Research (2005-2006)

This second campaign involved the excavation of the central area of the habitat located on the plateau on the hill. From this intervention, it was established that there was an oppidum in Cerro Cepero with an approximate extension of 6 ha. Around the 5% of the total area of the site was excavated under the leadership of A. M. Adroher.

The main focus of these works was the localization and study of the forum of the Roman city, followed by the definition of the main structures that could be around it. We only had two elements which could guide us in order to find the structure that focalized the campaign: the existence of the temple in the Eastern side of the hill’s peak and its morphology, whose maximum height was on the opposite side, that is, on the western end.

The campaign from the previous year, which was dedicated to documenting the previous excavated structures, allowed us to know that the stratigraphic width of the superior plateau of the site was quite degraded. This was due to the frequent outcrops of sterile levels near the temple (Area 1), as well as the structure that centred Area 2, whose functionality we do not entirely understand. Although, it was notably latter than the construction of the first stage of the temple (which we consider to be from the Augustan era), as it broke the structure of the pavement, which was contemporary of the temple.

The width of the excavated area, as well as the structural association between the different elements located during the campaign, allowed us to develop several hypotheses about the founding process of the higher part of the settlement.

After the intervention, it seems like the most active stage from the constructive point of view must be the great programme of the forum ensemble. First, the indigenous neighbourhoods were levelled in an area of about 4,000 m2, to create a level area from which to start the constructions that were initially projected around the forum.

(translation by Andrea Jorde Pérez)