La Magdalena archaeological site
Long-standing archaeological site in Alcalá de Henares
La Magdalena archaeological site
In the deposit we can distinguish several sectors with their own characteristics:
Magdalene - I
Located in the eastern quadrant of the archaeological area. Here is the Chalcolithic - Campaniform necropolis (III millennium BC). It has a total of twelve sets related to the funeral field: nine tombs and three votive deposits. Four of the tombs correspond to individual burials in a single grave with an edge cover, the most significant element being the lack of trousseau elements. The remaining five tombs are related to a small burial mound, a hypogeum and three vaults to which the aforementioned votive deposits are associated.
It is worth highlighting the difference between the more complex structures (tumulus, hypogeum and cave) together with the three votive deposits, all of them with the presence of grave goods, with the burials in a simple pit covered with quartzite edges, which in no case present grave goods.
The trousseau is made up of ceramics, metal objects and stone industry, with ceramics being the most abundant and best documented material within the funeral complex. Within the ceramics, all of them by hand, it is necessary to differentiate between the smooth ones that appeared in the false hypogeum and the vaults and the Ciempozuelos-style ceramics of the votive deposits that present a decoration made by means of printing and incision and the typical bowl morphologies, glass and casserole.
The metallic materials are restricted to two elements, an awl or awl that appeared in one of the covachas together with a ceramic container and an ivory button and a Palmela point found at the base of the tumular structure related to a glass and two pots of bell-shaped pottery and a sheet of flint.
Cupcake - II
In the first third of the XNUMXst century of our era, specifically in the Julio-Claudia era, a new occupation of the land took place with the creation of a pottery center that had three double chamber kilns and different measurements and orientation. Of this moment is also the small castellvm aqvae (water tank) and three wells. One of them presents in its fillings abundant ceramic material of high imperial chronology. It is necessary to add to this set various silos and / or garbage cans and a land extraction area.
Framing this area was a large water moat, 368 meters long by 4 wide. In its filling, a large number of materials appeared, among which the common ceramic and terra sigillata vessels, bone needles, bronze fibulae, some iron pieces and various glass pieces stand out.
With the beginning of the Flavia period, the transformation of the land begins with the construction of a set of warehouses, parallel to the disuse of the kilns. There are remains of six buildings, one of great extension and a basilica plan, possibly of a public nature, distributed around a central plaza. Closing the set, a group of up to thirteen large is located. dolia Semi-buried (jars) and a rectangular hydraulic structure of CONCRETE work (Roman concrete) that was reused in Visigothic times as a silo. The end of this phase is located at the end of the XNUMXnd century after Christ. A Visigothic necropolis was installed on part of the Roman remains already amortized around the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
Magdalena - III and IV: The Roman necropolis
In the southeastern sector of the site, on the space occupied by an industrial and service area from the high Roman era, a necropolis was subsequently settled, the origin of which is located in the second half of the 2.000rd century after Christ. In this lower imperial necropolis, of an approximate extension of 153 m², the remains of a total of XNUMX individuals were located, all of them buried in single graves, except in two cases that were double. Most of the graves are rectangular, although there are some in the shape of a bathtub. Some burials were also located in Imbrices (tiles) and two sarcophagi. Remains of wood and nails were collected in some graves, indicating the presence of coffins. Possibly they would use shrouds to wrap the body.
Almost half of the burials contained grave goods. They are usually ceramic and glass glasses and plates, which were placed next to the corpse. To highlight the presence of three skylights and various objects of personal bone decoration such as sewing needles, accused crinalis (hair needles) and rings, bronze earrings and some glassy paste necklace beads. Various pieces of footwear have also been recovered (calligae). An iron sickle was recovered, with the remains of the wooden sleeve, two lances, several spouts and a possible punch.
Lastly, we must mention a small set of numismatic material made up of twelve pieces in a different state of preservation, highlighting a Constant coin located in the mouth of an individual, two of Constantine the Great and two of Claudius II the Gothic.
In the surroundings of this necropolis and occupying some 2.500 m², another one from the late Roman era was found, made up of 14 tombs. The orientations of these vary from the previous phase. They were mostly rectangular pits although there are three cases that are shaped like a bathtub and another trapezoidal. There is also a grave of a low newborn Imbrices (roof tiles).
The only two tombs that retained any external signage were two double burials that had slabs that exceeded the level of coverage both at the head and at the foot. This element, together with the use of sandstone slabs for the construction of walls and roofs of the structures, are the most unique characteristics of this moment. The absence of nails, together with the almost total absence of trousseau, makes a difference with the low imperial tombs. The only thing worth noting is the trousseau of a burial, surely a childish one, in which a jug, a bottle and a gray ceramic pot appeared.
Apart from the strictly funeral structures, eight bases of dolia that both because of their spatial location and the way they were placed, suggest that they were reused in some funeral ritual.
Image gallery
Archaeological performance
Between 2008 and 2017, archaeological excavations were carried out in plot number 11796 of the “El Encín” polygon in Alcalá de Henares, where the existence of a site generically called “La Magdalena” was detected, which extends over an area of almost 50.000 m².
The works have involved the documentation of several occupations whose oldest phase, a Chalcolithic-Campaniform necropolis, is about 4.000 years old. Subsequently, a large industrial and storage complex from the high Roman era, a low Roman and late Roman necropolis, a Spanish-Roman service area with use also in the Visigothic period and, finally, an occupation of modern and contemporary times were implanted.
