Astorga () is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés and the mountains of León and acts as the backbone of the comarcas of Maragatería, La Cepeda and the Ribera del Órbigo. The city is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. It is also head of the judicial party number 5 of the province of León. Astorga lies in the area of the Maragatos, a small ethnic and cultural community with distinctive customs and architecture. The town lies at the junction of the French route, the most popular path and Vía de la Plata route, an alternative path of the Way of St. James (). Saint Turibius of Astorga was bishop of the city in the 5th century. History The timeline of Galician history that includes Astorga has artifactual evidence stretching back over 200,000 years, predating the Paleolithic. away from Astorga in the Atapuerca Mountains (Sierra de Atapuerca) exists a rich fossil record of the earliest humans in Spain. The scientific study of these remains provide priceless information about the appearance and the way these humans lived. The regional government of Castile and León has designated the site an Espacio cultural. Tin artifacts dated to c. 2750 BC using metallurgical diffusion chronologic dating were found in the area of Astorga. Artifacts such as tube and double ring axes were located in Astorga and are significant to an Atlantic cultural complex from the Bronze Age period c. 1300–700 BC that are included in the Castro cultures. Astorga, in the Iron Age, came under the cultural influence of the Celts; the local Celtic peoples inhabited the area around 275 BC, known as the Astures and the Cantabri. Later become one of the Roman strongholds in the region they called Asturica. During Cantabrian wars (28-19 BC), Roman legions VI Victrix (Sixth Victorious Legion) and X Gemina (Tenth Twin Legion) were sent and established a castra on the Leonesian land. This castra was strategically placed between the and rivers. The castra was important because of Astures revolutions (22 BC) and proximity to gold mines of Las Medulas. After the Punic