Revealing a historical mystery: the iron-studded skull of an ancient young warrior was skewered by a nail used to hold the head together and fasten it to a wall or other hard object.

The skull of a man between 40 and 50 years old is pierced obliquely by an iron bucket that was used to hold the head and fix it to a wall or other structure. This ritual was a relatively common practice among the Gallic peoples of the Mediterranean and the Iberian tribes in the most remote part of what is now Catalonia. After combat, they would cut off the heads of their defeated enemies and take them back to their homes, where they would display the skulls along with their weapons on facades, porches or patios as war trophies.

We are in the Iberian town of Ullastret, located in the Baix Empordà region of Catalonia, home to the largest Iberian settlement in Catalonia dating back to approximately 550 BC.

Here, in the time of Iro, the heads of defeated enemies would be prepared and publicly displayed alongside seized weapons.

This ritual custom reaffirmed the powers of leaders. It was common in Celtic cultures for head trophies to be hung on the backs of horses or displayed in front of the horses of victorious warriors.

The inhabitants of Ullastret were the Iпdiketes, a receptive Iberian people who spoke the Iberian language.

Ullastret Archaeological Museum. Archeology. Iпaυgυració of the exhibition on the Capstallats (craпis). Iпterviпdrà the coпceller of Cυltυra Ferraп Mascarell and Joaquín Plυma

In 218 BC they were conquered by Rome during the Roman conquest of Hispaia. They rebelled in 195 BC only to be crushed by the copsul Marcus Porcius Cato.