Fifth-century Roman city wall dug up in Tortosa
Sunday, August 7, 2016 @ 5:08 PM
EXCAVATIONS in the popular expat town of Tortosa (Tarragona province) have uncovered a chunk of a fifth-century Roman city wall – the oldest archaeological finding to date in the area.
At 40 metres (130 feet) long and three metres (9'9”) high, the boundary wall found in the plot opposite Tortosa cathedral acted as a fortress for what was known in the late Roman era as the city of Dertosa.
Other than remains of walls belonging to residential homes, or human remains, pottery and similar artefacts, nothing of such outstanding historical value dating back to this era has ever been found on the Costa Daurada, archaeologists say.
Mediaeval home foundations, dating back to the Arab or Andalusí era, have been found on the site already, but these are far more common along Spain's eastern and southern coasts, and even the public square built in the first or second centuries, in the Roman times, are more run-of-the-mill than the recent discovery of the city wall.
Tortosa town hall is working on ways of preparing the dig to allow visitors to wander round and find out for themselves what the municipality was like during the Roman Empire, once it has been able to invest more money and time in building the new Plaza which will open out the cathedral complex to the banks of the river Ebro.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com