Title

Set of pieces from El Cerro de la Muela de Garray (Numancia)

Anonimous

Century

Cultural context / style

Object history

The Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, currently known as Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (Mainz), preserves approximately 2,800 pieces from El Cerro de la Muela de Garray. See the fate of some of the remains of the Numantine site that are outside Spain: Arrowheads; Spearheads and javelins; Spears; Swords and daggers; Disc cuirasses; Spurs; Belt buckles; Belt plates; Fibulae; Ring; Ceramic pieces and Needles.

In El Cerro de la Muela de Garray (Soria) numerous excavations were carried out at the beginning of the 20th century that allowed the discovery of the different cultures that had settled there over time. It was a place occupied intermittently from the Chalcolithic (2,500 BC) until the thirteenth century (Sánchez, 1998), but undoubtedly one of the most important settlements was the Celtiberian city of Numancia. Although we have little information about the original layout of the Numantine city, the Romans respected it and hardly modified the city after its siege.

It was strategically located on an elevation that provided natural defense and control over trade routes and surrounding territories (Jimeno and Morales, 1993). The city had an urban structure adapted to the terrain, with narrow cobblestone streets that were irregularly organized. The houses were simple, generally rectangular and built with dry masonry plinth and adobe elevations (Sánchez, 1998). It had an agricultural and subsistence economy, with wheat and barley as the main crops. Livestock also played an important role with the raising of sheep, goats, pigs and horses. Craft activities were very important for the Celtiberians, especially pottery, textile work and iron metallurgy. Trade was mainly of a local or regional nature and they exchanged goods such as pottery, iron tools and weapons with other communities and peoples, such as the Iberians, the Pelendones, the Arevacians or the Vacceans, among others.

The end of the city took place after the Celtiberian Wars (154-133 BC), which were contemporary to the Lusitanian Wars in which Viriato died. The Celtiberians knew that they alone could never defeat the Romans, so they counted on the help of other Hispanic peoples, such as the Vacceans and the Cantabrians. For their part, the Romans were allied with the Numidians, who came from Africa and brought untamed elephants to the battle (Perea and Alonso, 2023). The war lasted for years and was extremely harsh. According to Polybius (1983), "the combats were settled by night, because the soldiers, driven by their courage, resisted tenaciously and did not want to give way in the melee, no matter how exhausted they were, but, from their flight, they turned and began again [...]. In short, if anyone were to imagine a war of fire, he would think of none other than this one." The Romans, exhausted by the tenacity of the Celtiberians, commissioned Scipio Emilianus to put an end to the conflict. He marched with the army to Numantia and besieged the city: he deprived its inhabitants of food and set up camps to contain the attacks of the Numantines (Perea and Alonso, 2023). Finally, the Numantines surrendered and Scipio took the city.

In the second half of the 19th century Saavedra located the city of Numantia. However, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century when the first excavations took place. Among the archaeologists who worked at the site were Schulten, Mélida, Taracena, Wattenberg and, recently, Jimeno (Gómez, 2015). The main findings of the Numantine city were in charge of Schulten, who took them at different times to Germany with the aim of studying them. However, not all the pieces returned to Spain. Currently, the tools from El Cerro de la Muela de Garray are scattered in different museums: the National Archaeological Museum (Madrid), the Numantine Museum (Soria) and the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, now known as Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (Mainz).