Clunia

Place Description

This settlement, dating from Julio-Claudian times, is on a high meseta some 60 meters above the surrounding plain and a hundred meters above the water in the Arandilla River. (The Celtoiberian settlement of Clunia, mentioned in the second century BCE, seems to have been a short distance away on the other side of the Arandilla.) Clunia was made a Municipium in the reign of Tiberius, and later became a colony, Colonia Clunia Sulpicia. Beginning in the reign of Claudius and throughout the rest of the first and second centuries, it was the administrative capital of Hispania Tarraconensis. At this time, it was probably the largest Roman city in Iberia. The third century saw a decline and loss of the role of administrative center; there was a revival in the fourth century lasting to at least the middle of the fifth century, but it stopped short of a return to former prosperity. Depopulation followed in the sixth and seventh centuries, and the residents used the area as a necropolis.

It was identified as a Roman site by scholars in the 16th century. A plan published in 1788 shows that streets, squares, and walls were then still visible, but subsequent quarrying for stone destroyed the remains. Systematic excavations began in 1915-1916 and continued under the direction of Blas Taracena for several years following 1931 (when it was declared a national monument). After the interruption caused by the Spanish civil war, work was resumed in 1958 under the direction of Pedro de Palol.

The steep sides of the meseta and its height above the surrounding plain clearly made the site defensible, but at the same time posed a problem of water supply, especially for the gardens and extensive baths. Aqueducts were out of the question; elevated spans nearly twice the height of the Pont du Gard and many kilometers long would have been necessary. The solution lay in a series of natural caverns in the limestone which the Romans connected and dammed up with locks at the outlet at the northern end. These structures turned the whole meseta into a catch basin for water during the rainy season. They held some 1.5 million liters. The water level was about 15 meters below the ground level at the baths and about 20 meters below at House 1. Such a depth meant that it was worthwhile to catch water in cisterns near the surface, but the bottoms of some 15 conical wells into the caverns leave no doubt that the water was used in dry periods. The structures were identified in 1913 by Vicente Hinojal; further explored in 1976 and 1977 by Pedro de Palol; and then thoroughly explored and mapped beginning in 1981 by archaeologists in collaboration with the local speleological group. Further geophysical study was underway in 2004.

Bibliography

• B. Taracena Aguirre, "El palacio romano de Clunia," in Archivo Español de Arqueología, XIX. C.S.I.C., Madrid, 1946, pp.78-80 (worldcat)
• A. Balil Iliana, "Casa y urbanismo en la España antigua. Casa familiar y vivienda colectiva en la España romana," in Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología, XXXVIII. Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, 1972, pp. 125-133 (worldcat)
• P. de Palol, Clunia, Historia de la ciudad y guía de las excavaciones. Diputación Provincial de Burgos, 1994 (worldcat)
• On the underground water system, see L. Valdés, F. Tuset, J. Reina, M. Farjas, Colonia Clunia Sulpicia on pp. 4-5 of http://public-repository.epoch-net.org/publications/VAST2004/37-44.pdf

Places

• Col. Clunia (Sulpicia) (Pleiades:246345)
• Clunia (deserted settlement) (TGN:7027125)
• Tarraconensis (Pleiades:981551)
• Tarraconensis (province) (TGN:6005831)