- Vaccaei
The Vaccaei were an ancient tribe who settled in the Meseta Central of northern
Hispania . According toDiodorus Siculus , they were the most cultured group of theCeltiberians , andSilius Italicus classed them as merchants and businessmen. Their existence is proved at least from the third century BC.Polybius relates, although he wasn't an eyewitness, the capture of the Vaccean cities of Helmantica (Salamanca ) and Arbucala (Zamora) byHannibal in220 BC .When the Vaccaei are considered a part of the
Celtiberian people group, though the Vaccean civilization was the result of the a process of local evolution, importing elements from other cultures, whether by new additions of people or contacts with neighboring groups. Other more recent theories have suggested that the Vaccaei are a Celtic people, who arrived in successive waves in the area along with similar groups, becoming the first permanent inhabitants.In the study of their settlements one finds elements of the Vaccean culture on top of the remains of earlier cultures. For example, at
Pincia (modern-dayPadilla de Duero (Valladolid )), there is evidence of a population fromEneolithic times until theIron Age , when the Vaccean period arose.The Vaccean culture extended through the center of the Meseta Norte, along both banks of the
Douro River . Although its frontiers are difficult to pin down and shifted from time to time, it can be said to have occupied all of the province of Valladolid, and parts of León, Palencia, Burgos, Segovia, Salamanca y Zamora. At the time of the arrival of the Romans, theCea andEsla rivers separated the Vaccaei from theAstures in the northeast, while a line traced between theEsla and the Pisuerga rivers was the border with theCantabri . To the east, the Pisuerga andArlanza rivers marked the frontier with theTurmogi , and a little farther south, theArevaci were their neighbors and allies. On the south and southeast lay theVettones in an area that is difficult to pin down, but corresponds roughly to the distribution ofverraco s around the highlands of Ávila and Salamanca and Aliste (Zamora), between them and the Lusitanians. It is probable that there was contact with theLusitanians to the west of Zamora.
In the
ee also
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ources
*Collins, Roger (1992). "The "Vaccaei", the "Vaceti", and the rise of "Vasconia"." "Studia Historica VI". Salamanca, 1988. Reprinted in Roger Collins, "Law, Culture and Regionalism in Early Medieval Spain". Variorum. ISBN 0 86078 308 1.
External links
* [http://www.arqueotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)]
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