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Orgaz digs up his Visigoth city
Eight Spanish and foreign institutions discover in Toledo a 6th-century palatine complex that during the last century was minimized as the remains of a church
What began a century ago as an inexhaustible quarry on the outskirts of the hamlet of Arisgotas, from which the neighbors took the stones to build their houses, has ended up being, after three years of investigations, an unknown strongly Visigoth palatine complex walled, not an isolated church as originally thought.
Experts have concluded that the enclave is of "enormous importance" and allows us to reinterpret this town surrounded by walls and defense towers erected in the seventh century and that was located about 30 kilometers from the then Visigothic capital, Urbs Regia, Toledo. The set included palaces, churches, houses, pipes, cultivation areas and warehouses.
The translation of one of the tombstones found in the excavations clearly indicates that it was built by a monarch whose name ended in the syllable. “It was like a small Recópolis,” says Jorge Morín, director of the works, referring to the impressive palatine city that King Leovigildo ordered to build in Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara) in 578 in honor of his son Recaredo. Even the body of an elderly nobleman, inside a sarcophagus, has returned to light in Orgaz after opening the floor of the church. Who was?
1. CHURCH WHERE THE `DUX` WAS ENTERED
The site of Los Hitos has been known for more than a century and has been the subject of diverse interpretations. The fact that the neighbors carried for decades the ashlars they found when plowing the fields in order to fix their homes and that they opened the sarcophagi that they found to sell the objects they hid made that, in February 1938, in the middle of the Civil War, The Artistic Board of the Treasury of the Republic visited the place and made the first studies and photographs.
But all conservation attempts were abandoned until 2016, when the archaeological consultancy Audema and the Institute of Archeology University of London, under the co-direction of Isabel Sánchez Ramos, supported by the City Council of Orgaz and the Diputación de Toledo, reopened their approximate five hectares and everything took an unexpected turn.
2. THE REGISTRATION OF A KING In the church there was a carved marble that reads on the last line `it was made by ... do`, no doubt a Visigoth monarch
This summer, the excavations in which the Complutense Universities of Madrid, Polytechnic, Cordoba, CEU, Newcastle (United Kingdom), Cologne and Marburg (Germany) or the Geological and Mining Institute were resumed took place. Three years ago, it was already discovered that the supposed church indicated by archaeologists that the Republic sent was not such, but an aristocratic pavilion of almost 11 meters high that had barred windows and a staircase to climb to its second floor.
The following year, it was found, this time, a church with a burial in the nave, in front of the choir, and later other tombs in the southern portico, as well as a pantheon attached to the same area. In this last enclosure the body of a man was discovered - possibly a dux, a prominent member of the noble dome - on which analyzes are being made. These have determined, for the moment, that it was an elderly man, with bowed legs for many hours riding and ankle injuries from spurs. He was buried, possibly, with weapons and other valuables, but these were pillaged during the Muslim invasion. In 711 the complex was taken by the Arabs, but not destroyed, but adapted to their needs and turned into a kind of communications hub.
Hundreds of sculptural pieces have also been recovered, found in one of the museums of the municipality and which make it one of the "most important sets of Hispania goda". One of these pieces is a long inscription that corresponds to a poem of religious-spiritual content. It has been translated by the Complutense professor Isabel Velázquez and ends with the phrase "it was built by ... do".
This last verse directly connects the construction of the settlement with a Visigoth king, which together with the fact that the body found of the doge in the pantheon is undoubtedly that of the person who erected the palace, opens up spectacular expectations for archaeologists. Will it be the body of a monarch? "We don't know yet because we are in the first phase of the investigation, but we will find out," says Morin.
Already in 2018, another building with buttresses and two small porches was located, which included a central classroom of the basilical plant, which meant a new palatine space of the late sixth or early seventh centuries. This building was reoccupied in the tenth and eleventh centuries, in Andalusian times and transformed. The church was also modified by Muslims and turned into a mosque with a mihrab. Jorge Morín, director of the department of Archeology of Audema, explains that the group responds to an “urban planning based on Pythagorean squares”, which rules out the hypothesis that it was a randomized complex to which buildings were added.
