Galicia village has 'most Roman ruins per household' in Spain
Friday, April 28, 2017 @ 5:24 PM
A TOWN in the far north-western region of Galicia holds the national record for the most Roman ruins per household with practically every inhabitant owning at least one.
And their collections are not technically illegal, since the parts of the collapsed settlement in their area have never been officially recognised.
Still, many of them who spoke of their hoard of treasures to the regional newspaper, La Voz de Galicia, did not want to give their names as they were afraid national or local heritage departments would take them away – or worse, fine them for plundering.
O Espiño, part of the larger town of Oímbra and close to Montalegre in the Verín district (Ourense province), hit the local news a few weeks ago after a Roman ring dedicated to the god Jupiter and dating back to the second century AD was catalogued, but residents already suspected they were sitting on a historian's paradise.
Homes in the village house at least two stone sculptures in honour of Roman gods and goddesses; dozens of stone mills dating back to the first and second centuries AD; chunks of a Celtic wall and several Bronze Age carvings on slabs of rock.
Millstones from the third century AD and later are the most common, and some residents have five or six decorating their driveways or garden walls.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com