Rome · Roman period · Avión, Galicia, Spain
Well-preserved Roman legionary javelin found at a hillfort in Galicia, Spain
Excavators at the castro of San Vicente in Avión found a Roman pilum in the rubble of the wall around the settlement's highest point.
Avión, Spain Archaeologists have found a Roman pilum, the javelin carried by legionary soldiers, at the castro of San Vicente in Avión, in Galicia in north-west Spain. The regional newspaper La Región reports that the weapon is in an exceptional state of preservation.
The pilum lay in a layer of rubble from the wall of the croa. The croa is the highest part of the hillfort, and usually its walled core. The find adds to what is known about the site and its relation to the Roman presence in the area.
A weapon made to be thrown
The pilum was a javelin used by the Roman army. Soldiers threw it at the enemy. It is one of the best-known pieces of Roman military equipment.
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A castro is a fortified hilltop settlement of the kind built across north-west Iberia in the Iron Age. Many of these villages were still lived in after Rome completed its conquest of the region under Augustus, in 19 BC. Roman objects at such sites can reflect trade, contact or military action, so where and how a weapon was found matters.
The report does not say how the pilum came to be in the rubble of the wall. It does not give a date for the weapon or for the layer it was found in. It also does not name the archaeologists leading the work. Any reading of the find as evidence of fighting at the site would need that information first.
A photo caption published with the article refers to the "Castro de San Andrés". The text itself names the site throughout as the castro of San Vicente.
Three years of finds at San Vicente
Excavations at the castro began in 2023. Since then the team has found several round huts, the typical house form of the castro villages. Other finds include a triskele, a three-armed spiral design, and a cross with rounded ends known in Spanish as a cruz embolada.
The dig has also produced Roman-period material. This includes fragments of amphorae, the clay jars used to transport goods such as wine and oil, and pieces of glass. The pilum is the latest of these Roman objects.
The newspaper says the site continues to give new clues to the different phases in which it was occupied. One social media user compared digging there to Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get.
In August 2026 the researchers announced a structure that may have had a funerary use. La Región says this idea still has to be checked through further investigation.
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