4. THE PALACE Experts have rebuilt the main building of the enclave, the palace. It had two floors and reached 11 meters high
This year a wall between two and three meters wide has been unearthed with rectangular towers and that experts place in the reigns that span between Teudis (531-538) and Recaredo (586-601). This fortification, which surrounded the entire town, had a monumental door and had warehouses and houses attached to it. Each house occupied about 20 square meters and had a rectangular backyard. “The walled, in addition to giving protection (the archers could shoot from the adarves of the towers over 80 meters), conferred prestige as a palatial city, according to the marbles that were used in its construction and giving continuity to the classical world in the one who built their buildings, ”says the director of the excavations.
The magnetic polarity analyzes of the Faculty of Physics of the Complutense of Madrid, carried out by Alicia Perea, have undoubtedly determined that they are remains of the Visigothic period, which closes “the controversy generated in the last century that denied the existence of its own Visigothic architecture, a sterile debate in the Spanish archeology of the period in the last 30 years ”. The materials found - ceramic, glass or metal - are being studied at the University of Newcastle, in the United Kingdom.
"IN THE NAME OF GOD ... DO, HE DID THIS CHURCH"
The translation made by Isabel Velázquez Soriano of the tombstone found in the church, reads as follows: "Recite the melodious chant of Christ / lift up crying eyes, together with hands and hearts / for Christ to wash the blame and forgive the debts / keep the bodies and the interiors of the minds immaculate / and drive away the abominable snake and again enclose it / where seduction is far from the righteous spirits / where the shameful delight of lust and charm / banal talk, the ostentation and ambition of riches / Glorify you the doors behind the immense walls / in the name of God (... do) made this church. "
https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/10/...9hhRQx9bKx9k6PhZ-TMnhMvjt3exN0uaUpppE0-CybXa4
Eight Spanish and foreign institutions discover in Toledo a 6th-century palatine complex that during the last century was minimized as the remains of a church
What began a century ago as an inexhaustible quarry on the outskirts of the hamlet of Arisgotas, from which the neighbors took the stones to build their houses, has ended up being, after three years of investigations, an unknown strongly Visigoth palatine complex walled, not an isolated church as originally thought.
Experts have concluded that the enclave is of "enormous importance" and allows us to reinterpret this town surrounded by walls and defense towers erected in the seventh century and that was located about 30 kilometers from the then Visigothic capital, Urbs Regia, Toledo. The set included palaces, churches, houses, pipes, cultivation areas and warehouses.
The translation of one of the tombstones found in the excavations clearly indicates that it was built by a monarch whose name ended in the syllable. “It was like a small Recópolis,” says Jorge Morín, director of the works, referring to the impressive palatine city that King Leovigildo ordered to build in Zorita de los Canes (Guadalajara) in 578 in honor of his son Recaredo. Even the body of an elderly nobleman, inside a sarcophagus, has returned to light in Orgaz after opening the floor of the church. Who was?
1. CHURCH WHERE THE `DUX` WAS ENTERED
The site of Los Hitos has been known for more than a century and has been the subject of diverse interpretations. The fact that the neighbors carried for decades the ashlars they found when plowing the fields in order to fix their homes and that they opened the sarcophagi that they found to sell the objects they hid made that, in February 1938, in the middle of the Civil War, The Artistic Board of the Treasury of the Republic visited the place and made the first studies and photographs.
But all conservation attempts were abandoned until 2016, when the archaeological consultancy Audema and the Institute of Archeology University of London, under the co-direction of Isabel Sánchez Ramos, supported by the City Council of Orgaz and the Diputación de Toledo, reopened their approximate five hectares and everything took an unexpected turn.
