The Archaeological Museum confronts plundering with an exhibition of Celtiberian war helmets.

War has not always been synonymous solely with violence , but also an expression of people's culture, as clearly demonstrated by the discipline commonly known as conflict archaeology (which focuses on the study of material remains related to conflict or situations of violence). The clearest demonstration of this is now available with Wings for War, Aratis and Celtiberia, an exhibition on view at the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) from today, Tuesday, until October 5.

"The idea arose from a collaboration between the Government of Aragon and the Ministry of Culture ," Susana De Luis Mariño , curator of the exhibition (along with Francisco Romeo Marugán and Luis Fatás Fernández ), told this newspaper. "We wanted to generate a narrative featuring the helmets found at the Aratis site, located in Aranda del Moncayo, Zaragoza . This place was in the news for a very sad event: the looting of several pieces, including the Hispano-Chalcidian helmets, which are somewhat the star of this exhibition."

"However, we didn't want to focus solely on that news, but rather on what these helmets contribute to the scientific and scientific understanding of Celtiberia. This is how this new discourse was born, centered on war, but from an approach we call conflict archaeology , in which we address how war influences all spheres of life: territory, the world of beliefs, the social world... We want to make Celtiberia and this site known to the entire population," he notes.

With a total of almost 200 pieces from different collections ( the National Archaeological Museum, the Zaragoza Museum , the Teruel Museum, and the Numantino Museum in Soria), the exhibition is divided into three thematic units that delve into different concepts, such as the social and political sphere of Celtiberia, the world of war, and the warrior himself . In this way, it seeks to contextualize the helmets within a site such as Aratis, reaffirming the importance of war and death in all strata of society: from babies who died prematurely and were buried in their own homes, to the grave goods of some women who were buried with weapons of war, as they were considered symbols of high status. Not to mention mythology , which dealt with war themes such as the founding hero, or the importance of animals in their beliefs, which is best expressed in the bodies of the deceased being handed over to the vultures.

"Women passed on the stories of their warrior ancestors. This is how they kept alive the connection to the memory of war."

"Women may not have been warriors, but war also affected them. For example, they were in charge of textile production . Rome demanded a war tribute from the Celtiberians in the form of sagum , garments highly valued by the Romans and made by women. Furthermore, written sources tell us that they were the ones who passed on the stories of their warrior ancestors to the community. This is how they kept alive that link with the memory of war," explains De Luis Mariño.

For this reason, the exhibition not only features helmets , but also coins and tesserae that help us better understand a place like Celtiberia , which until very recently was shrouded in myth, but about which we are increasingly learning more. "We have developed a very educational approach for the exhibition," says the curator. "The first part ( Aratis and Celtiberia ) is intended to show the public what the Aratis site is and what we understand by Celtiberia. The second part addresses the theme of war and how it is not just about violence, but is closely linked to the symbolic world , to mythology, and to all spheres of social life. Finally, there is a third part that speaks of the importance of collective struggle for the recovery of heritage: heritage education and the history of what really happened in Aragon say that it was they who passed on the stories of their warrior ancestors to the community. In this way, they kept that link with the memory of the war alive."

The seven helmets of Hispano-Chalcidian typology are those that come from the site looted between the 80s and 90s

The evolution of helmets is clearly visible (from highly decorated bronze to a period of Hispano-Chalcidian helmets, in which each example has its own unique characteristics, and finally to the helmets widespread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, which had a purely military context, were made of iron and had lost their symbolic component). In fact, the seven Hispano-Chalcidian helmets come from the site looted between the 1980s and 1990s by two local residents who amassed an extraordinary collection of Celtiberian metal pieces dating back to the Iron Age. The items were illegally exported and sold abroad. It was thanks to citizen collaboration and the joint efforts of the Ministry of Culture, the Government of Aragon, and the State Security Forces that they were finally recovered in 2019.

"There's a small nod at the end about the need to care for our heritage ," said Isabel Izquierdo Peraile , director of the Archaeological Museum , accompanied by Susana De Luis Mariño and Luis Fatás Fernández , during the press presentation yesterday. "It's an exhibition that tells many stories about the war through its objects; it projects very important values."

Until October, all those curious can stop by to learn more about something that particularly concerns us in these times: how craftsmanship, trade, aesthetic codes, and contact between populations were conditioned and influenced by the importance of the—always omnipresent—war.