CLUNIA'S ROMAN THEATER
Over
the past 10 years the study and excavation of the theater has not only shed
light on how this ancient venue was built and functioned, but it has also
provided us with clues on how the rest of the city developed. As a member
of the research team you will learn about archaeology in the field at this
exciting site.
Archaeologists estimate that the theater held around 9,000 people, making it the largest theater of its kind in Spain and Portugal. Since ArchaeoSpain began digging alongside the Spanish team in 2002, the Clunia crew has made some great discoveries:
•In 2003, we found the entrance to the theater's main drainage system, a vaulted tunnel that continues to drain soil water 2,000 years later.
•Excavations in 2004 uncovered evidence that the Romans converted the theater into a semi-amphitheater to accommodate gladiator fights and other spectacles. We also found a large, square stone in the center of the theater with an inscription that named the consuls when the renovation was finished. With this information, we were able to date the exact year that the stone was installed as 169.
•Moving
to the backstage area of the theater in 2007, the team uncovered
several subterranean rooms which were possibly
used by actors and gladiators. We unearthed the theater's back wall, complete
with skylights, and also stumbled upon a small necropolis of around 30
people. With no grave goods to accurately date the burials, we must analyze
the remains for answers.
Since then we have fully excavated the mysterious necropolis (now awaiting lab results) and our current goals are to complete the excavation of the stage area, in addition to learning more about the area up and behind the limestone seating.
Our work has led archaeologists to throw out prior theories about the theater's architecture and usage. We never know what we are going to uncover. And to culminate the excavation campaigns, the local government usually organizes a series of plays and concerts to be performed in the theater.
THE CITY
After the Romans conquered northern Iberia in the early 1st century BC, they built Clunia on the enormous Alto de Castro plateau. The city dominates the countryside at a height of approximately 1,025 meters or 3,360 feet above sea level. Walking across the plateau, you can see the foundations and the well-preserved mosaics of two public baths, the nearby Basilica where city leaders gathered to discuss city matters, the lower level of the Forum – full of taverns and shops, and the base of the enormous Temple of Jupiter, which in ancient times towered over the city.
Clunia's Golden Age spanned 200 years starting in the 1st century
when it was named a conventus capital, one of the seven administrative
centers in the Roman Hispania province of Tarraconensis.
Realizing that such an important city needed to boast its grandeur, Rome’s
architects created its impressive monuments. Clunia’s fame would
grow following the civil war in Rome against Nero. During the struggle
for power, Servius Sulpicius Galba, then living in Clunia, was named emperor
in the year 68.
One of Clunia's unique features is that the city is completely Roman. In most cases of Roman conquest, the victors built their cities over the existing towns (or what was left of them). The Celtiberian stronghold that defended Clunia, however, was located on a nearby hilltop. Thus archaeologists at Clunia know that whatever they uncover derives strictly from Roman sources.
The
Romans most likely chose the plateau because it sits above a vast aquifer
that could have supplied the city with drinking water.
Now only scuba-diving archaeologists can reach it, but artifacts from the
cave
that leads to the subterranean reservoir imply that the spot could have
been a small shrine for a sect. They left behind an interesting
collection of phallic objects.
Adjacent to the site is the village of Peñalba de Castro, where we will be staying. Six miles from Clunia is the town of Huerta de Rey, which boasts a few expropriated Roman columns and other Clunia keepsakes that appear in the local architecture. In addition, its bullring is one of the best preserved, wholly wooden examples in the country.
A little farther is Peñaranda de Duero, which has an impressive collection of historical buildings.
The group will work alongside university archaeologists and students from the Universities of Burgos, Valladolid and Barcelona, funded and overseen by the Diputación Provincial de Burgos and the Junta de Castilla y León.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
De Palol, P. Clunia: Historia de la ciudad y guía de las excavaciones. Burgos (1994).
De Palol, P., "El teatro romano de Clunia." El Teatro en la
Hispania Romana (THR), Badajoz
(1982), pp. 65-78.
De Palol, P. Clunia 0: Studia varia cluniense. Burgos (1991).
De Palol, P. and Guitart, J. Los grandes conjuntos públicos: El foro colonial de Clunia. Burgos (2000).
López Monteagu, G., Navarra Saéz, R. and De Palol, P. Mosaicos romanos de Burgos. Madrid (1998).
Pradales Ciprés, D. La romanización de la meseta norte: Burgos, Clunia. Burgos (2005).
Taracena, B. "El palacio romano de Clunia." Archivo Espanol de Arqueologia (AEA), 62:29-70. Madrid (1946).