From the first expedition for the liberation of the Holy Land, which was convened at Clermont (1085) and ended in Jerusalem (1099), the archetype of the crusade par excellence was constructed. The model was refined and underpinned by later canonists, who took it upon themselves to define the institution as a very specific type of warfare: a “holy war” because of its orientation towards the defence of the Church and Christianity, which could only be proclaimed by the Pope, whose participants recognised themselves as crusaders/crucesignati by means of certain symbolic elements or by taking a vow, and which was associated with a series of spiritual and temporal privileges, which could only be guaranteed by the pontiff as a form of remuneration for a service. On the basis of these elements, the perception that emerges from the phenomenon is that it responds to a plurality of practical manifestations that can be perceived over time and space in different scenarios.
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6. Under a cloak of terror: violence and armed conflict in Europe.
Since 2012, systematic excavation campaigns and preventive consolidation and restoration work have been carried out at the archaeological site of the Estrella de Montiel castle. The result of this work has been the discovery of a Muslim hisn, a castle of the Order of Santiago, the primitive parish church of the Virgen de la Estrella, part of the town planning and walls of the medieval town, and a series of very significant archaeological materials.Since 2018 the project has focused on the archaeological study of the Battle of Montiel (1369), in whose outcome King Pedro I of Castile died, locating the scenes of the battle and documenting various materials and structures from the conflict.
This meeting about Numantia and Sagunto is part of the programme managed by the National Commission for the Commemoration of “NUMANCIA 2017” of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. It is a dynamic presentation about these two sister cities of antiquity, Numantia and Sagunto, symbols of identity, resistance and courage in the collective imagination, facing great enemies: Rome and Carthage. The joint presentation of these two mythical cities, in the form of a dialogue, provides the added value of offering more nuanced views from the historical-archaeological, historiographical and informative points of view.
The Lower Epoch of Iberian Culture, 40 years later. Symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary of the AEAA.
The boar on the seal from the Museo Arqueológico Nacional shows the originality of this countermark device on the obverse of Clunia issue. The animal is neither erect nor in motion but lying with its legs under its body. The lying posture seems to bear no relation to portrayals from the legionary milieu as found on seals, emblems, standards, and so forth. This unprecedented countermark device, struck only on the obverse, is associated with an image on the reverse of the coinage showing the animal’s cranium. The image has always been described as a «boar’s head», although its shape and detail depict the animal’s skinless skull. No plausible explanation has been given. What is certain is the relationship between the two types, always paired, the former on the obverse, the latter on the reverse. The two countermarks were struck at Clunia in the spring of 68 CE in the context of events culminating with Galba’s acclamation. They represent the whole series of propitiatory rites, from initial animal sacrifice, with victim depicted prone, to the ritual banquet that wraps up the ceremonies, where the skinned skull is trophy and loot. The countermarks’ application exclusively to Clunia issue shows that the events of spring 68 CE directly involved not only the legionary milieu, which was responsible for Galba’s acclamation, but also the whole community of citizens called upon to take active part in the political process.
The Valsadornín Treasure, found in 1937 next to the old road linking the Palencia towns of Valsadornín and Gramedo, is one of the most important archaeological testimonies of the insecurity suffered by the Roman Empire in the middle decades of the 3rd century. It is a bronze pot containing thousands of coins, all of them Antoninian, hidden or lost around 270 AD.
Once the whole was assigned to the Museum of Palencia, the vessel, incomplete but still with a significant number of coins attached, was deposited in the National Archaeological Museum (MAN). In 2016-2018 it underwent restoration and various analyses aimed at its study and better conservation, in an institutional collaboration between the Museum of Palencia, the MAN and the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE). Prior to its return to Palencia, it was presented to the public in MAN’s Showcase ZERO between October 2018 and January 2019.
The re-reading of two Roman imperial countermarks, preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid (figs. 4-5), allows us to clarify and update what is known about the types related to the Legio X Gemina in the Hispanic area: two of them (B-C) are already included in the bibliography, but interpreted incompletely and not related to each other; moreover, a new specimen of type B (fig. 3) confirms the use of archaic cursive spelling for the letter E, in the form of II, and makes the two types B-C unique for the epigraphic customs of the imperial countermarks of the E, in the form of II. 3) confirms the use of the archaic cursive spelling for the letter E, in the form of II, and makes the two types B-C unique for the epigraphic customs of the Roman imperial countermarks.
Dr. Sebastian Sommer (Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege) / Presents: Dr. Ángel Morillo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid).
This book is about the war that the emperor Octavian Augustus waged to conquer the northern territories of the Iberian Peninsula in the 1st century BC. The campaigns against the Asturs and Cantabrians took place on a large scale over the course of a decade in the mountainous territories of the Cantabrian Sea.
In the late 20th century, some archaeological sites that had been part of this conflict began to be located. This has been one of the most important archaeological discoveries of recent times. The surveys and excavations carried out in the last two decades have made it possible to begin to document these military campaigns through archaeology and to write a part of history that was unknown to us.
This book brings together the main contributions presented at the First Archaeological Meeting held in Gijón in October 2014 and its most outstanding value is that the works collected are the result of archaeological interventions.
In recent decades, archaeology has witnessed an interesting process of methodological renewal related to the incorporation of numerous digital tools and resources. To the growing use of geographic information technologies (GIT) or geospatial data available in open access (aerial photography, satellite images, LiDAR), we must add the extension of new technical equipment -such as drones- and the remarkable progress experienced by the so-called archaeological sciences -geophysical methods, palaeoenvironmental analysis, dating systems, etc.-.
The Romanarmy collective has experienced these changes at the forefront of research, incorporating them into our methodology with the aim of better understanding the impact of the extension of the Roman state on the diverse archaeological landscapes of northwestern Iberia. The voluminous information obtained now allows us to overcome the old narratives about this phenomenon -excessively based on Greco-Latin sources- and to propose new interpretative models. This archaeology of the new millennium cannot focus solely on the study of the Roman army as an agent of change, but must also analyse the role played by the indigenous communities, which retained a certain decision-making capacity in the process.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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