Construction Workers Were Building a Solar Plant—and Uncovered a 5,000-Year-Old Fortress
The latest major find at the site: details of a hilltop fortress once protected by three concentric walls.
There's also a mysterious death, with the skeletal remains of a former soldier found face down amidst suspicious surroundings.
A solar plant project that began in 2021 in Almendralejo, Spain, took an unexpected turn when workers discovered settlements from the Copper Age in the area. Since then, archaeologists have been reaping the rewards.
Construction on the plant started in November of 2021 and quickly uncovered a set of settlements from the Chalcolithic era. The energy giant behind the plant, Acciona Energia, called in archaeologists who have since uncovered details of a 140,000-square-foot fortress on a hill—which included stone and adobe walls, three ditches over six feet deep, and a 27-inch wide entrance.
The hilltop fortress, known as Cortijo Lobato, was only in use for 400 years, according to the study of the site as reported in El Pais. Archaeologists believe that, despite the highly fortified location that featured three concentric walls and 25 towers, enemies eventually managed to attack and destroy the pentagon-shaped fortress. At some point, the site also sustained a debilitating fire.
'One of the strongest indications that this was an intentional act is the burning of wooden doors embedded in the adobe walls,' said Cesar Perez, lead archaeologist, according to El Pais. 'These doors were far from other flammable materials, which suggests that the fire was not accidental, but rather the result of an assault on the fortification—a scene of violence and destruction in which the settlement was attacked, its defenses breached, and the structure ultimately set ablaze.'
The fort, though, was once part of a larger community. 'These fortifications usually delimit a settlement or an area to monitor the surroundings,' Alicia Lizarraga, Acciona Energia's environment manager, said in a statement. 'Their purpose could be defensive, to protect the community and its resources from wild animals and from conflicts with other peoples.'
Perez agreed. 'The sophistication of the defensive design and the need for a large workforce reinforce the idea of a structured and well-organized community,' Perez said, according to The Times. 'It had a violent end. We are seeing more and more in this type of site that the level of conflict in the Chalcolithic period was higher than previously thought.'
The combination of both a moat and a wall was rare in the period, and the size was also impressive—twice as large as the only other similar site throughout Spain, according to Victoria Bazaga, the region's culture minister.
Carbon dating of animal remains mixed into the fire's ashes put the fort's final demise around 2450 B.C.—well ahead of the next human interaction with the location, which came about 2,700 years later during the Late Roman Empire. In all, archaeologists located 11 sites: six ranging from the last centuries of the fourth millennium B.C. to the early centuries of the third millennium B.C., and another five spanning from the Bronze and Iron age to the Lower Roman Empire period.
In the area where they found evidence of Roman-era habitation, crews also discovered a grave near a ditch—just one shallow burial of a man believed to be between 25 and 35 years old at the time of death. He was positioned face down, had his feet cut off and a sheathed dagger—known as a pugio— placed on his back. 'This suggests the individual may have had a military role, as the pugio was the standard dagger used by Roman legionnaires,' Perez said, adding that the act was likely hasty due to the shallowness of the grave. The obvious deliberateness of placing the dagger on his back 'is a way of indicating he was a member of the army and was given a dishonorable burial.'
Perez said that only one Roman legion was stationed in Spain at the time: Legio VII Gemina. Established in 74 A.D., the legion was headquartered in modern-day Leon, and known to specialize in road surveillance and security. And, maybe, cutting off feet.
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