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February 7th, 2008, 20:11 GMT · By Stefan Anitei

Who Were the Iberians?

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Lady of Elx
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Today, the word "Iberian" makes you think about Spain and Portugal, but the word comes from the name of an ancient population that inhabited the southern and eastern Iberian Peninsula in Antiquity. Historical sources starting with the 5th century BC describe the barbarian inhabitants of "Hispania", with odd habits and bloody rituals.
The Iberian tribes lived in settlements located on the top of the hills, in strategic places, dominating the valleys of the rivers. Each settlement was surrounded by defensive stone walls.

The Iberians are the oldest historically known inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. They were non Indo-European, rather short and dark haired. Men wore beards and long hair. Iberian raised cattle, pigs and sheep and cultivated the land. Their origin is unknown. Some say they could have been related to the North African Berber tribes. Others say that they rather came from Asia Minor or Caucasus during a pre-Indo-European migration, some 10,000 years ago, and this could be confirmed by dolmens, large stone tombs. In historical times, they formed small tribal states governed by assemblies, in a republican type of state, which decided war, peace or questions of general interest. In the historical times, the Mediterranean coasts inhabited by Iberians were colonized by Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians, and these colonies raised the civilization level of the Iberians. This way, the Iberians knew the potter's wheel and produced sophisticatedly adorned ceramics by themselves. The foreign traders exchanged pottery and glass collars for Iberian gold, silver, copper, tin and agricultural products.

Iberians were skilled riders and each tribe had a chivalry unit. The main weapons were the bow and the arrows, falcata (a slightly curved one-bladed sword), the shield, the helmet and the large spear (the Iberian sword and spear would later be adopted by Romans). The horse must have been introduced to Iberians by Indo-Europeans populations around 1,000 BC. When Romans conquered the peninsula, they introduced units of Iberian chivalry in the Roman army.

Iberians worshiped many deities of natural type (Sun, Moon, various stars) in whose honor they maintained fires in certain promontories, capes and islands. Another type of sanctuaries were visited by people offering bronze figurines (exvotos) to the god living inside the sanctuaries, asking for supernatural help in various tasks, for curing a disease or simply to thank for received favors.

Iberian women were charged with domestic tasks, husbandry of small livestock and cultivated the land together with the men. In some tribes, they participated in the assemblies, and their decision was considered in important issues. Sometimes, women fought together with the men. In the Iberian society, women could also be priestesses. The famous Iberian carving called Lady of Elx, dated from the 3rd century BC and made of limestone, could represent a priestess. The woman wears several collars, and large wheel shaped earrings. A belt hides the hair, probably made into a bun.

Wars between tribes were frequent. Romans managed to conquest the Iberian fortresses only after long sieges (months, even years) that left hungry and exhausted the besieged warriors. Romans built a palisade around the circumvented fortress, which impeded the beleaguered Iberians to break the circle looking for help.

Iberians exploited copper and tin, and also collected gold and silver nuggets on the rivers' banks. Iron was brought by navigators (this metal was discovered by Indo-Europeans) and soon the Iberians started iron metallurgy.

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Comment #1 by: Susan Svens on 15 May 2010, 16:19 UTC reply to this comment

I am an American scientist and have done many researches about Iberians. Now I know for sure, that Iberians come from Caucasus, because there was a kingdom of Iberia and there are some paintings in caves similar to Spanish cave-paintings and many many things to say. I KNOW FOR SURE, THAT SUCCESSORS OF ANTIENT IBERIANS ARE GEORGIANS! EVEN LANGUAGE AND SURNAMES ARE SIMILAR. Dates of origins and culture of Georgians made me sick. The result of my 20 years researches is this:
Only Iberians survived in world are Georgians, joining Kartvelian family of languages. Basques are relatives of one Kartvelain (Georgian) tribe: Zan.

