Sixty-six new archaeological sites have been discovered thanks to the combined use of different remote sensing techniques and open access geospatial datasets (mainly aerial photography, satellite imagery, and airborne LiDAR). These sites enhance the footprint of the Roman military presence in the northern fringe of the River Duero basin (León, Palencia, Burgos and Cantabria provinces, Spain). This paper provides a detailed morphological description of 66 Roman military camps in northwestern Iberia that date to the late Republic or early Imperial eras. We discuss the different spatial datasets and GIS tools used for different geographic contexts of varied terrain and vegetation. Finally, it stresses out the relevance of these novel data to delve into the rationale behind the Roman army movements between the northern Duero valley and the southern foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains. We conclude that methodological approaches stimulated by open-access geospatial datasets and enriched by geoscientific techniques are fundamental to understand the expansion of the Roman state in northwestern Iberia during the 1st c. BC properly. This renewed context set up a challenging scenario to overcome traditional archaeological perspectives still influenced by the cultural-historical paradigm and the pre-eminence of classical written sources.

GIS-based digital modelling tools, such as the well-known least cost paths (LCP), have been widely used in archaeology in recent years as ways of approaching forms of mobility in the past. Roman roads are among the best-known examples of ancient networks of paths and have been widely studied using such approaches. In this paper, we shall make a general reflection on the applicability of those tools for the modelling and analysis of ancient routes, with a special focus on Roman roads. Drawing from a case study in the NW Iberian Peninsula, we shall discuss certain aspects related to the potential and limits of Cumulative Costs, LCP and other related tools for the modelling and analysis of ancient roads. We will illustrate how the use of tools which explore potential mobility in less restricted ways can help to overcome some of the limitations of LCP.

En los últimos años hemos asistido a un incremento exponencial del número de evidencias arqueológicas relacionadas con la presencia del ejército romano en el noroeste peninsular. En este trabajo analizamos un conjunto de recintos identificados en el oriente gallego mediante el empleo de una metodología específica que aúna técnicas de teledetección y métodos de prospección arqueológica convencional. Estos yacimientos podrían identificarse como asentamientos militares romanos, de acuerdo con sus particulares características morfo-tipológicas. En las siguientes líneas se describen las estructuras arqueológicas documentadas, se analiza su patrón de asentamiento y se estudian sus relaciones con el territorio circundante con la ayuda de diversas tecnologías de información geográfica.

A new Roman military site was recently detected in Galicia, Spain, an area where the army presence had been challenging to trace until date. O Penedo dos Lobos is a playing-card shaped camp with very distinctive, fortified entrances. The archaeological survey conducted on this site in the summer of 2018 allowed us to recover some elements of Roman militaria, as well as numismatic evidence dating back to late 1^st c. BC, thus suggesting a connection with the Cantabrian-Asturian Wars of Augustan times. However, there is still some uncertainty regarding the specific task undertaken by the military contingent that occupied this site. Besides its historical implications, a focus will be given to the methodology applied for the archaeological survey of this site. This has shed new light on the Roman military presence in Galicia, allowing its integration into wider European debates on Roman conquest and expansion.

This paper presents the results of the archaeological campaign carried out in 2017 at the archaeological site of A Penaparda, a playing-card shaped Roman camp (ca. 10 ha) located on the border between A Fonsagrada (Lugo) and Santalla (Asturias). Following a previous archaeological survey of the Ouroso-Penouta Mountains where remote sensing techniques were used, this campaign comprised the integral survey of the archaeological structures -both on the surface and using remote sensing tools-, the artefact and metal surveying of some sections of the site, and the excavation of an exploratory trench to better characterise and date the sites' defences. These tasks, financed by the Concello da Fonsagrada, allowed us to validate our initial hypotheses about the site and to relate this enclosure with other camps located in Eastern Galicia and western Asturias.