Horse-and-rider brooches of "Castellares" type: a symbol shared by cavalry chiefs of pre- Roman groups of the Iberian meseta

The "horse" brooches, with or without a rider, are usually linked to an equestrian elite that assumes the leading role in the new social organization of the Later Iron Age of Celtic Hispania, structured around the oppida and their territories. Almagro-Gorbea and Torres (1999) carried out a typo-chronological classification of the known specimens, identifying a series of workshops. Compared to a catalog of 136 pieces, those that included a horseman represented only 10%. A series of new finds, as well as a fresh study of previously known specimens in various museum collections, enable the identification within this group of a specific type of horse-and-rider fibula with a distribution that includes the Celtiberian, Vaccean and Vetonian territories. Named "Castellares" type, the formal characteristics of all the specimens are identical. Their formal, technical and analytical study allows for their interpretation as shared symbols of alliances between chiefs in times of conflict.