Abstract:

In the framework of this Conference about construction and architecture in Tarraco we intend to show the state of the art about several aspects concerning the protohistoric architecture and urbanism in northern Iberia (present Catalonia). The research carried on by different researchers in the last years has improved our knowledge about the Iberian society in the northen area of this culture. In a general way, the results of this research hint that this society is more complex than it was traditionally thought. The available information about the settlements suggests that population was organised in a highly hierarchical system, where different levels are distinguished. Moreover, the research about the use of space inside the settlements, both about domestic architecture and public buildings, reinforces this idea of social complexity, which will be consolidated during the classical Iberian period and characterises the appearance of the Iberian archaic states.