O Penedo dos Lobos: Roman military activity in the uplands of the Galician Massif (Northwest Iberia)

Abstract

A new Roman military site was recently detected in Galicia, Spain, an area where the army presence had been challenging to trace until date. O Penedo dos Lobos is a playing-card shaped camp with very distinctive, fortified entrances. The archaeological survey conducted on this site in the summer of 2018 allowed us to recover some elements of Roman militaria, as well as numismatic evidence dating back to late 1st c. BC, thus suggesting a connection with the Cantabrian-Asturian Wars of Augustan times. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding the specific task undertaken by the military contingent that occupied this site. Besides its historical implications, a focus will be given to the methodology applied for the archaeological survey of this site. This has shed new light on the Roman military presence in Galicia, allowing its integration into wider European debates on Roman conquest and expansion.