Archaeology News Online

Spanish archaeologists excavating a Visigoth necropolis in Sena, in the northeastern province of Huesca, have uncovered what they say is a burial site dating to the 10th century BCE and that was part of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. An urn that revealed the existence of the cemetery dating back more than 2,000 years [Credit: EFE] Two urns and a lid were discovered in the graveyard. Hugo Chautón, the archaeologist overseeing the excavation, says Urnfield culture spread from central Europe into northeastern Spain around 1,000 years BCE. The name comes from the Urnfield culture’s custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which were then buried. “This culture represents the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron,” said Chautón, “and provides valuable information about burial practices, particularly the move from burying the dead to cremating them.” Archaeologists work on the Visigoth burial site in Sena (Huesca) [Credit: EFE] The team has been excavating a V

Without the proper context, the sight of a staircase leading down into a great hole in the ground might not look like much. But this hole is part of an archaeological dig that has uncovered an enormous building dating back 2,500 years, part of the famed Tartessos culture. The find was made in the western Spanish region of Extremadura, a rural land renowned for its cork oak plantations, its scorching summers, and for being the birthplace of conquistadors. The Tartessian staircase found in Turuñuelo de Guareña (Badajoz) [Credit: S. Burgos/ C. Martinez] In the fifth century before the Christian era, there was a massive two-story building standing here, in the demarcation of Las Vegas del Guadiana, in Badajoz province. The building – the first surviving one of its kind from that era to be discovered – had a monumental staircase rising two-and-a-half meters. And it was made with materials and techniques that researchers thought had not been in use in the Western Mediterranean until much lat

Twentieth-century Spanish novelist Azorín once described Ávila as “the most 16th-century of all Spanish cities,” generously endowed as it is with churches and palaces. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, it will now continue to live up to this boast in the 21st century by pioneering a European project called Smart Heritage City, aimed at monitoring this and other historical cities. Ávila is leading an EU project that uses technology to monitor potential damage to its famous walls  [Credit: Juan Luis Menendez Valderrey] As many as 226 sensors are being installed along the city wall, around the cathedral and on important buildings and streets. These devices, more than half of which are already in action, pick up a huge amount of data concerning humidity, temperature, light, cracks, insects and traffic vibration. “New technology has to be applied to the conservation of monuments because they are very delicate,” says Rosa Ruiz, archaeologist and head of Ávila’s Heritage Department. T

A team of 15 archaeologists and 20 volunteers has worked at the Arenal de la Virgen and Casa Corona archaeological sites in Villena (Alicante, Spain). This fieldwork campaign represents a first excavation phase and have provided relevant data for the research that is being carried out in the scope of the European research project PALEODEM, on climatic and demographic changes developed from the IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social). At both sites, the excavation has yielded evidences of human occupations during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago. Excavation at Casa Corona [Credit: IPHES] This first excavation phase included in this project began on 1 March and ended on 30 June, taken place during 4 months of uninterrupted fiekdwork on these sites. Hearths, small stone-pavings and post-holes have been documented among the  habitat structures. In the Arenal de la Virgen, abundant remains of lithic industry, land snails and

A treasure of gold and silver ancient Roman coins has been found at a mining site in Huelva, southern Spain. The coins as the were found at the site [Credit: Atalaya Mining] The discovery is of "incalculable value and a milestone in the archaeology of this mining area," according to the archaeologists from Atalaya Mining, the company running the mine who found it.  The discovery was reported by local newspaper Huelva Informacion . The 40 or 50 coins found, which date from the 2nd century AD, according to a report in La Informacion , are said to be from the era of Nero and Trajan. "It is a discovery of great beauty that comes to contribute data to our knowledge of RioTinto, that was the great mine of the Roman Empire," Luis Iglesias, director of archaeology at Atalaya Mining, told El Pais . Experts believe the owner of the coins would have been an influential resident of the ancient Roman settlement of Orium. The coins were found bunched together because they would p

Spanish archaeologists excavating a Visigoth necropolis in Sena, in the northeastern province of Huesca, have uncovered what they say is a burial site dating to the 10th century BCE and that was part of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. An urn that revealed the existence of the cemetery dating back more than 2,000 years [Credit: EFE] Two urns and a lid were discovered in the graveyard. Hugo Chautón, the archaeologist overseeing the excavation, says Urnfield culture spread from central Europe into northeastern Spain around 1,000 years BCE. The name comes from the Urnfield culture’s custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which were then buried. “This culture represents the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron,” said Chautón, “and provides valuable information about burial practices, particularly the move from burying the dead to cremating them.” Archaeologists work on the Visigoth burial site in Sena (Huesca) [Credit: EFE] The team has been excavating a V

Without the proper context, the sight of a staircase leading down into a great hole in the ground might not look like much. But this hole is part of an archaeological dig that has uncovered an enormous building dating back 2,500 years, part of the famed Tartessos culture. The find was made in the western Spanish region of Extremadura, a rural land renowned for its cork oak plantations, its scorching summers, and for being the birthplace of conquistadors. The Tartessian staircase found in Turuñuelo de Guareña (Badajoz) [Credit: S. Burgos/ C. Martinez] In the fifth century before the Christian era, there was a massive two-story building standing here, in the demarcation of Las Vegas del Guadiana, in Badajoz province. The building – the first surviving one of its kind from that era to be discovered – had a monumental staircase rising two-and-a-half meters. And it was made with materials and techniques that researchers thought had not been in use in the Western Mediterranean until much lat

Twentieth-century Spanish novelist Azorín once described Ávila as “the most 16th-century of all Spanish cities,” generously endowed as it is with churches and palaces. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, it will now continue to live up to this boast in the 21st century by pioneering a European project called Smart Heritage City, aimed at monitoring this and other historical cities. Ávila is leading an EU project that uses technology to monitor potential damage to its famous walls  [Credit: Juan Luis Menendez Valderrey] As many as 226 sensors are being installed along the city wall, around the cathedral and on important buildings and streets. These devices, more than half of which are already in action, pick up a huge amount of data concerning humidity, temperature, light, cracks, insects and traffic vibration. “New technology has to be applied to the conservation of monuments because they are very delicate,” says Rosa Ruiz, archaeologist and head of Ávila’s Heritage Department. T

A team of 15 archaeologists and 20 volunteers has worked at the Arenal de la Virgen and Casa Corona archaeological sites in Villena (Alicante, Spain). This fieldwork campaign represents a first excavation phase and have provided relevant data for the research that is being carried out in the scope of the European research project PALEODEM, on climatic and demographic changes developed from the IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social). At both sites, the excavation has yielded evidences of human occupations during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago. Excavation at Casa Corona [Credit: IPHES] This first excavation phase included in this project began on 1 March and ended on 30 June, taken place during 4 months of uninterrupted fiekdwork on these sites. Hearths, small stone-pavings and post-holes have been documented among the  habitat structures. In the Arenal de la Virgen, abundant remains of lithic industry, land snails and