The Licates (Gaulish: *Licatis 'those of the Licca' or 'those of the rock') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of the Lech river during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
According to Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, however, "the word formations of the ethnonym and hydronym suggest that they originated independently of each other, even though they both contain the same Celtic lexeme lic(c)a ('rock').
One would therefore assume that Licates simply denoted the 'rock dwellers' and thus inevitably represented a relatively old ethnic designation.
[8] Their chief town, known as Damasia, has been identified with a fortified settlement in Auerberg, near modern Bernbeuren.
[10] They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.