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The casual discovery of slags while making a forest track led to investigation by a multidisciplinary team focused on filling the knowledge gap concerning the beginning of iron metallurgy in the Taramundi area of NW Spain, prior to the introduction of hydraulic technology in the 16th century. Excavation at As Mestas delineated the extent of a smithy dated to the 17th-19th centuries while preliminary archaeological and geophysical prospecting at A Veiga de Escouredo, along with trial pitting and radiocarbon dating, confirmed the existence of an iron workshop not based on water-powered technology and dated to 1st-3rd centuries AD, 200 m from the fortified Iron Age/Roman town of Os Castros, representing the oldest archaeological evidence of iron production in western Asturias., The casual discovery of slags while making a forest track led to investigation by a multidisciplinary team focused on filling the knowledge gap concerning the beginning of iron metallurgy in the Taramundi area of NW Spain, prior to the introduction of hydraulic technology in the 16th century. Excavation at As Mestas delineated the extent of a smithy dated to the 17th-19th centuries while preliminary archaeological and geophysical prospecting at A Veiga de Escouredo, along with trial pitting and radiocarbon dating, confirmed the existence of an iron workshop not based on water-powered technology and dated to 1st-3rd centuries AD, 200 m from the fortified Iron Age/Roman town of Os Castros, representing the oldest archaeological evidence of iron production in western Asturias.