Video of the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum. Prehistoric Area.
Video of the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum. Prehistoric Area.
The research addresses the analysis of the local responses of Cantabrian hunter-gatherer societies to the environmental transformations of various orders that characterised the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods.
These transformations ranged from the continuous rise in sea levels and the parallel reduction of habitable territory to the drastic modification of the vegetation cover, as well as changes in the terrestrial and marine faunas. Alongside this, the migratory movements of other human groups affected by these changes are also shown to be a source of novelty in these social responses that we see at the local scale.
Since the end of the 19th century, a hundred and a half warrior stelae have been discovered and numerous studies have been published on them. But there are still many unknowns to be solved. This conference presents the results of recent research, carried out in collaboration with various teams, in which new approaches and cutting-edge technologies have been applied to the study of warrior stelae, and their finding sites, from different areas of the western Iberian Peninsula. The new data contribute to clarify some questions about the meaning and functionality of the stelae, while revealing interesting aspects of their biographies.
Cycle “Dialogues with the classical world”, September 6 to December 20, 2017.
The Tresminas mining area is one of the most spectacular cultural landscapes in northwest Hispania. About 2000 years ago, a detachment of one of the powerful Roman legions settled in the Serra da Pradela to organise and control the large-scale gold mining of Tresminas and Jales (Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Real, Portugal).
The spectacular traces of this exploitation can still be seen at Tresminas: two large mining cuttings (Covas and Ribeirinha) and a smaller one (Lagoinhos), as well as deep galleries dug mainly to allow the treatment and evacuation of all the extracted rock and an extensive network of water supply channels for the mines, which start in dams and end in storage reservoirs.
Galeria dos Alargamentos
There are also enormous dumps that fill the valleys and one of the most characteristic elements of this mining area: a large number of granite pestle and mortar mills used in the final grinding of the ore.
But there also remain important testimonies of the men and women who lived and worked in Tresminas, and who died there in the first two centuries of our Era. As a result of the activity carried out there for more than 200 years, these gold mines have become one of the most important in the entire Roman Empire. Today, the gold mining territory of Tresminas, being the most complex and best preserved and extending over several kilometres, is the most important in Roman Portugal.
The town of Sisapo, identified with the site of La Bienvenida (Ciudad Real), is part of a systematic research project that has been underway for more than three decades.
In addition to its intrinsic interest as a thriving centre since its foundation at the end of the Late Bronze Age, it is also a mining capital that managed the cinnabar and silver resources of the rich northern regions of Sierra Morena in Roman times.
Landscape degradation and the development of environmental movements in the history of Europe. Mining. The hydraulic pump was a mechanical device invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC, which had one of its practical applications in the systematic exploitation of Roman mines. The conceptual complexity of its form and use demonstrates the progress of human beings in complex reasoning and, with it, their better disposition to exploit the environment.
Mining. Degradation of the landscape. Work organisation. Social inequalities. Slavery.
The Roman mining of lapis specularis played an important role in the early Empire, during the 1st and early 2nd centuries AD, among the lapidary materials demanded and incorporated into the architectural programmes implemented, especially in the cities, due to the need for large windows that would allow light and sunlight to pass through, also allowing the exterior to be seen and ensuring climatic comfort. It was at this juncture that specular gypsum made its place as one of the best materials that met the required characteristics, and where the glass mines of Hispania, with greater production, and with a mineral of higher quality and transparency than those of other areas, would impose themselves on the markets, making this resource a versatile and essential product in many of its applications.
Francisco Javier Sánchez-Palencia (Institute of History, CCHS of the CSIC).
IX Lusitania International Round Table. Roman Lusitania: from past to present research.