Andagoste battle 38 b.C. North Hispania. First time in Eng.

[Iagoba]

Well, It took time, but here you have the (first, AFAIK) adapted translation to English of an article (avalaible in Spanish here), by Jose Antonio Otxarán Larrondo. My additions and comments are in blue

It has been publicated (seems that only in Spanish) in those congress:

I Congreso de Arqueología Militar Romana en Hispania (Segovia)
II Congreso de Arqueología Militar Romana en Hispania (León)
X Congreso Numismático Nacional, (Albacete)

To which I had no access.

I may ask you to forgive all the spelling, vocabulary, gramatical and style errors I may have had :oops: . I´m not used to translate and less, this kind of text.

The earth removing of a trench to supply water to the villages of cuartango Valley (Alava, Spain) gived us the oportunitty to discover new archeological remains.

The work on the site, from the years 1998 to 2003, allowed us to expose the oldest remains of the Roman era in Basque Country, a battle between roman legionaries and indigenous troops.

All the archeological findings were made in a space of 300x400 meters, an the surrounding area was sterile except one “corridor” of 40x400 meters. The ausence of ceramic remains indicates that there this was never an inhabited area, so we can consider those findings as a closed group, not contaminated.

The most important findings were:

-The perimeter of the camp (castra aestiva) that the Romans made for their defense, having to breack up the rock (limestone slabs) due to the shallow earth stratum. The ditch found it´s 103 meters lon in the North side and 93 meters in the East, both join together in a circunference quarter (“playing card” corner). Its width it´s 2 meters and 0,5 meters deep.

-114 “glands” lo lead pieces, almod shaped, with weights from 25 to 50 Grams. Those were sling projectiles. Only one was found before in the Basque Country (*)

-More than 600 caligae hobnails. They are great sized, of the “old” type (used before the 22 b.C. When they change the size). Of this “old” size there were no findings before in Basque Country.

-Besides, tribolata (three spiked) arrow points, pilum points, spear lower ends (“contera” or “regatón” in Spanish I cannot remember nor find the word in English :oops: ) ballista dart points, dagger quillons...

-Iron rings, fibulas, toque heads, a small, a (broken) corn mill (of the type carried by the legionaries)...Also, Alesia type fibulas. Only three were known in Spain before. In Andagoste were found 4.

-In short, more than 1000 findings of military equipment.

The found coins, besides giving the date of the battle, solved some numismatic problems:

-Before was though that the practice of broking coins to get divisors was started around 27a.C., the soonest in 11a.C. Andagoste proves that inthe 40 a.C. It was already done.

-The forgery sistem. The lack of silver impulsed the state to forge their own coins, either by covering with sheets or dropping in liquid silver a nucleus of copper. Both ways have been found at Andagoste. Before, the sheet technique was discussed.

-The coin ARSE-SAGUNTO was unknow due to a change in the legend.

-But the most important thing of the found coins is that they give us an aproximation of the battle date:

-The oldest coins have Iberic signs and are from diverese mints, mostly from KELSE (Velilla de Ebro), as well UNTIKESKEN, BILBILIS, BAITOLO, ERKAUIKA, ARSE, TAMANIU.

-Besides 7 coins of the type JANO/PROA imitating those minter in Rome, (Pompeyan wars 49 a 45 b.C.), there is a bilingual CEL obverse- KELSE reverse (reverse in Iberic characters). It´s dated in the years 44-45 b.C.

-The most recent coin was the COLONIA LEPIDA wich was the renamed KELSE condemned to lost her name after helping Pompey. The proposed datation of this emmision with the obverse PRQVIN, wich it´s considered the first of the colony, it´s from 44 to 42 b.C.

-So we have, then, a collection of coins numerous for the 40´s but not one posterior to 42 b.C. Even as the mints of Ebro valley continue striking up to the 30´s. This indicates that the battle date must be around the 40 b.C.

[another paragraph about numimatics. There were two choices, or delay some issue dates, or accept it. Finally, an inedit -and unnamed- expert sets the date to the 38 b.C.]

Also, two hispanic-arab coins from around the 1000 a.C.were recovered.

The important archeological findings usually are form the prehistoric times: Atapuerca, etc.But archeologic findings that incide, changing or filling the history, are rare. To my mind* there are two important ones: The late antiquity burial site of Aldaieta (Ullivarri-Gamboa, discovered by José Angel Apellániz) and the Andagoste battle. The first showed us details about the VI-VII centuries, wich were completely unknown, and the second makes us change the spread idea of a pacific Roman invasion of the Basque country, due to pacts, or too weak forces to opose. We thought that happened like in Navarre, where the Bascones were allies of the Romans (and got territorial compensations, spreading up to Jaca, Calahorra -Calagurris-). But no. Here were fought, as ten years laten in Cantabria and Asturias.

In short, the battle of Andagoste may would have been this way:

Somewhere around the year 38b.C.1 an army of around 1200-1800 Roman soldiers 2 Composed by legionaries, some of them veterans of the Gallic wars 3, joined by auxiliary troops 4 were in the Cuartango valley. They come or went from attacking a (native) castro5 when they were attacked by indigenous troops 6 In a uninabited hill. The Romans tried to make a castra aestiva but they were unable to finish it and that defensive emplacement was useless, as there was fight inside. Seems that the indigenous won this battle.7.

* I usually do openly this statement to provoke the mentioning of more interesting historic findings.
1) Allowing a couple of years up or down.
2) Deducted from the size of the camp, as the relation between number of men and size were standard. We don´t know if they were being constructing it when the indigenous surprised them, or if they were forced to do it under attack. In that case, the number may be superior to the indicated.
3) The iron rings, proper od Roman citizens (!?), indicate that they were legionaries. The Alesia fibulaes suggest us that they took part in Gallic Wars.
4) At least there were slingers (and archers...)
5) They carried heavy war machines: scorpios
6) Fíbulas, torques, “Monte Bernorio” dagger quillons...
7) The fight inside the castra, the escape corridor to the nearest escape from the valley, the abandoned casualties (as the dispersion of caligae hobnails shows us)