The site of La Hoya in north-central Iberia was a thriving political, social, and economic centre in the Iron Age, but this success was brought to an abrupt end by a violent attack, which took place at some point between the mid 4th and late 3rd centuries BC.
The settlement’s location in the fertile Ebro River Valley, close to important communication routes between the Cantabrian, Mediterranean, and Inner Plateau regions, allowed it to grow into a large, complex site of more than 300 buildings, and perhaps around 1,500 inhabitants, with a defensive stone wall, paved streets, and public squares.
However, its location in the valley lowlands made La Hoya vulnerable and – in the late Iron Age, before the Roman conquest of Iberia – the village was attacked and burned to the ground, with the bodies of people and animals left to lie where they were slaughtered, and houses abandoned with food and personal objects left behind. The site was discovered in 1935, and a small area was excavated in 1973-1990. Post-excavation analysis is now shedding more light on the final days of La Hoya and the devastating attack on the settlement.
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