BETWEEN WARRIORS AND CHAMPIONS: WARFARE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE LATER PREHISTORY OF THE NORTH-WESTERN IBERIAN PENINSULA1

Abstract

Summary This article explores changes in the ‘art of warfare’ among societies in the north-western Iberian Peninsula in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. These changes are interpreted as a manifestation of the transformation experienced by societies living in the region first from ‘warrior societies’ to ‘societies with warriors’ at the end of the Bronze Age and then back to ‘warrior societies’ in the Late Iron Age. Evidence of individual combat as a manifestation of ‘societies with warriors’ is analysed in the broader context of Indo-European and ethnographical examples. It reflects societies in which there were groups specialized in warfare and represents the establishment, in the region, of an Indo-European warrior ideology.