The ancient history of Spain shows that before the evolution of the state, Spain was a part of the wider region which was called the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian Peninsula includes contemporary countries like Spain, Portugal and a very small part of France. The major portion of the Iberian Peninsula is today a part of Spain. According to the findings of scholars of Spanish history, the Iberian Peninsula has been inhabited by humans for over thirty thousand years. The earlier cultures that existed in the ancient Spanish region were the Hominin occupants, who have left several marks of their existence in Spain dating back a hundred thousands years. This was recently reconfirmed from the excavation at the Atapuerca Mountains in Spain, where skeletons of the Hominin natives were found. Archaeologists confirm that these skulls are over one hundred thousand years old.

The Neanderthals were the successors of the Hominin in ancient Spain during the Lower Paleolithic period. There were two branches of the Neanderthals that existed at two different periods. The first were the Neanderthal Mousterian inhabitants, who existed till the Upper Paleolithic period. The other type was the Neanderthal Chatelperronian inhabitants, who existed for around seven thousand years. There are several remains of these groups that were explored in the near past and are still searched in modern Spain.

The Aurignacian inhabitants were the next occupants of the Iberian Peninsula. The Aurignacians can be classified into four different forms corresponding to the period of their existence. These diverse types of Aurignacian groups include: the Archaic Aurignacian to start with and followed by the Typical Aurignacian, Evolved Aurignacian and Final Aurignacian.

After the period of the cannibals during the Paleolithic era, the practice of agriculture was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula only eight thousand years ago. The Mediterranean cultures were responsible for bringing this new way of creating food into Spain. The Los Millares cultures were the next to dominate the ancient region of Spain. These cultures along with the Bell Beaker cultures were the ones that introduced the use of copper and such other soft metals in developing tools, utensils and weapons. The Cogotas I culture followed the Copper Age cultures in Spain.

Finally the Celtic tribes occupied major area of Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century B.C., accompanied by the Phoenicians, Portuguese, Carthaginians and the Greek. The Carthaginians from Africa dominated the Iberian Peninsula for a considerable period. It was in the 4th century B.C. onwards that the Romans started taking interest in the Iberian Peninsula and had started aggressions with the Carthaginians. This reached a peak when the Romans finally won control over the peninsula in mid years of the 3rd century B.C.