2. THE REGISTRATION OF A KING In the church there was a carved marble that reads on the last line `it was made by ... do`, no doubt a Visigoth monarch
This summer, the excavations in which the Complutense Universities of Madrid, Polytechnic, Cordoba, CEU, Newcastle (United Kingdom), Cologne and Marburg (Germany) or the Geological and Mining Institute were resumed took place. Three years ago, it was already discovered that the supposed church indicated by archaeologists that the Republic sent was not such, but an aristocratic pavilion of almost 11 meters high that had barred windows and a staircase to climb to its second floor.
The following year, it was found, this time, a church with a burial in the nave, in front of the choir, and later other tombs in the southern portico, as well as a pantheon attached to the same area. In this last enclosure the body of a man was discovered - possibly a dux, a prominent member of the noble dome - on which analyzes are being made. These have determined, for the moment, that it was an elderly man, with bowed legs for many hours riding and ankle injuries from spurs. He was buried, possibly, with weapons and other valuables, but these were pillaged during the Muslim invasion. In 711 the complex was taken by the Arabs, but not destroyed, but adapted to their needs and turned into a kind of communications hub.
Hundreds of sculptural pieces have also been recovered, found in one of the museums of the municipality and which make it one of the "most important sets of Hispania goda". One of these pieces is a long inscription that corresponds to a poem of religious-spiritual content. It has been translated by the Complutense professor Isabel Velázquez and ends with the phrase "it was built by ... do".
This last verse directly connects the construction of the settlement with a Visigoth king, which together with the fact that the body found of the doge in the pantheon is undoubtedly that of the person who erected the palace, opens up spectacular expectations for archaeologists. Will it be the body of a monarch? "We don't know yet because we are in the first phase of the investigation, but we will find out," says Morin.
Already in 2018, another building with buttresses and two small porches was located, which included a central classroom of the basilical plant, which meant a new palatine space of the late sixth or early seventh centuries. This building was reoccupied in the tenth and eleventh centuries, in Andalusian times and transformed. The church was also modified by Muslims and turned into a mosque with a mihrab. Jorge Morín, director of the department of Archeology of Audema, explains that the group responds to an “urban planning based on Pythagorean squares”, which rules out the hypothesis that it was a randomized complex to which buildings were added.
4. THE PALACE Experts have rebuilt the main building of the enclave, the palace. It had two floors and reached 11 meters high
This year a wall between two and three meters wide has been unearthed with rectangular towers and that experts place in the reigns that span between Teudis (531-538) and Recaredo (586-601). This fortification, which surrounded the entire town, had a monumental door and had warehouses and houses attached to it. Each house occupied about 20 square meters and had a rectangular backyard. “The walled, in addition to giving protection (the archers could shoot from the adarves of the towers over 80 meters), conferred prestige as a palatial city, according to the marbles that were used in its construction and giving continuity to the classical world in the one who built their buildings, ”says the director of the excavations.
The magnetic polarity analyzes of the Faculty of Physics of the Complutense of Madrid, carried out by Alicia Perea, have undoubtedly determined that they are remains of the Visigothic period, which closes “the controversy generated in the last century that denied the existence of its own Visigothic architecture, a sterile debate in the Spanish archeology of the period in the last 30 years ”. The materials found - ceramic, glass or metal - are being studied at the University of Newcastle, in the United Kingdom.
"IN THE NAME OF GOD ... DO, HE DID THIS CHURCH"
The translation made by Isabel Velázquez Soriano of the tombstone found in the church, reads as follows: "Recite the melodious chant of Christ / lift up crying eyes, together with hands and hearts / for Christ to wash the blame and forgive the debts / keep the bodies and the interiors of the minds immaculate / and drive away the abominable snake and again enclose it / where seduction is far from the righteous spirits / where the shameful delight of lust and charm / banal talk, the ostentation and ambition of riches / Glorify you the doors behind the immense walls / in the name of God (... do) made this church. "
https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/10/...9hhRQx9bKx9k6PhZ-TMnhMvjt3exN0uaUpppE0-CybXa4