A team of archaeologists digs in Hort del Cavaller de Isona, in Pallars Jussà (Lleida), a house from the High Roman Empire.
The excavation is concentrated on an area of about 600 square meters and the demolished parts of the house have been removed to be able to reach lower levels and delimit the different rooms and their uses. The work focuses on the central patio from which the rooms are articulated.
The archaeologist Marbles, painted walls and window glass have come out, which means that the house was well insulated.
Reaching the level of the pavements will allow archaeologists to know the uses of the rooms: warehouse, kitchen or dining room. The materials that will be found inside each space will give important information about its use and the society that inhabited it.
The walls, about 80 centimeters, have enough capacity to support a second floor, which, according to the archaeologists, will have to be confirmed with the search whether it was there or not.
The archaeologist Cristina Belmonte has explained that a characteristic that makes Isona different from the Roman cities of Guissona or Lleida is that the wall has made it possible to see that it grew more than expected. At a certain point, the area inside the wall becomes small and the city grows on the outside. This wall can become the largest in Ponent, both in length and height, and can reach over two meters.
To Aeso, the Roman name for Isona, ceramic materials arrived from Italy, southern France or northern Africa and raw materials such as cereal, salt or iron left. Some of these ceramic remains have seen the light in this excavation campaign.
In Hort del Cavaller no buildings were built on top and only the Roman villa was covered to plant orchards. This fact has allowed us to preserve the complete urban layout and to be able to understand and, subsequently, see what a Roman city was like, with its wall, the entrance gate, the main street and the houses on both sides of it.
This performance is part of the four-year research project on the Roman city of Aeso 2022-2025. The excavation has the support of the Isona y Conca Dellà City Council and the Institute of Ilerdencs Studies (IEI).
