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A maritime villa and Roman baths unearthed on the beaches of Trafalgar

2021-05-31T19:34:35.702Z


ARCHEOLOGY - The tip of the Spanish Cape is home to a megalithic tomb, some medieval ruins as well as unexpected Roman remains that are said to be among the most important in Andalusia.


Hidden for more than a millennium in the south of Spain, under the sands of Cape Trafalgar, discreet Roman remains missed, in 1805, the opportunity to see thundering, offshore, the largest naval battle of the Napoleonic era. Two hundred years later, however, Spanish archaeologists have not failed in their turn to uncover a set of buildings as important as it was unexpected around the lighthouse which marks the same cape of Trafalgar, at the western end of the golf course. from Cadiz. Undertaken since April, the excavations have revealed to researchers a prehistoric tomb, a medieval burial space associated with an old watchtower as well as an exceptional maritime villa from Roman times. According to archaeologists from the University of Cadiz,this luxurious residence with ocean view would quite simply be one of the most important Roman villas in the Andalusian region.

Read also: A sumptuous Roman mansion, in the heart of a rich property, resurfaces in Andalusia

Located in the municipality of Los Caños de Meca, on the Costa de la Luz, the site was already partly known to researchers, who have just excavated there for the first time, thanks to some evidence from the 18th and 19th centuries that reported of Roman ruins.

This sunny coast of southern Andalusia, however, contained much more substantial remains than expected.

"These are exceptional heritage discoveries, completely unpublished to date"

, thus welcomed in a press release Darío Bernal, the scientific director of the excavation campaign. And for good reason, part of the architectural ornaments and painted decoration of the villa which could be found by Spanish archaeologists hints at the admirable opulence of what could have been the second home of a notable of Roman Bética. The domestic space of this complex was decorated with mosaics, columns with Corinthian capitals as well as frescoes of the third Pompeian style. Colorful, using and abusing geometric and vegetal patterns, this ornamental style remained in vogue until the middle of the 1st century AD. AD approximately. The very ceilings of this house on Cape Trafalgar were painted in color, a sign of the obvious opulence of the place.

Aerial view of the old maritime villa eroded by coastal erosion.

University of Cádiz

A

balneum

of more than one hectare

A few hundred meters from the villa, Andalusian excavators have also found the first outlines of a spa building, unearthed by their care from the sandy belly of the Costa de la Luz. Abandoned in late Antiquity, the building retains some sections of its elevation, in places over 4 meters high. On the two pieces so far unearthed by the researchers, the identification of a hypocaust heating system in the excavated area seems to indicate the presence of at least one

caldarium

(warm room) or a

tepidarium

( lukewarm room) in this thermal building, which would not be surprising since these are the main rooms of the Roman baths. For the moment qualified as

balneum

according to archaeologists, this spa complex could extend over an area of ​​more than one hectare;

it was in all likelihood associated with the neighboring luxurious villa, the owners of which seemed decidedly not to have denied themselves anything like Roman comfort.

Read also: Barely discovered in England, a stunning Roman villa already visited by looters

Finally, like the domestic and thermal part of this maritime villa, an equally important part of the ancient site was occupied by the economic area of ​​the residence.

In Los Caños de Meca, this activity was unsurprisingly focused on the sea: there was therefore a fishery, at least 7 salt-cured ponds, as well as a

garum

production center.

, the famous Roman condiment made from salted and fermented fish. Very popular throughout the Roman world, the precise recipe of this sauce varied however according to the regions, the times and the local preferences: at the villa of Trafalgar, mollusks as well as sea urchins thus seem to have entered the composition of this wine. a specialty very popular with ancient palaces. As the University of Cadiz specifies, one of the axes of the post-excavation study of the site will relate to the reconstruction of the exact manufacturing process of this garum sauce Trafalgar.

A new excavation campaign should bring archaeologists back to the silted remains of the Costa de la Luz this fall. Until then, the regional authorities have announced that the archaeological site will be placed under surveillance and classified in the Andalusian register of goods of cultural interest, pending its possible development. This could however be more ephemeral than expected, the beautiful Roman residence of Cape Trafalgar having already been eaten away over the centuries by the inevitable erosion of the coast. A small consolation prize, the phenomenon appears to be slower than on the English coasts or on the French Atlantic coast; the maritime villa will therefore not soon join the wrecks of the Napoleonic fleet in the back of the golf course of Cadiz.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-05-31

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