From 1995 onward, the association Cantabria Ancestral worked with enthusiasm and many friends to create a site themed with the Iberian Iron Age at the Iberian peninsula. The original site was excavated by the Italian archaeologist Vitrubio.
This project was born as a Research Center, Experimental Archeology on the culture and ways of life in Prehistory, during the period known as the Iron Age ... more than 2000 years ago. In the Cantabrian Village we conduct Experimental Archeology aimed at all types of audiences, with a wide range of educational, fun and cultural activities, where our visitors will realize an authentic journey in time, entering into direct contact with the rural world and the natural environment that surrounds us.
For groups, programs also include visits to the surrounding Cantabrian Mountains, focusing on archaeology, nature or the snow. The silence of the landscape makes one sensitive for the past and the traditions still alive in this area. On visiting the village, the construction of the houses is explained the use of the pottery and more details about the excavations. A guided visit can take a small hour and added to this groups can order a didactic program. These programs can include food and drink making, looking at plants and animals, different types of experimentation and much more, each of which can take again a small hour.
We offer activities of various modalities. Experimental archeology workshops (ceramics, bread, metalwork, construction, looms, archaeological excavations, orchards, animal traction), as well as courses on plant roofs, manufacture with adobe, metal smelting, combat techniques, fire workshop. There are also practical days of experimental archeology and excursions with snowshoes showing live aspect of the way of life during the winters in the Iron Age village.
The idea is to spread the lifestyle, custom, practices and way of life of the Iron Age Cantabrians. Activities also include a travelling museum exhibition, interactive workshops and traditional storytelling. What better way to learn than playing, experimenting and watching live how they worked these irreducible Cantabrians.... There is also a video available: the Cantabrian Village at Argüeso "the Living Museum of the Iron Age". Workshops are about textiles, pottery but also about using silver, making basketry, woodworking and making furnaces, archaeological excavation, or more environmental workshops like “the world of the bees”. One can also book a workshop on your own site, where in one day you will construct a cabin of 1.5 metres in height. At several moments in construction, work will be paused to explain what, why, and how. Different aspects of the construction techniques used and documented in the archaeological record are shared.
