Spain Archaeology

In the last decades an intense archaeological activity has continued in Spain: excavations have involved sites from different eras, from the prehistoric to the Arab period. Of the cities, public and monumental buildings, as well as private and residential buildings, have been investigated, and studies on the most diverse economic aspects of the country have not been lacking.

According to Baglib, excavations conducted in Mérida in the late 1980s have provided new data on the city. In the church of Spain Eulalia, which is located outside the wall enclosure, two peristyles have emerged, belonging to two distinct houses, to be placed chronologically in the first half of the 1st century AD. In the area of ​​the forum, architectural elements have come to light which are believed are relevant to a public building, part of the enclosure of the temple of Diana and that of the forum itself. Furthermore, the excavations and surveys made it possible to further define the road system thanks to the identification of some sections of the decumanus maximus and some city gates with the relative access roads. In Ampurias (prov. Gerona) recent investigations have revealed the existence of three different city walls, the oldest of which dates back to the 4th century BC. This is followed by a second wall belonging to the 3rd century BC, replaced in the following century by other walls, previously judged for their Hellenistic construction technique. The last wall is built about 15 m away from the previous one and has an access door to the city flanked by two towers.

In Sagunto (province of Valencia), on the hill where the pre-Roman city destroyed by Hannibal in 218 BC already stood, the remains of some public buildings pertaining to the Roman town have been found. In particular, a republican temple (2nd century BC) with a tripartite cell was discovered which, following the urban reorganization of the city in the Augustan age, was incorporated into the newly built forum (60 × 60 m). On its western side there is a three-nave basilica, more than 40 m long, on the opposite side there is a series of tabernae. Excavations in Valeria (province of Cuenca) have also brought to light a rich hole dating back to the early imperial age, an example of the grandeur of means that characterizes urban furnishings in this period. On the two short sides of the forum there are respectively the basilica and the temple, on the long sides the tabernae are placed, according to a characteristic scheme of the early imperial age.

Recent data acquired on Tarragona have made it possible to give a new interpretation to a complex excavated in the center of the city in the years 1925-28, which in the past was believed to be the forum. Today, however, it seems more probable that it is a basilica, built as part of the urban renewal program in the Augustan age, when the city became the capital of the province. During the excavations Corinthian capitals, fragments of architraves, friezes and other architectural elements emerged which allowed the reconstruction of the internal structure of the basilica.

In the last three decades numerous excavations have been carried out in the place called Cerro de Cabeza del Griego (province of Cuenca), where the remains of the town of Segobriga are found. In addition to the walls, the theater and the amphitheater have been excavated, both of which date back to the first decades of the imperial age (30-60 AD) when, following the Augustan refoundations, many cities in Spain were enriched with new public buildings. The lower part of the cavea and the orchestra with the parodoi have been preserved from the theater . The pulpit is characterized by semicircular niches alternating with other quadrangular ones, while the scene, which dates back to the 2nd century AD, is divided into a central niche flanked by two rectangular ones. Also in Clunia (prov. Burgos) investigations have been carried out on the theater of the Tiberian age. The building is leaning against the hill, so much so that the media and the sum of the cavea do not rest on substructures, as is usually the case in Roman theaters, but are built directly into the rock. Numerous architectural fragments, an inscription and the statue of a toga remain of the decoration of the theater, which must have been not in marble but in limestone. The investigations carried out in Las Medulas (province of León), in a gold mine, are part of the research on the many aspects of the Hispanic economy, among which mining had an important role. The aforementioned mine was active for about 150 years, from the 1st century AD to the beginning of the 3rd century AD. During the research, traces of two different methods of extracting the metal emerged. In the Spanish-Muslim city of Vascos (province of Toledo) the excavation campaigns conducted from 1981 to 1983 have brought to light some Arab baths, probably public, and a series of other buildings nearby. The baths seem to date back to the 10th century, while their abandonment must be placed, in conjunction with that of the city, at the end of the 11th century or at the beginning of the following one. During the research, traces of two different methods of metal extraction emerged. In the Spanish-Muslim city of Vascos (province of Toledo) the excavation campaigns conducted from 1981 to 1983 have brought to light some Arab baths, probably public, and a series of other buildings nearby. The baths seem to date back to the 10th century, while their abandonment must be placed, in conjunction with that of the city, at the end of the 11th century or at the beginning of the following one. During the research, traces of two different methods of metal extraction emerged. In the Spanish-Muslim city of Vascos (province of Toledo) the excavation campaigns conducted from 1981 to 1983 have brought to light some Arab baths, probably public, and a series of other buildings nearby. The baths seem to date back to the 10th century, while their abandonment must be placed, in conjunction with that of the city, at the end of the 11th century or at the beginning of the following one.

Spain Archaeology