Villa romana de Freiria

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Villa romana de Freiria (Portugal)
Freiria
Freiria
postage
postage
Faro
Faro
Location of the Villa Romana de Freiria in Portugal.

The Villa Romana de Freiria , also known as Vila Romana do Outeiro de Polima , is a former Roman mansion ( villa rustica ) in central Portugal , which was inhabited from the end of the 1st century AD to the beginning of the 5th century has been.

location

The villa is located in a small valley between the districts of Outeiro and Polima in the municipality ( Portuguese Freguesia ) São Domingos de Rana , district ( Portuguese concelho ) Cascais a good 16 km west of Lisbon .

The previously uncovered building floor plans of the villa are distributed over a slope that drops to the south and east to the Ribeira da Polima. Domus and camp were built on the top (80 m above sea level) ; To the south, there are further residential buildings and a warehouse. In the very south, almost in the area of ​​the valley floor (70 m above sea level), the thermal baths were built.

Monument preservation

The first indications of Roman settlement in the region emerged as early as 1912 when a Roman grave was found in a neighboring quarry, which was described by Vergílio Correia Pinto da Fonseca.

In 1973 the archaeologists Guilherme Cardoso and José d'Encarnação were able to prove the existence of the Roman villa as well as a Copper Age , Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement of the place by first probing the site . Between 1985 and 2002, large parts of the villa were archaeologically examined and uncovered in annual excavation campaigns . Because of the soil erosion , especially the findings located downhill are comparatively well preserved; here stratigraphic layers at a height of up to 2 meters could be recorded and examined.

In 1990 the complex was registered as Imóvel de Interest Público and placed under protection. The system is currently (as of September 2018) being set up for the public. The site is fenced and in future visitors will be guided across the excavation area via wooden walkways to protect the findings.

Findings

Although over 3500 m² have been investigated in the course of the intensive archaeological investigations of the site, the villa has not yet been completely excavated. So far, five areas can be distinguished: the actual main house (domus), a building complex with an olive press , a living area for staff, a large storage building and the thermal baths.

Domus

The approximately 27 × 20 m large main house of the villa is located in the northwest of the area almost at the height of the slope. Numerous rooms are located around the peristyle and the atrium with impluvium of the former two-story building. The walls were plastered and partly painted, and in some rooms remains of polychrome mosaic floors with geometric patterns were found.
A mosaic is well preserved, showing a so-called “Solomonic knot” in the center in a square field.

Living area and farm buildings

To the east of the main house is a complex of buildings that presumably served as a warehouse for agricultural products and their further processing. The press found inside the building was believed to have been used to make olive oil . The stone blocks of the press used as counterweights and two tanks coated with opus signinum to hold the olive oil are still preserved . To the south of the main building is another residential complex with small rooms, which was probably used by the servants of the villa.

Storage

To the east of the living areas is the exceptionally large storage building with a floor area of ​​150 m². The foundation consists of a series of parallel, north-south running walls that compensate for the slope. A facility of comparable size on the Iberian Peninsula is only known from the Villa romana de Monroy near Cáceres .

The thermal baths

Thermal baths

The three-part thermal bath (18 × 14 m) was built south of the reservoir. The almost square caldarium with two semicircular apses in the west and east is followed by another square room ( tepidarium ) to the north with a semicircular apse in the west and another square room in the east. The much larger frigidarium in the north is extended by a square room or an apse in the west.

Graves

On the opposite side of the valley, in the southeast, parts of the associated necropolis have been uncovered. In addition to the Ustrina and more than two dozen cremation graves from the early phase, more recent body graves were also excavated. Only after the villa was closed were graves for children and adolescents laid in the former living area.

Finds

Among the finds, which mainly consist of Roman ceramics, terra sigillata and bricks , some finds stand out:

  • An indigenous deity Triborunnis consecrated altar , which is probably one of the first owners of the villa T (itus) Curatius Rufinus . Was founded in the mid-1st century. AD.
  • Two coin depots , of which the younger shows a series of coins from the reigns from Gratianus to Honorius .
  • A conical sun quadrant made of limestone and the corresponding horizontal gnomon .
  • A small limestone plastic of a dog with a furrowed brow and bared teeth.
  • A ceramic model decorated with lions.
  • Glass scraps, game pieces, nails, needles and bone pins.

Some of the finds are now kept in the Condes de Castro Guimarães Museum.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Paula Noé: Villa Romana de Freiria . Direção-Geral do Património Cultural - Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico, 1994, accessed December 1, 2018 (Portuguese).
  2. ↑ a b c d e A. Martins: Villa romana de Freiria . Direção – Geral do Património Cultural, accessed December 4, 2018 (Portuguese).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Villa romana de Freiria . Direção-Geral do Património Cultural - Portal do Arqueólogo, accessed December 1, 2018 (Portuguese).
  4. ↑ a b Archaeological guide through Portugal . In: Thomas G. Schattner (Ed.): Cultural history of the ancient world . tape  74 . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-8053-2313-1 , p. 145 .
  5. ↑ Vergilio Correia: Uma sepultura romana nos arredores de Oeiras (=  O Arqueólogo Português . Series 1, Volume 18). Lisbon 1913, p. 93 ff . (Portuguese).
  6. ↑ João Luís Cardoso, Guilherme Cardoso and José d'Encarnação: O campaniforme de Freiria (Cascais) (=  Estudos Arqueológicos de Oeiras . No. 20 ). Oeiras 2013, p. 525-588 (Portuguese).
  7. ↑ Decreto n.º 29/90 (= Ministério da Cultura [Ed.]: Diário da República, I Série . N.º 163). July 17, 1990, p.  2973 (Portuguese, dre.pt [PDF; accessed December 4, 2018]).
  8. ^ Villa romana de Monroy . March 9, 2015, accessed October 7, 2018 (Spanish).
  9. ↑ Guilherme Cardoso: Um tesouro monetário de Baixo Império na villa de Freiria (Cascais) (=  O Arqueólogo Português . 4th series, no. 13/15 ). Lisbon 1997, p. 393-413 (Portuguese).
  10. ↑ Guilherme Cardoso: Quadrante solar romano de Freiria (=  O Arqueólogo Português . 4th series, Volume 5). Lisbon 1987, p. 219-224 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 38 ° 43 ′ 15.3 "  N , 9 ° 19 ′ 23.2"  W.