Archeology in the gas pipeline layout
Archaeological monitoring in the installation of a gas pipeline in Getafe and Madrid
Description of the deposits
The intervention consisted of carrying out previous archaeological actions (cleaning and clearing of sites located in the initial prospecting phase), monitoring and archaeological and paleontological control of earthworks (in the phase of opening the track and ditch necessary for the installation of the gas pipeline) and in taking paleontological samples, in a section of 9.598 linear meters, within the municipalities of Getafe and Madrid.
There were numerous archaeological sites inventoried in the immediate surroundings of the area of action and numerous publications on them, which have been fundamental for the study of the past of the region, covering a wide chrono-cultural spectrum that covers from the Lower Palaeolithic period up to Recent
The impact caused on the landscape as a result of urban and industrial expansion since the mid-twentieth century, the proliferation of rubble dumps and the opening of extensive areas for storing aggregates, have caused the complete transformation of the area. In this sense, it should be noted that the high degree of anthropization of the space made it almost impossible to locate archaeological remains on the surface that could be ascribed to a specific site.
The gas pipeline has been installed almost entirely in parallel to linear infrastructures or urban projects, on land that has been the subject of intensive prospecting in recent years, especially from the junction of the M-45 to the end of the route, located in Usera district.
The possible archaeological sites investigated in the route of the gas pipeline have been the following:
. Los Llanos I and II: The alterations detected in the terrain seem to correspond to traces of vine cultivation that are distributed in a regular way creating a grid. The lithic materials recovered during the clearing and cleaning phases come from the surface level, and the existence of a primary deposit at deeper levels can be ruled out.
. The Quemadero: Both the clearing process and the geological surveys have not found materials, structures or levels of archaeological interest, only observing levels of current anthropic fillings with no patrimonial interest.
. Roman Villa of Villaverde: In the two soundings carried out up to the level set by the site (-1,40 meters), it was only possible to verify the persistence in depth of levels of recent fillings. Therefore, the execution of an exhaustive archaeological control of the earthworks to be carried out in the area is pending.
. Tío Blas Ventorro sandboxes: In the clearing process and during the geological surveys, only levels of current anthropic fillings with no heritage interest were detected. The only element of interest is the isolated finding and within the aforementioned levels of contemporary fillings (level - 0,30 meters) of a double-sided carved in gray flint with a clear chronological ascription to the Ancient Paleolithic (Lower / Middle Palaeolithic).
During the archaeological monitoring and control phase of earthworks (opening of the track and ditch), two archaeological sites were detected:
. Field M-301 Casa Blanca (II): The archaeological excavation carried out in the area of the fertile plain of the Manzanares river, in the Madrid district of Villaverde and along the A-4 highway at the height of Pk 8 + 400, has allowed to document a series of underground archaeological structures, circular pit type, associated with the neighboring site of “La Casa Blanca”, with a chronology between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the First Iron Age. A total of 8 structures have been excavated in two groups. In the first, three structures have been documented, all of them with the same characteristics, circular pits of the silo type. Its fillings have provided ceramic materials that at first glance would be located at a time in the late Bronze Age or First Iron Age. The characteristics of the materials and the proximity of the graves to the aforementioned La Casa Blanca site, suggests that it could be a peripheral area of it.
The second group of structures discovered does not seem to be related to the previous site. In this area, the gas pipeline trench has affected a series of underground levels and structures whose materials, in the absence of a more detailed study, seem to date the time of amortization and filling of the pits between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries after Christ. The documented structures are two large pits without a defined shape and filled with waste and construction materials, which seems to indicate that they are pits used as landfills. Three other pits documented further north have very similar morphologies and, once amortized, they were used as landfills.
. Burner M45-4 (II): The archaeological intervention carried out in the vicinity of the old facilities of the Butarque Wastewater Treatment Plant, located in the municipal district of Villaverde, next to the M45 and M-301 roads, has allowed to document a total of 75 archaeological structures excavated in the ground. Most of them are of the silo / hut bottom type, with a circular or oval plan and sections in the shape of a sack that can be associated with the well-known site called “Quemadero M45-4”, with a chronology between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Second Iron Age.
In this site, it is worth highlighting the finding of a singular piece of ceramic belonging to the Late Bronze Age (Horizonte Cogotas I) and the exceptional nature of having identified in it decoration painted with red oil and the use of white clay filling in the exact fields. As parallels we can cite a piece with similar characteristics from the Madrid sandbox of Valdivia, the supports from Cerro del Padrastro in Santamera (Guadalajara) and Alto de Yecla de Silos, in Burgos, all of them with profuse incised and excised decoration in their external face.
