Greece & Rome · 76–72 BC · Irulegi, Navarre, Spain
Roman civil war assault on Basque hillfort found at Irulegi in Navarre
Arrowheads, sling bullets and Roman-type javelins in the burnt streets of Irulegi record an assault on the Vascon settlement during the Sertorian War, which the team dates to 76–72 BC.
Peer-reviewed paper
Irulegi, Spain Archaeologists have documented the remains of a military assault on Irulegi, a fortified hilltop settlement of the Vascones in Navarre, northern Spain. The attack took place during the Sertorian War. The team dates it to between 76 and 72 BC.
The researchers say this is the first direct archaeological evidence that the Vascones took part in the conflict. The Vascones were the pre-Roman people of what is now Navarre.
Mattin Aiestaran and thirteen co-authors published the study in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. The researchers come from the University of the Basque Country, the Aranzadi Society of Sciences and other institutions. They describe the work as the first application of the principles of conflict archaeology in the region.
Irulegi lies on a hilltop in the Aranguren Valley, 889 metres above sea level. It is an oppidum, a fortified hilltop town. It covers more than 14 hectares, with a main core of 2.2 hectares.
The settlement was founded in the Bronze Age, between the 15th and 11th centuries BC. It sits at a crossroads linking the Ebro Valley with the Atlantic and the Aquitanian basin.
Arrowheads in the streets, belongings in the houses
The settlement's last layer is fire-reddened mudbrick and charred timber. The houses still held their contents. Excavators recovered 146 objects connected with warfare: 97 arrowheads, 18 sling bullets, 9 spearheads, 4 javelins of the Roman pilum type, 2 daggers and part of a shield.
Brooches, belt buckles, spurs and horse harness were found alongside them. So were coins and imported fine pottery from Campania, Etruria and Cales in Italy. Inside one building, excavators found surgical instruments.
Most of the arrowheads lay in the main street and side streets. The sling bullets were also found outside the houses.
One dagger is in good condition. It is of the two-disc type and 28.8 centimetres long. The researchers regard it as a typological link between Iberian and Roman daggers.
No human remains have been found so far. This differs from nearby sites such as La Hoya and La Custodia, where victims of violence have been found.
Radiocarbon dates place the fire between 155 BC and AD 3. They come from two fragments of animal bone and a charred barley grain from the burnt layer. The most probable range is the late 2nd to the first half of the 1st century BC.
The finds narrow this further. For instance, Etruscan bronze vessels of the Gallarete type are dated in Iberia to between 125/120 and 70 BC. Using the historical record and comparisons with other sites, the authors settle on 76–72 BC.
The weapons cannot show who was attacking and who was defending. Roman legionaries, Italian allied troops and local auxiliaries all used javelins, daggers and slings. Iberian communities were also already adopting Roman arms.
No significant differences can be observed between the weapons, probably belonging to the defenders, found inside the dwellings of Irulegi, and those, possibly belonging to the attackers, found outside them.
Mattin Aiestaran and co-authors, Oxford Journal of Archaeology
The team has reconstructed the attack from the position and direction of the projectiles. In their reading, the army first set up a temporary camp on nearby Zarbeta hill. The assault began at the foot of Irulegi's northern slopes.
When the defenders withdrew behind the walls, the attackers entered from the more accessible southwest. They set the buildings alight and pushed up the main street to the summit.
The researchers think the residents were taken by surprise, since their belongings stayed in the houses. The only possible attempt to hide anything is a bronze jug in one building.
A cluster of brooches and buckles lay in the main street. The researchers suggest it may mark the surrender of people who may then have been taken prisoner.
Which side Irulegi took in the war
The Sertorian War (82–72 BC) set the rebel general Quintus Sertorius against the Senate's generals Metellus and Pompey. Sertorius was the leader of the populares in Hispania. Ancient accounts of the war are thin and almost silent about the Vascones.
From the winter of 77–76 BC, Sertorius controlled the right bank of the Ebro. He relied on allied native towns for troops and supplies. The authors suggest Irulegi may have been part of this network. They think its people probably supported him.
Their preferred explanation is that Pompey and Metellus attacked Irulegi in 74 BC. That would place the attack before their failed siege of the Vascon city of Calagurris (modern Calahorra).
The alternative is 73 BC. In that year the sources record many assaults on cities and oppida allied with Sertorius.
The Roman camps at Gazólaz and Aranguren fit this timeline. They were built to besiege settlements in the valleys of the Vascon heartland.
The findings also bear on Pompelo, modern Pamplona. Pompey founded the town. It has traditionally been read as a reward to the Vascones for their support.
All this suggests that the foundation of Pompelo by Pompey was not a way to reward the Vascones, as previously suggested, but rather a punishment
Mattin Aiestaran and co-authors, Oxford Journal of Archaeology
Irulegi was not reoccupied after the assault. According to the authors, the hilltop oppida of the area were abandoned after the war. Their populations were merged into new Roman-style towns such as Pompelo.
Sources
- The attack that changed the history of the Vascones: evidence of a Roman Republic battle found at the oppidum of Irulegi (La Brújula Verde)
Paper: Aiestaran, M. et al. (2026). Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
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