For about four hundred years, beginning around the 8th Century BC, a complex and lively Iberian settlement existed, comprising at least three related hill forts.

Cerro del Coto was particularly suited for the siting of a defensive fort, and archeological finds have confirmed that all of the interacting communities traded with the passing Phoenicians.

This river, which borders the municipality on the north and west, encloses some landscapes of great beauty when the vegetation on the banks close together forming real "gallery-woods".

In spite of the scarcity of facts known about the history of Arriate, judging by the caves in the rocks on the banks of the river, it is possible that man's presence in these lands comes from very remote times.

Its geographical situation in an area of soft topography and water, as well as the possibilities of hunting in the woods and nearby sierras, would have made it a very favourable place for the first hunters and later farmers.