The Iberians

The Iberians was like the ancient Greek writers called the people of the east and south of the Iberian Peninsula to distinguish inland villages whose culture and customs were different.

Although the Iberians shared certain common characteristics were not a homogeneous ethnic group since diverged in many aspects. It is not known in detail the origin of the Iberians, although there are several theories that attempt to establish them:

- One hypothesis suggests that the Iberians came to the Iberian Peninsula during the Neolithic period, 5000 years before Christ.

- Another hypothesis states that these were part of the original inhabitants of Europe.

Social organization:

Iberian society was strongly hierarchical in several very different social castes, all with good and well-defined mission to properly run a society that depended on herself to maintain their city.

The noble warrior caste and was the one who had more prestige and power in society. Besides weapons, horses have also granted prestige and reflected power and greatness.

It was also important to the priesthood, in which women were a bond of life and death. The priestesses enjoyed great prestige, as were those who were in constant contact with the world of the gods.

Another was the caste of artisans, appreciated because of the clothes they left with those who dressed and sheltered from the cold, they developed the footwear, which modeled the pots to store water and food and, above all, for being who made weapons and armor.

Finally, there was the common people, who were those doing the toughest jobs.

Dama de Elche, Iberian priestess.

clothing:

- Warriors: wore a dress fabric, like the Romans, with a red border.

- Priestesses: their clothing was the one with more embellishments. From them we have inherited (in Spain today) the blanket and the comb, which is used to cover the head and body and monkeys can be seen today in the Spanish town called Castellón (fallera bun).

- Other garments: a well-known garment was sagum, a layer of wool.

The economy.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Agriculture was practiced was the rainfed crops being fundamental: cereal, grapes, olives and legumes (beans, peas and lentils). The fruits were being grown apples and figs.

In certain parts of the peninsula, also grew flax and esparto.

Sacred animals.

Animals such as bulls, lynxes, wolves and vultures, were part of the world of the gods. The bull represents virility and strength, the lynx was linked to the world of the dead, vultures took the souls of dead warriors in battles to the world of the gods.

Burials.

They used the rite of incineration. The ashes were kept in ceramic urns, cup-shaped, with lid and without decoration. These urns were placed in pits dug into the ground, along with grave goods. To indicate the location of the tomb, built mounds of various sizes, but the most elaborate were the highest class.