The urban complex had buildings of enormous dimensions and public services such as baths, water supply, roads and sewers
In 2018, the city council of Artieda – located in northeastern Spain, in the province of Zaragoza and belonging to the country’s Aragon region – requested the help of the Department of Archeology of the University of Zaragoza to study some ruins located around the Hermitage of San Pedro , writes the newspaper “El Pais”.
Three years later, experts confirmed that these sites constituted a large single archaeological complex and identified two phases of habitation on the surface of the site: one during the Imperial Roman period (1st to 5th centuries) and another during the early medieval Christian era (9th to 13th century). Now, the research team has published the results in a report titled “El Forau de la Tuta: A Hitherto Unknown Roman Imperial City on the Southern Slopes of the Pyrenees.” It is striking that, despite the large dimensions of the city and the “buildings of monumental proportions”, no one knows its ancient name.
The study was compiled by experts José Ángel Asensio, Paula Uribe, Lara Íñiguez, María Ángeles Magallón, Milagros Navarro, Jorge Angás, Enrique Ariño, Irene Mañas, Carmen Guiral, Cristian Concha, Óscar Lanzas, Aurora Asín and Guillermo Mora. The report notes that based on important evidence from the ruins preserved in the hermitage, as well as objects found in various public and private collections and the finds at the site, the settlement was urban in nature – the name of the city is currently unknown – and developed during the (Roman) imperial period. Experts also found that, between the 9th and 13th centuries, another town or village of the agricultural habitat type settled on top of the Roman settlement.
The remains of the medieval enclave include the area of the church arch, which was part of the hermitage of San Pedro, numerous silos with circular openings, and an extensive cemetery consistent with Christian burial rites.
Inside the hermitage, the study’s authors found two Corinthian capitals, three Italian Attic bases, one classical, and a cornice fragment. The massive dimensions and typology of the objects indicate that they come from various public buildings of the early imperial period. According to Jose Angel Asensioone of the heads of the investigation, two of the capitals “they would have formed part of Corinthian columns over six meters high and belonged to a public building of enormous proportions, perhaps a forum temple. Regarding their dating, stylistically they can be dated to the end of the first century».
The study confirms that these pieces come from at least two different monuments. Their typologies show that they were crafted more than half a century apart, “a fact that demonstrates a prolonged period in the city’s monumental formation process».
This report by experts from the Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses (Institute for Early Aragonese Studies), the Universities of Zaragoza, Bordeaux, the Polytechnic of Madrid, Salamanca, the UNED (National University of Distance Education) and the School of Tourism of Zaragoza also indicates the location of four tombstones from the area, which were in the Episcopal Museum of Jaca and in private collections in Artieda.
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