Comment #1.1 by: Hiram Jacques on 22 Jul 2010, 15:48 GMT

Yes, I agree with Ms. Svens that the Iberians of Spain, specifically the Catalonia region, are from the Iberians of the Caucasus region such as Georgia. But my research began in 1989 as a genealogical trace of my father's Jaquez Hispanic ancestry. I traced it from Texas to Chihuahua to Zacatecas to a Gil Jaquez about 1600 AD. In Spain, the Jaquez surname went back from Baeza, Jaen to Salamanca to Pamplona to the origin of Jaca, Aragon, Spain. Jaca is the northernmost Iberian settlement discovered in archaeological diggings in Spain. Settlements start at Tarragona and go up the Ebro river. Ancient Iberian coins from Tarragona to Jaca all have the same image, a curly haired and bearded head on front and a knight on horseback with a lance on the back. The difference on each coin is the Iberian tribal name in Iberian script. Iberian pottery also has this coin image of a man on horseback with a lance. The Jaca coin has a 3-character Iberian name with a Phoenician "tsade" character on the left, Iberian character in the middle, and a Greek A on the right and probably pronounced "tsaka". The Greeks called it IAKA and the tribe IACETANOS (pronounced Iakketanos in Greek). During the 8th century AD, locals reconquered "Dyaka" back from the Muslims and renamed it JACA. A caballero instrumental in the recapture took the surname JACA. Roman latin tradition added "quez" to Jaca to signify "son of Jaca" or "from Jaca". Jaca + quez produced Jaquez surname. During the Reconquest of Spain the Jaquez migrated south and reached Baeza, Jaen by the 13th century and Gil Jaquez left for Mexico about 1600 AD. Our Haplogroup G M201 Y chromosome matched that of many of the men (31%) in Georgia and surrounding Caucasus region. Catalonian history (Cronica de Cataluna) says that Tubal, son of Noah, landed in Spain 142 years after the flood and founded Tarragona. The river Ebro is named after Tubal's son Iber.

Comment #1.2 by: viriato on 24 Nov 2010, 12:01 GMT

delirante
los iberos son geneticamente el origen del r1b1 haplogrupo de occidente
Llevan 45000 años en iberia y tienen la misma genetica que el resto de los pueblos de cultura celta
Iberia es el origen de los celtas, los megalitos tienen su origen en iberia desde donde se extiende al rsto del mundo

Comment #1.3 by: Hispano on 23 Feb 2011, 20:57 GMT

Márquez significa hijo de Marcos ( Marcos o Marco nombre latino )Jaén nunca fue repoblado por aragoneses ( pertenecían a otro reino ), sino por castellanos, cántabros, gallegos, leoneses y asturianos.
La teoría más aceptada hoy en día es que los iberos era un conjunto de pueblos preindoeuropeos que ya estaban en la península desde miles de años atrás ( Lease LA CULTURA ARGÁRICA ). Fueron arrinconados en las costas mediterráneas por las sucesivas invasiones celtas, ya que estos siempre se procuraban buenos pastos por ser una cultura ganadera; dichos pastos estaban en el interior - la meseta - y el norte. Vestigios, también, de esos preindoeuropeos fueron los lusitanos y vetones.

Comment #1.4 by: arbiones on 05 Jun 2011, 22:56 GMT

http://news.scotsman.com/7050/Were-nearly-all-Celts-under.2812146.jp
Viriato, estoy totalmente de acuerdo con lo que dices mis investigaciones tambien lllegan a tus mismas conclusiones.
Creo que Hirann Jaquez tiene demasiada mezcla en su arbol familia genetico ya que no concuerda, con mis estudios, ni con los de La investigación del profesor Ángel Carracedo demuestra que los celtas de Galicia son los más antiguos del mundo , El ADN sugiere que los ancestros de Irlandeses y Escoceses provenian de la Peninsula Iberica.
Los primeros hombres armados del mundo era de la peninsula iberica y por los dolmenes y menires llos mas antiguos del mundo nos dan a entender que tambien fueron la primera civilizacion avanzada y casi tuvo una extincion masiva por una gran guerra o gran cataclismo natural


Comment #2 by: Hiram Jacques on 14 Jun 2011, 17:04 UTC reply to this comment

The latest DNA analysis from Family Tree DNA about Jaquez Haplogroup G Y chromosome draws closer and closer to my theory that original Iberians from Catalonia immigrated from the Caucasus mountains before 2200 BC. The Jaquez men have this Y chromosome. The Alan/Sarmatian connection by Family Tree DNA comes from intermarriage between Alans, Sarmatians, and original Iberians from Georgia in the Caucasus mountains beginning 2000 years ago, as documented by scholars in Russia and Georgia.

