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Around 400 BCE, communities across northern Iberia did not vanish in a single catastrophe. Many Early Iron Age hillforts were abandoned or destroyed in a staggered regional disruption. People then tested settlements in valleys, coastal zones and productive lowlands before larger, more unequal fortified centres emerged again from the mid-fourth century BCE.
The break was real, but it was not a single northern-Iberian collapse
Before the transition, much of north-western Iberia was organised around small fortified settlements. These sites were commonly under one hectare, set on prominent and difficult-to-access ground where walls, visibility and elevation offered protection.
Several settlements show destruction or abrupt abandonment around the fifth-to-fourth-century BCE transition. The documented examples include Neixón Pequeno, Alto do Castro, Castrovite, Penalba and Penarrubia. Their stories are not identical, and archaeological dating is not always precise enough to establish whether a replacement settlement began before or after an older site emptied.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Early Iron Age | Prominent upland locations | Fortified, difficult-to-access sites | Usually small communities; sites generally under one hectare |
| Fifth–fourth-century transition | Some older hillforts and newly tested locations | Abandonment or destruction at several established sites | Short period of instability and reorganisation |
| Early fourth century BCE | Valleys, coasts, productive farmland and communication routes | Open or lightly defended occupations were common in the evidence | Experimental settlements, ritual spaces, pits and burials appear |
| From the mid-fourth century BCE | Reoccupied or newly established strategic centres | Fortifications strengthened again | Larger, more complex and more socially differentiated settlements |
Did everyone leave their fortified settlement at once?
No. The change was staggered by region. A 2026 synthesis modelled 272 radiocarbon dates from 109 archaeological sites, providing the clearest regional sequence yet. Abandonment began earliest in the western Cantabrian area, then appeared in Atlantic and Northern Plateau regions. New settlements emerged in the early fourth century BCE, but their spread took much longer; the far eastern study regions were reached around the beginning of the third century BCE.
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That timing matters. It separates the rapid emptying of some older sites from the slower consolidation of new communities. The archaeological pattern is therefore better described as a two-speed process than as a mass flight or a single invasion.
Why did communities move from hilltops into valleys and coastal zones?
Lower ground offered direct access to farmland, water, routes and coastal exchange. Those advantages are visible in the location of fourth-century occupations, but location alone cannot prove that economics caused the upheaval. The move may also have reflected demographic pressure, changing power relations or conflict.
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The shift changed how people used social space. Instead of every community being concentrated behind prominent walls, some occupations were open or only lightly defended. Archaeologists also find pits, burials and ritual areas associated with this experimental phase. Many of these settlements were short-lived, suggesting that communities were testing arrangements rather than replacing the old hillfort system with one stable model.
What replaced the abandoned castros?
There was no single replacement town type. Some groups occupied lowland and valley settings; others used coastal or route-connected locations. In several regions, open settlements existed alongside fortified places. The evidence also leaves room for relocation, rebuilding and local continuity, depending on the site.
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This is why the phrase “the castros were abandoned” can mislead. It applies to many Early Iron Age fortified sites, not to every settlement or every region. Nor does it mean that fortified life disappeared permanently. The experiments created a transitional landscape in which communities reorganised production, movement and authority.
Fortified centres returned—and they were different
From the mid-fourth century BCE, fortified settlements strengthened again. The detailed chronological study places the disruptive episode at less than a century, followed by a redefinition of settlement and social relations.
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Later fortified centres were often larger and more internally differentiated than the small Early Iron Age sites. Their scale and organisation point to stronger inequalities and more complex leadership. Fortification was no longer simply the common defensive shell of a small household community; it became part of a broader hierarchy of settlements and production.
Monte Bernorio shows the long-term direction
One later example is Monte Bernorio, where a multivallate system enclosed about 90 hectares. Archaeological finds include pottery, animal remains, metal objects and glass beads. Together, they indicate local production connected to wider exchange networks rather than an isolated subsistence settlement.
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The site’s later history also shows that these communities remained politically significant after the fourth-century reorganisation. Archaeological evidence points to a Roman siege and conquest during Augustus’s Cantabrian Wars in the 20s BCE.
Was the upheaval caused by war or by economic change?
The evidence does not identify one trigger. The leading possibilities are overlapping rather than mutually exclusive:
- Conflict: destruction layers and abrupt abandonment at some sites are compatible with violence, but they do not demonstrate one region-wide war.
- Demographic pressure: population growth could have made older, restricted hilltop locations less practical.
- Changing inequalities: emerging elites or altered social alliances may have reorganised where authority and labour were concentrated.
- Access to resources and routes: valleys, farmland, coasts and communication corridors offered practical advantages that prominent defensive locations did not always provide.
The 2026 chronology establishes when regional changes occurred; it does not settle why they began. In particular, the early decline documented in Asturias remains an unresolved problem. Any account that labels the period a single “crisis of the 400s” overstates what the archaeological record can support.
What the sequence tells us about northern Iberia
The most useful interpretation is a short interval of instability followed by social reorganisation. Older hillforts emptied or were destroyed in different places and at different times. Communities then tried open, lightly defended and lowland arrangements before rebuilding fortified centres that were larger, more connected and more unequal.
By the time Rome attacked sites such as Monte Bernorio, northern Iberia contained substantial fortified centres with regional influence and long-distance connections. The Roman conquest therefore encountered societies that had already undergone a major transformation centuries earlier—not a population that had simply abandoned its homes and waited for Rome.
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