other products) and technological innovations, such as round granite millstones, which would have merged with the Atlantic local traditions.

Ancient Roman military presence in the South and East of the Iberian peninsula since the 2nd century BCE would have reinforced the role of the autochthonous warrior elites, with better access to local prestige items and importations.