The hill of the parade ground of Puente Tablas, also known as the Iberian oppidum of Puente Tablas, is an Iberian archaeological site that is widely regarded as one of the most significant Iberian sites in Spain. It can be found in Puente Tablas, a town in the Jaén municipality of Spain, in the Eastern Countryside, on the right bank of the river Guadalbullón. It is currently protected by law as an Archaeological Site, one type of Asset of Cultural Interest.

An interpretation centre, dedicated to the site, opened on February 16, 2016.

The existence of a strong fortification with an irregular layout adapted to the elevations and turns of the terrain, completely walling them off with the exception of the western edge, where a rocky outcrop is used, gives these hills their artificial profile and makes them an Iberian oppidum. The hills can see each other because the wall separates them; the wall also caused the hills to become joined over time due to silting up, making them appear as a single geological feature.

Controlling the fertile plain, the almagra and gypsum mines, and the communication route formed by the Guadalbullón, which connects with the Guadalquivir and crosses the Campia, were all reasons for settling there. The Cerro de San Juan de Dios to the northeast closes the line of sight, but the oppidum's position, advanced towards a meander of the river, gives it command of the landscape from an advantageous vantage point, since the fortification is hidden from view when moving along the river's natural transit routes (to the northeast and southeast). The wall gradually gives way to the rocky cliffs to the west of the archaeological site, which is also where the most impressive buildings can be seen.

Over the course of several systematic excavation campaigns beginning in 1983 and continuing through 1985, a team of archaeologists from the University of Jaén working on the research project "El Poblamiento Ibérico en la Campia de Jaén" uncovered evidence of human occupation of the hill from the Late Bronze Age to the Islamic period. A transitional abandonment was discovered around the middle of the fourth century BC, coinciding with a sharp drop in cereal pollen in the occupation levels, suggesting a clear abandonment of the exploitation of the fertile plains of the Guadalbullón. This likely coincides with the movement of the population from Puente Tablas to the Cerro de Santa Catalina.

Hut foundations and post holes along the ridge between the two hills attest to human habitation as early as the Bronze Age. Recent discoveries on a hill to the southeast have shown evidence of a more extensive occupation at this time, which revises ideas as to the real extent of the Archaeological Zone and makes it advisable to redefine its limits in light of the present application for the declaration of a Site of Cultural Interest, even though the extent of the finds presupposes a progressive displacement rather than a coeval occupation of the entire hilltop.
Puente Tablas, a fortified settlement in western Iberia, seen from afar.

When the Proto-Iberians arrived, they immediately set to work fortifying the hills with dry stone, sourced from the Cerro de San Juan de Dios. A complex network of interior corridors is visible, with a slope resting on a very thick plumbed face and with rectangular bastions as buttresses.

Over the course of several archaeological digs, researchers have uncovered eight bastions, the tallest of which stand at five metres. These walls span two hundred metres. The only known entrance is in the southwest, where it is shielded by two buttresses that form a funnel to regulate traffic.

Some sections of the wall were whitewashed using the "rope-and-blight" method in the 4th century BC before they were abandoned. Inner city urban planning is the most intricate, with a thorough network of streets distributing square-plan terraced houses. The home's interior spaces also increase in complexity, with dedicated areas designed for sleeping, eating, and working.

The prototypical oppidum house from the fourth century BC features a new layout compared to earlier examples. Instead of the strict separation seen in earlier stages, a more open communal space can be seen being created at the entrance. The first two rooms are consequently combined into one larger space, marked by a central pillar and benches placed side by side to suggest partial covering in the lateral axis. Both rammed earth and plaster are used to pave the floor. The kitchen's documented focal point, the hearth, is situated in this bay, close to the front door. This is where the grinding takes place.

The third and only interior room, which in the previous era was delimited at the back by the dividing wall to other opposing dwellings, is now divided into two or three longitudinal rooms, which may be further divided transversally. Limestone slabs form the flooring throughout these interior spaces, with the exception of one unpaved area that is likely connected to a former wooden floor or structure. In addition, the beginning of a set of steps, facing the interior rooms, has been preserved in the semi-covered room of one of the houses, which dates back to the 4th century BC.

During the final research campaign in 1990, a large porticoed building was discovered in the western part of the oppidum, which was vastly different in size and structure from the houses in the eastern part.
Place where most of the villagers live.

The fortifications in the late Iberian horizon of the third century BC are weaker in construction, with smaller bastions built atop or atop the sedimentation of earlier fortifications. Around this time, people began to return to the hill that had been abandoned after Romanization caused profound social and territorial shifts.