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Macarena García
Cadiz
Tuesday, 16 July 2024, 19:06
Baelo Claudia is without doubt one of the most special places in Andalucía's Cadiz province. The remains of this Roman city, located in the wide cove of Bolonia within the municipal border of Tarifa, receive more than 100,000 visitors every year. However, as well as being a tourist attraction, it is also a place of study where the experts reconstruct the life of this city. The University of Cadiz (UCA) has been working non-stop on the site for 25 years and, since 2000, has carried out more than fifty archaeological surveys in this location.
Darío Bernal is a professor at the UCA and has directed or co-directed many digs at Baelo Claudia. "Getting to know a city is very difficult, you have to take into account that it is a multi-layered site with almost a thousand years of life," says Prof Bernal, who recognises that working continuously there for so many years has allowed him to acquire a profound knowledge of the city, its layout and its way of life.
Much of the work carried out in recent years has focused on the study of the exploitation of marine resources, known as the halieutic cycle (basically 'all things fishing'): what sealife they fished for, how they fished, the fishing gear and techniques used and the facilities in which they processed fish products. Work was also carried out on aspects of production and commerce, and an attempt was made to understand the packaging in which salted fish and garum, a fermented sauce made from different types of fish, were sold.
Still, 25 years is not long enough and so the study process continues. Darío Bernal explains that "currently in Baelo, most of the information is from the Vandal period." The current challenge is to continue the study by stepping further back in time so as to continue expanding our knowledge of the city.
In order to understand the importance of the work on this site it is necessary to be familiar with the characteristics that make it so special. Firstly, because of its state of preservation. The reasons for this are "because it has not been occupied for ages and because, thanks to the protection of the coastline and for military reasons, it has not been developed", explained the archaeologist.
Such good preservation allows Baelo Claudia to be a great example of Roman urban planning. "Nobody can write a thesis on Roman town planning without visiting Baelo Claudia," said Bernal.
The second reason for its importance is the extensive research that has been done on the site, with archaeologists working on the site since 1917.
In addition to this, one of its main characteristics is that its greatness and splendour came from the manufacture and sales of garum. According to Bernal, "it is the only city in which five types of garum were made: sardines, anchovies, oysters, sea bream, and a meat-fish mix."
The study of garum has led the UCA to dabble in the process of experimental archaeology. That is to say, with the support of chemical engineers and food technologists, this fermented fish sauce has been reproduced in a laboratory in such a way that, nowadays, you can eat dishes made with garum and it features in foodie trails and even tuna-based snacks have appeared with a tasty twist of history added.
At the same time that the UCA is working on excavations in Baelo, the site is also growing at the museum level to allow the public to learn about the key aspects of the site in a more accessible way. "The university is there to teach, research and transfer knowledge", said Bernal, who is also involved in organising the activities that will commemorate 25 years of work at the site. The aim is "for people to be able to participate."
Activities will run for a whole year until May 2025. The programme includes a round of conferences, which has already begun and of which there are still two to come, one on Thursday 1 August with the theme 'New salting factories in the Roman city and a fresh look at the fishing and canning industry', and then one on Thursday 5 September with 'Architecture and town planning in the southern district of Baelo Claudia: new perspectives'. There will also be a travelling exhibition, a book coming out soon and an international seminar will be held with the participation of archaeologists who have worked at the site, past and present.
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