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Date Published: 31/05/2021
ARCHIVED - Archaeological excavation in Los Alcázares to locate Roman and Arab remains
The project is being carried out by the department of Culture and aims to explore the Roman and Moorish runs on the coast of the Mar Menor
The Town Hall in Los Alcázares has launched an archaeological excavation in the area between the Carrión beach promenade and the Balneario de La Encarnación hotel, in order to locate artefacts, including structures, foundations and materials, from a Roman spa and an Arab ‘Fortaleza’, or fortress.
According to the head of the department of Culture, this archaeological site is of vital importance to the cultural and historical heritage in Los Alcázares and will provide important information about the roots of the municipality.
Although the name of the municipality is testament to the Moorish period of occupation, there are very few physical remains
Representatives from the Los Alcázares Ecocultural (LAEC) association have stated that if the excavation is fruitful, the site could add an important element of value to the historical and cultural heritage in the old part of Los Alcázares.
The excavation follows ten years of research and investigation carried out by the LAEC association. Those working on the site include the archaeologist and historian José Iborra Rodriguez, and professor of Archaeology, Sebastián Ramallo Asensio.
The Town Hall hopes to collaborate with the LAEC association as much as possible to locate any kind of physical evidence to corroborate the written sources which indicate the existence of these Roman and Arab archaeological remains.
Background information:
The Romans
The most important Roman ruins in Los Alcázares are the remains of an enclave which was declared a National Monument as long ago as 1931. The excavation work was in the centre, underneath the modern town and very close to the Roman Via Augusta, which ran from Cádiz to Narbonne, passing through Cartagena and Tarragona. The most important finds are in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial in Murcia.
The most important Roman ruins in Los Alcázares are the remains of an enclave which was declared a National Monument as long ago as 1931. The excavation work was in the centre, underneath the modern town and very close to the Roman Via Augusta, which ran from Cádiz to Narbonne, passing through Cartagena and Tarragona. The most important finds are in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial in Murcia.
These remains confirm the existence of a great imperial villa with spa waters and baths, probably related to the curative powers attributed to the water of the Mar Menor. The denarii coins found in the area show that there were Romans here during the Republican era of Rome.
It is thought that the Romans drained the marshes close to the Mar Menor, and installed the fishing and salting industries. The legendary garum sauce dates from this era, made from mackerel and a highly prized (and highly priced) product throughout the Mediterranean in the 4th and 5th centuries BC.
Unfortunately we have no remnant of the sauce, and its recipe has been lost, giving it an almost mythical status, but its existence is attested to by various documents and trading records. There were many salting factories in the area, particularly in Los Nietos.
A Moorish Holiday Resort
The origin of the name of the town is “Al Kazar”, which means castle, fort or fortress, and eventually came to mean “palace” as well. The presence of numerous wells in Los Alcázares ensured sufficient water supplies for the Moors to be attracted to the place, where they built a fortified centre including the Roman spas, which became the Moors’ palaces. They also built watchtowers and noble houses and created the palm groves which lie at either end of the municipality
The origin of the name of the town is “Al Kazar”, which means castle, fort or fortress, and eventually came to mean “palace” as well. The presence of numerous wells in Los Alcázares ensured sufficient water supplies for the Moors to be attracted to the place, where they built a fortified centre including the Roman spas, which became the Moors’ palaces. They also built watchtowers and noble houses and created the palm groves which lie at either end of the municipality
Archaeologists have found evidence that it is the oldest urban centre on the Mar Menor, most of the town dating from the Moorish occupation. In the first half of the 19th century vestiges of the old walls could still be seen in the area of the current Paseo Carrión, Calle Cartagena and Calle Madrid.
The Moors used Los Alcázares as a holiday resort, but they also made use of the jetty in the centre of the bay as a port. The geographer Al-Idrisi, in his “Description of Spain”, says that shallow-bottomed boats entered the Mar Menor laden with provisions, which they exchanged for other products such as cereals, wine, honey and pistachio nuts. The port, though, was not truly important until the Christian Reconquista in the 13th century.
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