A recent study from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has linked the remains of a Roman military camp in the eastern Pyrenees to the suppression of an indigenous tribe in 39 BC. The research, based on archaeological surveys and the spatial distribution of recovered artifacts, provides evidence of the dates and locations of the Romans’ actions to control local uprisings.
Controlling a Final Pocket of Resistance
The Ceretani, an Iberian tribe, lived in the mountain passes of Cerdanya in the eastern Pyrenees. Their rugged homeland, modern-day Catalonia, was filled with thick forests and wide valleys that were their ancestral homelands. The independent tribes did not accept the Romans’ two-century-long attempts at conquest in the Iberian Peninsula. During the chaotic Second Triumvirate, military leaders were still attempting to control Hispania. The Ceretani were a final pocket of resistance, the last group to maintain armed resistance to Rome’s imperial power.
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The Historian Cassius Dio Reported on the Conflict
The Roman historian Cassius Dio reported that the Ceretans ambushed a Roman unit and forced it to retreat during a revolt that happened in 39 BC. Dio speaks from the Roman viewpoint, praising the Romans’ maintenance of discipline within their legions as the key to defeating indigenous resistance. He credits Governor Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus for stopping the retreat, punishing the runaway troops, and firmly crushing the rebellion.
Dio’s report of the Ceretan revolt lacked a precise archaeological location in the historical territory of this Pyrenean community until a four-year project, Landscape and Territory in Ancient Cerdanya, conducted by researchers from the UAB, documented a Roman military camp at Collet de Jovell, within the municipality of Urús in the province of Lleida. The researchers’ collection of archaeological materials linked the camp to the campaign against the revolt of the Ceretan people.
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These inscribed sling bullets are among the most important finds from the Coll de Jovell excavation. (Domitius Calvinus/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Archaeological Surveys and Spatial Distribution Pinpoint Time and Location
The UAB team, Oriol Olesti, Joan Oller, Jordi Morera, and several local researchers, conducted archaeological surveys and created a spatial distribution of recovered materials in the wooded area overlooking the route at Collet de Jovell. Their excavations recovered iron studs from Roman legionary sandals, sling bullets, brooches (clothes fasteners), and coins that date the site to the second half of the 1st century BC.
Two inscribed sling bullets provided more precise information. According to researchers, the inscription on two of these bullets - CN(eus) D(omitius) – identifies them with Governor Domitius Calvinus, Augustus's representative in the province of Hispania Citerior in 39 BC and commander of the troops that fought against the Ceretani. The team hypothesizes that the site corresponds to the Roman military camp linked to the fighting during the revolt and is located at a key point of access to the Cerdanya plain.
Distribution map of Roman military finds recovered from the Collet de Jovell excavation. The concentration of artifacts reveals the core of the temporary Roman encampment established during the campaign against the Ceretani in the late first century BC. (Research Team/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
The Last Known Conflict Shows the High Cost of Empire
As documented in the UAB study, the Ceretani revolt location was once thought to be in a western area of the Pyrenees. However, the identification of the Collet de Jovell site places the location within the original territory of the Ceretani. The PATCA team has documented this region over the past twenty-five years. This revolt was the last known conflict between the indigenous people of the Catalonia region and Roman troops. After the Roman victory, the Ceretani abandoned their settlements due to Roman suppression of indigenous culture and independence. The Republic expanded through spectacular victories and small, relentless conflicts with local peoples who were defending their homelands. As the Roman Republic changed, the cost of its empire rose, both for the indigenous communities resisting Roman domination and for the soldiers who had to conquer some of the most difficult terrain in the western Mediterranean.
Top Image: Collet de Jovell in the eastern Pyrenees, with inset; two inscribed Roman sling bullets. Source: Isidre blanc/CC BY-SA 3.0, Domitius Calvinus/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
By Ramsey Hardin
References
Burden-Strevens, C.; Lindholmer, M.O. (2018). Burden-Strevens, Christopher; Lindholmer, Mads (eds.). Cassius Dio's Forgotten History of Early Rome (PDF). Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004384552. ISBN 978-90-04-38455-2. S2CID 166209848. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-04-12. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
Carvajal, Guillermo. 2026. “Roman camp with inscribed projectiles discovered, marking the exact site of the repression of the Ceretan revolt in 39 B.C.” LBV Magazine. https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/07/roman-camp-with-inscribed-projectiles-discovered-marking-the-exact-site-of-the-repression-of-the-cerretan-revolt-in-39-bc/.
Olesti Vila, Oriol, Joan Oller Guzmán, and Jordi Morera Camprubí. “The Roman Army in the Oriental Pyrenees (2nd–1st Century BC): Territorial Control and Management of Provincial Resources in the High Lands.” In Supplying the Roman Empire, 2024. ResearchGate. Accessed July 22, 2026.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384286281_The_Roman_army_in_the_Oriental_Pyrenees_2nd-1st_century_BC_Territorial_control_and_management_of_provincial_resources_in_the_High_Lands
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. 2026. “Evidence of the Roman troops who suppressed the Ceretani revolt found in Cerdanya.” UAB. https://www.uab.cat/web/newsroom/news-detail/evidence-of-the-roman-troops-who-suppressed-the-ceretani-revolt-found-in-cerdanya-1345830290613.html?detid=1345996038231.
Zinin, Andrew, and Sarah Harley. 2026. “New evidence redraws Roman conquest's final conflict in ancient Catalonia.” PHYS.org. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-evidence-redraws-roman-conquest-conflict.html
