Iron Age

Bealtaine is a project of the Luxemburg Guide and Scout Movement (LGS) and the Forest Management, supported by among others Archeosite d'Aubechies in Belgium. It is chiefly about learning children (7 – 23 years old) to appreciate the need to protect the environment.

Already for a long period of time, the Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nürnberg e.V. (NHG), has been active in the region of the municipality Roth with many excavations showing the continuous habitation of the region since Neolithic times.

In the early 1970s, at the mountain Kulm in the Steiermark, traces of Celtic habitation were found which were excavated in 1977 and 1987. The association “Gesellschaft für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Kulm” was founded by teachers fond of local cultural heritage, in order to protect the archaeological remains and communicate about them.

The local museum at Hermsdorf, under the smoke of Berlin, has plenty of exhibitions and activities about the recent past down to Stone Age.

With a preparation time between 1988 and 2001, the municipality of Villeneuve d’Asq aimed for an important and attractive open air museum. Here, based on general information instead of specific sites, prehistoric and medieval houses are presented as well as the people constructing them and living there.

The Castro de Santa Tecla (or Santa Tegra) is located in the Southwest tip of Galicia, on top of the Mount Santa Tecla, next to the mouth of the Miño River, in the municipal area of A Guarda (Pontevedra). From this site, a wide part of the coast as well as the mouth of the river Miño could be controlled.

In 1938, roadworks were undertaken on the northern slope leading to the important medieval Lanhoso Castle and the Nossa Senhora do Pilar sanctuary. Here, they uncovered a castro, used from the Late Bronze Age up until the Roman Era.

The Iron Age Castro de Cossourado is situated in the middle of the modern day village of Forte da Cidade. It is part of Paredes de Coura region, on Salgosa mountain range, on the north side of the river Coura, dominating a large open area. This used to be an important north-south corridor between the Douro and Minho regions.

The Castro de S. Lourenço in the district of Esposende is part of a series of hill forts which controlled the region’s coastal shipping route. The site gives a great panoramic view and control over both the coastal area and the estuary of the Cávado river.

Paços de Ferreira is situated in the Entre Douro and Minho region, in the Ave Valley area, the heartland of the Castro Culture (Cultura Castreja in Portuguese, Cultura Castreña in Spanish). The walled villages and hill forts dating to the late Bronze Age and Iron Age, the castros, citânias or cividades in this area are larger than elsewhere.