This season, Amsterdam University’s excavations concentrated on a cult building found in 2016 in trench 43. It was decided to further investigate the earliest phases of the building (relating to those that were destroyed at the end of the 3rd century B.C.). Therefore, several areas inside and outside the structure were investigated.

Deposits were excavated to the east of the temple that mainly consisted of large stones that probably came from the collapse of the city’s inner fortifications, situated close to the excavation area and heavily disturbed by agricultural activity. To the west, the excavation continued of the so-called altar identified in 2017. The situation uncovered here finds interesting parallels with what was discovered at Castro. Underneath the podium of the 2nd century B.C. building the excavation of the interior of the cult building revealed traces of the re-consecration of the area via the deposition of bucrania. A large hearth with animal bones was found in the building’s westernmost room, probably used for cooking food. Interesting finds regarding the reconstruction of the space surrounding the cult area were documented south of the area with the clear monumentalisation of the spaces through the use of stone floors and the excavation of a circular well, also lined with stone.