The 'Park of Nations' site, whose name derives from the nearby urbanization located in the Albufereta, corresponds to a Roman villa from the high-imperial era that survived until the late Roman period. There are still aspects which are unknown about it but its period of occupation spans from the first century BC until midway through the 6th century AD. The villa is situated in the E of the Ibero-Roman city of Tossal de Manises and can be found in the Partial Plan of Ansaldo Castle and the Partial Plan of Nations Park, delimited by Miriam Blasco Avenue and the streets Palas Ateneas, Afrodita and Hermanos Torres. The excavations, which started in 1987, have uncovered housing structures of the _pars_ _urbana_. The spacious rooms were decorated with vegetable-themed murals; in addition, a thermal area with a _hypocaust_ has been identified. The _pars_ _rustica_ has also been excavated, in which the most notable find is a torcularium used for the manufacture of oil, a warehouse, and an oven to make bread or glass. Under one part of the structures, the remains of 6 cremation tombs were identified. The funerary urns contained human remains and were accompanied by their respective regalia; these included fragments of ceramic vessels, coins and decorated bones, which date from early imperial times. Research (2009) When fencing off the archaeological site 'Roman Villa of the Park of Nations', the Municipal agency for Culture commissioned an archaeological monitoring. Regarding the construction of the fence, 2 types of enclosure were considered: a permanent one and provisional one. The monitor was developed only for the permanent enclosure and has partially uncovered a series of wall structures which belong to the 'Roman Villa in the Park of Nations', since they have the same orientation as the walls unearthed in previous interventions on the site. These walls are situated in the most eastern part of the site and should continue under the pavement of Miriam Blasco Avenue. The dating of the walls was complicated by the inability to find their foundations. In addition, given the narrow width of the trench (< 1 m), the interpretation of the remains proved to be difficult. The stone used is of varying size and poorly carved; where it interlocks, barely any lime was found in the earth. The recovered materials date from the first and second centuries A.D. In Sector II, closer to the area of the _torcularium_, no structure has been identified, most probably due to the reduced width of the trench planned in the fencing (0.40 m wide). It was in this area that the later materials were documented, dated in the Late Roman period. (translation by Alex Redmond)

Research (2010-2011) The excavation carried out on the 'Roman Villa of the Park of Nations' site towards the end of 2010 and at the start of 2011 was focussed on expanding the sectors B2, B3, and B5. This has facilitated the discovery of the last wall of the room B2 (the westerb one) as well as new spaces (classified as B6 and B7) which, presumably, are adjacent rooms to B2. It could be an entrance to the rooms B2 and B5 and perhaps even the passage from the work area to the residential area of the villa. The chronology of the finds lies between the 1st and 4th centuries A.D. Amongst the recovered materials, a Tuscan capital, which belongs to one of the 2 columns found during previous campaigns, stands out. It permits the calculation of the height of this room at, at least, 2.20m. Also, considering that its identification and study could provide interesting data, the find in the UE 1243 of this sector of a stamped _imbrex_ is also important. The appearance of differently made tiles, including some which contain golden mica in their composition, is striking; its source may be in the area of Jumilla (Murcia). In the sector B2, a large fragment of wall covering has been recovered, which should presumably have wall decoration on its front side. Its biggest point of interest is that the rags which were used in the layers of plaster to stick them to the stone wall have been conserved in the form of wedges. Even the thin limewash that served as a primer to facilitate adhesion has been conserved. This stucco wall fragment will allow an excellent reconstruction of the wall to be made in the villa and will also allow us to discover its decorative repertoire.