Archaeological research carried out at the La Peña del Castro site, located in the municipality of La Ercina, in the province of León (Spain), has revealed a discovery of great significance for the study of writing in the Iberian Peninsula. Researchers from the University of León have identified an inscription belonging to the Celtiberian alphabet, engraved on a small object linked to the textile activities of the settlement. This object is a spindle whorl, a counterweight used in spinning spindles, dating back to the 1st century BC.
This finding is significant because it represents one of the earliest examples of alphabetic writing documented in the province of León and in the northern Iberian Peninsula. One of the characteristics of Iron Age cultures in the northern Iberian Peninsula is the absence of writing before the Roman conquest.
Moreover, its location within the settlement and the characteristics of the material from which it is made suggest that it was produced at the site itself. This reinforces the hypothesis that a certain degree of literacy existed within this community.
The La Peña del Castro site has been the subject of archaeological excavations since 2013, with various excavation campaigns conducted until 2019, and the detailed study of the recovered materials continues to this day. During the 2017 campaign, archaeologists identified a space interpreted as a storage area, where various elements reflecting the economic activity and social organization of the settlement were found. Among these discoveries were a basket with seeds, remains of cured beef, and several tools, in addition to the inscribed object, whose significance became evident following detailed analysis.
The symbol engraved on the spindle whorl could be interpreted as a property mark, a common practice in societies of the time, especially in neighboring cultures such as the Vaccean, whose influence on the settlement is evident from the 2nd century BC onward. However, the uniqueness of the find within the site itself also suggests that it might have held symbolic or prestige value, distinguishing its owner within the community’s social hierarchy.
The discovery of this inscription is part of a broader process of social transformation that took place at La Peña del Castro during the Iron Age. During this period, there was a significant increase in population, greater social differentiation, and growing economic complexity, characterized by the accumulation of agricultural surpluses and increased trade exchanges with both the plateau and the mountains. The appearance of an alphabetic symbol in this context suggests that certain sectors of the population possessed knowledge of writing and were capable of using it for practical or symbolic purposes.
The spindle whorl was made of talc, a resource found in the immediate surroundings of the site, reinforcing the idea that the object was locally produced. This indicates that the inscription was not the result of trade with other regions but rather a form of knowledge possessed by the community inhabiting this enclave. This hypothesis raises the possibility that the settlement had a certain tradition of writing or, at the very least, exposure to it through contact with other cultures.
This study was recently published in the journal Paleohispánica, one of the leading references in the field of ancient Hispania’s languages and cultures. Research on this finding not only expands knowledge about the presence of writing in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula but also raises new questions about the cultural and social dynamics of pre-Roman communities in the region.
The inscription at La Peña del Castro joins other epigraphic discoveries from the Celtiberian culture in the Iberian Peninsula, helping to outline a more detailed picture of the expansion and use of writing in these societies. With each new discovery, the history of pre-Roman peoples becomes richer and more complex, revealing previously unknown aspects of their daily lives, social organization, and interactions with other contemporary cultures.
SOURCES
Eduardo González Gómez de Agüero, Marcas incisas en una fusayola de La Peña del Castro (León): Un signo o un ejemplo de grafía en la zona cantábrica central al final de la Edad del Hierro. Palaeohispanica, vol.24 (2024). DOI: 10.36707/palaeohispanica.v24i1.636
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