ILIT-AURO. Archaeology of the Second Punic War (Archaeology)

The project deals with a specific period: the Second Punic War, although understood as part of a historical process related to the social, political and cultural changes derived from the Roman conquest in the area of the Ancient Mediterranean. Its geographical scope is played in two scenarios: the Upper Guadalquivir, with the case studies of Baecula, Puente Tablas, Iliturgi and Cástulo; and Italy, where it also analyzes the Battle of Numistro. The Second Punic War and the subsequent Roman conquest of the Upper Guadalquivir meant the opening of a long process of cultural transformation that would not end until the implantation of the Roman imperial system in the first century A.D. It is necessary to investigate from the local scale, from the temporal scale of the event, the real causes and consequences of the conflicts.

Periodo

Como puntos de referencia cronológica, estamos trabajando un periodo comprendido entre el 208 a.n.e. y el 206 a.n.e., final de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, donde se insertan todos los escenarios objeto de nuestro proyecto: Baecula (208 a.n.e.); Metauro (207 a.n.e.); Iliturgi y Cástulo (206 a.n.e.).

Institution

University Institute for Research in Iberian Archaeology – Universidad de Jaén.

Web and social networks

https://caai.ujaen.es/
http://www.battlefieldofbaecula.es/baecula-inicio-home

Location

PRINCIPAL RESEARCHERS

Juan Pedro Bellón Ruiz

Juan Pedro Bellón Ruiz (Úbeda, 1970), is an Associate Researcher of the ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Program at the University Institute for Research in Iberian Archaeology of the University of Jaén.

Graduate in Humanities from the University of Jaén (2008), he develops several lines of research around the Archaeology of the Iberian Culture, such as the analysis of War in Antiquity or the History of Archaeology.

He has been Postdoctoral Fellow at the Spanish School of History and Archaeology in Rome (CSIC) (2008-2012) within the JAE-Doc Program. He has carried out several research stays in Poitiers, Rome, Athens, Matera and Perugia and developed research projects in Italy.

He is currently Director of the Project of Excellence: “Iliturgi: conflict, cult and territory”. His publications include “The Second Punic War in the Iberian Peninsula. Baecula, archaeology of a battle” (Bellón et al., eds., 2015); “Manuel Gómez-Moreno, one hundred years of Spanish archaeology” (Bellón, 2015); or “Rethinking the CSIC School in Rome. Cien años de memoria” (Olmos, Tortosa and Bellón, eds., 2010).

Carmen Rueda Galán

Carmen Rueda Galán is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University Institute for Research in Iberian Archaeology of the University of Jaén, within the R+D+i Projects Program Research Challenges for Young Researchers.

She has been postdoctoral fellow at the Spanish School of History and Archaeology of the CSIC in Rome and postdoctoral fellow, Juan de la Cierva, of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, in the framework of the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Innovation 2008-2011.

In the development of her research, he has carried out research stays at the Università di Perugia, Università di Cagliari, Universitá della Basilicata or the Institute of History of the CSIC.

Her line of research focuses on the analysis of Iberian societies and, specifically, on the study of religiosity, worship and rites and their territorial expression.

Since 2011 she has been teaching in PhD and master’s courses on religiosity and worship in Iberian societies.

She has also been involved in more than twenty competitive research projects and as PI in some of them, such as the projects ¿QUÉ COMEN LAS DIVINIDADES? The elaboration and offering of food in the Iberian ritual space (4th century BC – 1st century BC).

RESULTS

  • The location of Baecula. In 2001 it was determined the existence of a battlefield in the Cerro de las Albahacas (Santo Tomé, Jaén), near the oppidum of Turruñuelos (Baecula) (Bellón et al. 2004)
  • The archaeological reconstruction of the Battle of Baecula. In 2007 the work process consisted in transcending from the macro to the micro spatial scale. At the end of the work there were 4867 metal objects georeferenced and associated to the battle, among which there were coins, weapons (spears, piles, arrowheads, darts, etc.), impediment material (fibulas, crimps, spurs, bullae, etc.) and above all a large set of caligae tacks (basic to reconstruct the movements of the Roman army) and more than 3116 undetermined objects.
  • We have been able to learn the sequence of the occupation of the territory, the effects of the battle and the structures of the landscape.
  • Two camps were identified in the area of the battle, which had preserved the traces of their fossilized palisades in the cadastral parcel. These were the camp of Asdrubal Barca, destroyed during the battle, and the second camp of Scipio, which was erected after the battle.
  • The siege of Iliturgi and the battle of Metauro. Although it is still in full development, the work has made it possible to contrast Baecula’s methodology in Iliturgi, a siege scenario from 206 BC.
  • Thanks to studies on the population of the Iliturgi area, it has been possible to locate the Ianus Augustus, the caput viae that marked the boundary between Betica and Tarraconensis.
  • In the case of Baecula we witnessed a transformation of settlement systems after the impact of the Punic War. The patterns changed, but the population continued in its landscape, abandoning, of course, the city. In the case of Iliturgi, its destruction and razing is reflected in its territory: there is no transformation of the system as in the case of Baecula, but rather a vacuum of settlements that may reflect a deep demographic crisis or a forced relocation of the population. These are the keys to understanding the significance of war and its effects on a local scale in order to articulate it on a wider scale.

PICTURES

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