- Discovery of the city of El Forau de la Tuta in Artieda and its exceptional marine mosaics.
- Analysis of the funerary jewelry of the elite in Emerita Augusta and its symbolic value.
- Importance of geomatics technology and 3D modeling in the recovery of ancient heritage.
Immersing yourself in the world of Ancient Rome is like opening a treasure chest full of surprises, where every piece of pottery or fragment of wall tells a story. It's not just about the grand monuments known worldwide, but also about those chance discoveries and meticulous excavations that allow us to reconstruct the daily lives, luxuries, and beliefs of the people who walked these lands two millennia ago.
From the depths of Zaragoza to the hidden treasures of Mérida, modern archaeology is rescuing vestiges that were destined for oblivion. It is fascinating to see how the union of cutting-edge technology and scientific passion manages to bring back to us the image of entire cities that did not appear on current maps, revealing a network of settlements far more complex than we imagined.
The mystery of El Forau de la Tuta in Artieda
Near Artieda, specifically in the Jacetania region of Zaragoza, an archaeological site has been unearthed that has left experts speechless: El Forau de la Tuta. This site is not simply a collection of ruins, but has been identified as an urban center from the Imperial period , forcing a re-evaluation of how the territory of the western Pre-Pyrenees was organized. The most curious thing is that, although some clergymen and scholars were already discussing it in the 18th and mid-20th centuries, it wasn't until 2018 that serious investigation began.
The city sits on an alluvial platform and covers an area of at least four hectares. What is truly impressive is its urban layout, with streets and sewers arranged in an orthogonal pattern. Among its architectural gems is a monumental thermal complex , where a black and white mosaic of more than 150 square meters has been unearthed. This piece depicts a marine thiasos, with erotes riding seahorses, dolphins, and scallop shells—an absolute rarity on the Iberian Peninsula due to its inverted bichrome technique.
To ensure no detail was missed, the research team used amazing tools such as LiDAR analysis, multispectral sensors, and terrestrial laser scanners. All of this was used to create a digital twin of the site , allowing scientists and the public to analyze the city without endangering the physical remains. Thanks to this, the bath complex has been dated to between the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.
A Basque society under the wing of Rome
What makes El Forau de la Tuta special is its human element. Everything suggests that it was the center of a civitas inhabited by Vascones , who spoke an Aquitanian-Vascon language before full Romanization. Initially, its inhabitants were considered peregrini, indigenous people who did not yet have Roman citizenship, although with time and the privileges granted during Vespasian's reign, they eventually became fully integrated into the Latin system.
The evidence lies in the epitaphs found at the site. Names like Agirnes and Ausagesius speak to this linguistic and cultural transition . Over the centuries, the city declined around the 4th century, giving way to a more rural way of life based on villas, such as Rienda. Much later, in the High Middle Ages, the area was once again inhabited by farmers, demonstrating that this corner of Artieda has been a strategic settlement point for millennia.
The brilliance of appearances in Emerita Augusta
Changing scenery and moving to Mérida, we encounter the purest luxury. The Consortium of the Monumental City has unveiled a collection of eighty pieces of jewelry that tell the story of the Roman elite. A prime example is the case of Norbana Severa, a high-society woman from the 3rd century AD who was buried in a tomb.
Among her belongings were a gold ring that served as her personal seal and necklaces called moline, which were gold threads intertwined with pearls and precious stones. She also wore a bow chain with green glass beads. These kinds of objects were not just ornaments; they were symbols of power . In fact, the use of gold in rings was long restricted to certain social privileges before becoming more widespread among free citizens.
Amulets, superstitions, and precious materials
It wasn't all about ostentation; there was a very strong spiritual significance to the jewelry. Pliny the Elder already mentioned that gold in children served to protect them against poisons and curses . In Mérida, children's amulets have been found, such as a bronze moon for the poorest children or bullae (drop-shaped pendants) that boys wore until they came of age. Girls, for their part, usually wore silver crescent moons to ward off the evil eye or the fascinum.
The variety of materials was simply staggering: amber, jet, emeralds, glass pastes, and colored marbles brought from the East to decorate the forum floors. Some pieces were shaped like snakes, representing wealth , while other earrings, called crotalia, were so heavy that they deformed the earlobes of the wearer, but they indicated that the woman was extremely rich.
Both the reconstruction of forgotten cities in the Pre-Pyrenees and the analysis of personal treasures in Lusitania reveal a world where monumental architecture and the meticulous detail of a jewel intertwine to tell us who we were. This combination allows us to learn about the lives of people like Norbana Severa or the structure of an unnamed city in Artieda, rescuing from the dust the sophistication of a culture that continues to offer us lessons in art and social organization.
