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Francisco Griñán
MALAGA
Friday, 13 September 2024, 12:38
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For the third year in a row the earth is being opened up with trowels and brushes to unravel the secrets of Cerro del Villar. This former island at the mouth of the Guadalhorce river, by Guadalmar, not far from Malaga Airport, is considered to have existed even before ancient Malaga city. It is one of the best preserved and most important Phoenician sites at the western end of the Mediterranean.
The reason for such a great state of preservation nearly 3,000 years later is that the area was not destroyed by the next civilisation; instead it was abandoned and forgotten.
That was the experts' assumption until, as was discovered last year, the Romans did indeed succeed the Phoenicians here and were present on the site, at least on part of the island. In fact, delving into the lesser-known periods of this settlement, mainly the Late Imperial and Punic periods, is one of the objectives of this new open-air dig in search of an explanation for the floor decorated with shells that was discovered a year ago.
Around a hundred people, including archaeologists, researchers, teachers, students and volunteers from the universities of Malaga, Marburg (Germany) and Chicago (USA), have been working since mid-August on the new open cuts (also called truncations) in the trenches to go down one more level at the site.
One of the priorities is the 'sea-themed' path paved with mollusc remains that was found in the area near the former island's port and which could provide an explanation for one of the great mysteries of this Phoenician town that has yet to be located: its place of worship, a temple.
"We are going to continue working on the large buildings in this area near the wharf and on the discovery of the floor of shells, which is usually associated with a place of worship or a symbolic place," archaeologist José Suárez told SUR. Suárez is director of the investigations and responsible for the return to these excavations after two decades of no digging.
"This paving may be an indication of something religious and we have not ruled out that the fragment of an anchor also found here was an offering," he said. He also linked this find to another one that caused surprise last year and which was found very close to the shell floor: a small bottle of ointment in perfect condition, only slightly broken at the neck, the most fragile part.
"This piece was complete and was probably also an offering, so we will look for more," said Suárez, who added that subsequent analyses have confirmed that this ceramic vessel dates from the Punic period (late Phoenician), from between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, which coincides precisely with the periods we know least about on this site.
There is consensus among the archaeology community that the origins of Cerro del Villar, and the settlement of the Phoenicians at this location near modern-day Malaga city, are between the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century BC. What is still under discussion and review is whether the island was already there prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians in what is now Malaga or whether it came to exist at the same time. These origins and the flooding that caused the abandonment of the area around the 5th century BC had been the focus of a large part of the studies until last year when field work opened up new avenues when it was discovered that the site was occupied in the Punic and Roman periods.
"We are expanding what we know with new levels to this site that were largely unknown," said the site director. He confirmed that this year will also see the opening of Corte 14, located in the westernmost part of the settlement, where a basin for the production of salted fish and garum, the popular fermented fish sauce, was discovered.
"This Roman occupation has been one of the great new discoveries," said José Suárez, who has dated this period of occupation to between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century AD. This draws some parallels with the unearthing of fishing on an industrial scale from the same period discovered in the city's Calle Alcazabilla and surrounding streets.
"In this case, our objective for this round of digs is to go further down to see if there are also Phoenician remains and if the Roman footprint is superimposed or if there was no previous occupation in this sector," said the archaeologist as he headed up the first day of the new excavations.
The research led by UMA is funded by the regional government's ministry of culture in collaboration with relevant departments at Malaga city council (culture, urban planning and Churriana district), as well as Fundación Málaga (a private foundation that works in cultural affairs) and the Diputación de Málaga (the provincial authority).
Archaeologist and professor María Eugenia Aubet, director of the digs carried out in the 1980s and 1990s at this settlement who died a few months ago, is not forgotten in the work this year.
"She kept up to date with the work and, although it was her intention, she was unable to come these last two years due to her state of health," stated José Suárez about his predecessor.
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