FamilyTreeDNA
History Unearthed Daily
Iberian Peninsula DNA Project - Results

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/IberianDNA/default.aspx?section=results

Jacques - G: Caucasus of Europe. This is a fairly rare haplogroup found mostly in men from the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. The highest concentration of Haplogroup G men is found today in the Caucasus Mountains, in several small states to the south of Russia, and in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The G2 branch of this lineage (containing the P15 mutation) is found most often in Europe and the Middle East. The Alan Sarmatians were military allies of the Vandals and the Suebi during the conquest of Iberia, it is likely this is the origin of haplogroup G2 in Spain. The Alan Sarmatians' ancient homeland was the Caucasus Mountains. 4% of modern day Iberians share this origin.

Comment #2.1 by: viriato on 15 Dec 2011, 09:34 GMT

Las teorías cientificas, no europeas, han querido sin pruebas, solo con suposiciones inventadas, que los iberos no eran de España y que todos los pueblos del mundo habían invadido España.
Las pruebas geneticas dicen que España no fue nunca invadida y que sin embargo invadio a todos los demas.
Lo que se ha hecho hasta ahora es poner la ciencia al servicio de la politica, España o hiberia es la gran enemiga; sin embargo las conclusiones cientificas son diametralmente opuestas y los descubrimientos se van acumulando convirtiendo la historia pasada en un cúmulo desvergonzado de mentiras.
En el oeste el r1b1 es un carácter que reina casi en solitario y que aparece como regente de todas las demas naciones que asi lo reconocen, es ademas el más antiguo y su historia es sobrecogedora. La exposición “Iberia : hombres o dioses” presenta un conjunto de descubrimientos en los últimos 40 años que convierten a Hiberia en un mundo a parte, antiguo y anterior y mas aun, incontaminado de influencia externa. Se comienza a admitir que la “reconquista”, 800 años, no es más que una guerra civil entre iberos, que bien podrían llamarse euskaricos o atlantes y nunca celtas, pues nunca hubo celtas sobre la piel de toro; mas bien al contrario, Europa es euskarica y los más alejados britanicos e ibéricos guardan la genetica más antigua
Es más facil comprender y asi se prueba, que los iberos vivian desde el norte de África hasta Escandinavia y que su nucleo mas antiguo es el que nunca acepto a los extranjeros, es decir vascongadas, con un 98% de r1b1. pero todo esto no es nada

Como botón de muestra señalare este link de Machado http://www.bibliotecamachado.es/documentos/periodisticos/castellano/reflexionessobreeldiosibero.htm
Donde se retrata el alma de iberia, donde los iberos historicamente no aceptan a dios, si este no les favorece, es un reflejo del pensamiento britanico, como el mismo Howard decia en su Conan :”si no me ayudas, vete al infierno”, las similitudes en el pensamiento y genetica de ambos pueblos, tan a contramano del supuesto tradicional va a ser fuente de reflexión y es en esta reflexión que retornaremos al pensamiento del hombre de hace 15000 años, Euskalerria no es europea, Europa es euskarica, justo lo contrario


Comment #3 by: tomarmagh on 12 Sep 2011, 18:48 UTC reply to this comment

these chivalry units .....did they go around helping helpless maidens in distress?


Comment #4 by: Gobiani on 18 Dec 2011, 18:38 UTC reply to this comment

Iberians are--Old Georgian people(Caucasus)

Comment #4.1 by: viriato on 20 Dec 2011, 08:28 GMT

No hay ninguna prueba de lo que vd dice y si hay pruebas de que los iberos descienden del neardental y otros hominidos del oeste de europa, vd blasfema contra la raza blanca, vd puede estar confuso si se cree mestizo, pero si se analiza geneticamente sabra que no es mestizo y que Hiberia no ha compartida sus haplogrupos con americanos, son pura sangre y al parecer aparecen hace miles de años de repente en HIberia momento en que se extienden por el globo dominando a todos los demas hominidos no civilizados, esto es ciencia.
¿por que ataca a la raza blanca, cuando vd se cree marron?

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