The archives of iberian archaeology:One archaeology for two Spains

1926

1915

1897

1890

1863

The Iberians and the Celtsbuilt the Spanish nature. Who wouldn’t see their genius since

Sagunto to Zaragoza, sinceHannibal to Napoleon?What a unique people¡Modesto Lafuente, 1860

It must have been understood by nowthat I view the Basque people as an

untouched remnant of the great Iberiannation… This supports my view that theIberian people ruled all over Spain in the

most remotes times.Manuel de Góngora, 1868

Those people are our ancestors,that Iberian ethnicity is the first ofthe generations that created the

Catalonian spiritEnric Prat de la Riba, 1906

The descriptions as barbarism and even savagerywritten by foreign writers hurt our dignity as Spaniards.

the shyness of Spanish authors eager to obtain fromother countries the charity of some artistic influence

Offended our pride as a race.Juan Cabré, 1919

The Iberian civilization of the IIIrd and IInd centuries b.C., despite its common elements that seem to endow the

peninsula with a great cultural unity, is in fact a mosaic of survivals and local features.

Pere Bosch-Gimpera, 1932

It is, unfair to call ‘Iberian’ thetypically Spanish art of pre-Romantimes; this could be called, in all

propriety, ‘Hispanic’Manuel Gómez-Moreno, 1922

Now we can imagine this ‘Dama de Elche’ escortedby a people standing around her as a bundle and a

phalanx to repel any invading attempt.Giménez Caballero, 1941

What we historically call ‘Iberians’ and archaeologically‘Iberian culture’ is neither race nor culture, as it is one and

the same Hispanic ethnicity in which, at most, a higher proportion of pre-Arian elements may be recognized together with, as is logical, some weak Mediterranean contributions.

Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla, 1941

The school of experts in prehistory of Barcelona and the Basque school of experts in prehistory and ethnology believed that it was better,

maybe because it was more to their liking, to refer to the Spanish peoplesas if they were still different and not united, instead of admitting

how all of them were fatally pushed towards that unity of Hispanic men that,may they want or not, is the historical truth.

Martín Almagro Basch, 1950

We end [this piece of writing] in fervent wishthat other writers remained faithful to the

defense of the Iberian people, the most typicaland representative of Spain, now in danger of

disappearing at the hands of thepro-European fashion.Domingo Fletcher, 1949

1937

1941

1956

1931