Castro de Castromao - Celanova, Ourense, Galicia, España
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Ariberna
N 42° 09.713 W 007° 58.596
29T E 584540 N 4668256
castro located in the current municipality of Celanova, in the southeast of the province of Ourense. It is supposed to have been inhabited by the people of the coelernos. In 2018 it was declared a Site of Cultural Interest
Waymark Code: WM13M6Z
Location: Galicia, Spain
Date Posted: 01/05/2021
Views: 1
"It is located on a hill 732 meters high, from which dominates the course of the river Arnoia and the castros of Novelle, Trelle, Merca and Berredo. It has dimensions of 150 meters on the north-south axis and 130 on the east-west. The interior of the walled part occupies about 20,000 m². The terrain has a steep slope, except in its northwestern part, where it is much less pronounced. A secondary road of the Via XVIII of the Antonino route, related to the Freixo bridge, ran in its vicinity.
It was inhabited during the castreja era, dating back to the 6th century BC. and remained populated until the third century. From this period dates the name of Castromao (bad fort) by the place of Vilanova (which was later baptized as Vilanova dos Infantes for being a place of temporary residence of an infant), due, according to medieval sources, to its poor location for agricultural use .
The first modern reference to the castro is by Ramón Barros Silvelo, in his book Antigüedades de Galicia (1875) and it is referred to as Castra Mamuaria. In 1928, Florentino López Cuevillas and Xaquín Lorenzo collected it in their Catalog of the Galician Castros. Since 1963, several excavation campaigns have been launched, revealing the remains of buildings that can be visited.
The works of Xesús Ferro Couselo and Xaquín Lorenzo continue from 1969 to 1974, and they discover new structures and a “Tessera Hospitalis” from the year 132 AD. C., that constitutes a pact of hospitality between the inhabitants of Castromao (Coelerni) and a high Roman military man, besides a ceramics with currencies of the I century; d.
Ceramics of all kinds have appeared, from fragments dating between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. even tiles and sigillatas, which tell us of a strong Romanization. It is assumed that the tribe did not oppose the Roman occupation and even collaborated with them. Remains of a pottery kiln have also been found, as well as a 1st-century treasure found in a clay pot. The most singular piece of Castromao is the zoomorphic figure of a shrunken ape sitting with his feet forward and his hands on his face; below the feet, which seem to grasp something, there is an appendix to fit the sculpture into a base. Another notable piece is an openwork triskelion that may have served as a window."
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