Castro ceramics were a part of the Castro Culture

Castro culture

Castro culture is the archaeological term for naming the Celtic archaeological culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula from the end of the Bronze Age until it was subsumed in local Roman culture...

 of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

. The ceramics were made mostly by hand, although in some cases a pottery wheel

Potter's wheel

In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in asma of round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during process of trimming the excess body from dried ware and for applying incised decoration or rings of color...

 was used. In many cases, signs of smoothing and flattening are visible on the pots.

Themes

The designs on the pottery are predominantly globe-like and spherical. Another common characteristic is that the designs often include one or more wings. The walls are generally flat and even, while the bottom remains unfinished, though there are some exceptions.

The decorative themes on the pottery are fairly uniform. Common designs are of parallel vertical and horizontal lines, triangles, stars, S-shaped patterns, and fish-spine designs. Also common were interlaced designs, impressions using ropes or "mamelóns", as well as other varied ornamental designs. The major part of the ceramics were plain and undesigned, however.

Uses

The larger bowls were mainly used to store food (such as grains) or liquids. Other pots were used for cooking in a fireplace type area. Smaller ones were used for food and drink in everyday meals.

Some of these ceramics were used in conjunction with or instead of tools made of wood or wicker

Wicker

Wicker is hard woven fiber formed into a rigid material, usually used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is often made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibers are also used....

.

Also common was a form of barbecue grill

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

, using spit

Rotisserie

Rotisserie is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit - a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs,...

s, for grilling food. These are easily identifiable as a result of the holes in the walls and the back of the stone structure where the food was cooked. The materials used to make these ovens were made by hand and were also made and fashioned using small ovens to help the metals become ductile or malleable.