Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) Darró or Adarró, Iberian Village and Roman Villa (6th century BC – 6th century AD) The Place

The archaeological ruins of Darró are in the urban centre of Vilanova i la Geltrú, capital of the county of Garraf in the province of Barcelona. They extend along the Passeig de Ribes Roges and the promontory of Sant Gervasi. They bear witness to an important village found here in antiquity (from 550 to 50 BC), located in the Iberian region of Cessetania. It was replaced around 50 BC by a Roman villa that lay within the colony of whose abandonment dates to the early 600s AD, during the Visigothic period.

Cover photograph Corinthian capital of the oecus or principal hall of the pars urbana or owners’ residence of the Roman villa of Adarró (Vilanova i la Geltrú) circa 350 AD. Photo: MBS, 2006, SPAL Archive.

© Diputació de Barcelona February 2017 Produced and published by: Press and Communications Office Image of the site showing the excavated remains to date. On the left, ruins from the Iberian period, of the Barcelona Provincial Council (Diputació de Barcelona) especially the blacksmiths’ quarter (350-50 BC). On the right, the ruins of the residence of the owners of the Roman villa (pars urbana) and those of the outbuildings where agricultural raw materials were Text of this edition: Local Architectural Heritage Service (SPAL), processed (pars fructuaria), built between 50 BC and 425 AD. Barcelona Provincial Council Image: ©2016 DigitalGlobe. Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya. Map data: © 2016 Google, Instituto Geográfico DL B 4261-2017 Nacional.

3 The first archaeological surveys of the site were conducted in the 1950s under The Iberian Village the responsibility of the Víctor Balaguer Library Museum of Vilanova i la Gel- trú. The Barcelona Provincial Council (Diputació de Barcelona) took over the investigation in 1979 at the city’s request, and through its Local Architectural The Cessetani who inhabited the village would have known it by the name Arró Heritage Service it undertakes systematic tasks of archaeological investigation or Darró. This toponym, relating to the water and the presence of a promon- and restoration of the ruins. This work has affected the site that can be visited tory or escarpment, may have become ad Arró or ad Darró – “next to Arró today, the property of the Barcelona Provincial Council, and another neigh- or Darró” – in Roman times. The toponyms Darró, Adarró and Aderró appear bouring site owned by the city soon to be added to the route. Excavations have in medieval documentation. In the beginning it occupied the promontory of also been undertaken in the Plaça d’Adarró and on the hill of Sant Gervasi. Sant Gervasi, a dominant point of the site where archaeological material from around 550 BC has been found and where there was most likely a sanctuary in addition to houses. From 350 BC the began to settle at the foot of the hill on the site that is visited today, which bordered the mouth of the torrent of Sant Gervasi, then broad and fast-flowing. They also settled on an islet located in the middle of the mouths of the river, where vestiges of houses and ceramic workshops have appeared. At that time the village served as a sort of economic capital for the region, and its port on the beach was used to exchange agricultural raw materials, common wine, iron objects and cloth for manufactured goods like luxury tableware and quality wine from Greece and Italy. The Carthaginians of Ibiza, whose amphorae were also produced in Darró, were likely to have participated in this trade.

Map of the area of the archaeological complex open to the public, corresponding to the neighbourhood of the Iberian blacksmiths. In the centre, the street running from east to west flanked by different buildings (195-175 to 50 BC). Above, houses (2, 4), facilities for producing iron (6) and patio (8). Below, cisterns and houses (1, 3). To the west, alley running from north to south. In grey, The neighbourhood of the Iberian blacksmiths, from the west. In the centre, the longitudinal street with vestiges from the previous period (350-195 BC) that remain covered and protected. houses lining both sides. To the right, settling cisterns and iron ore washing system. Drawing: Centum 2003, SPAL Archive. Photo: JGT, 2016, SPAL Archive.

4 5 Following the (218-201 BC), in which the Romans defeated sheltered by the covered porticoes. The back rooms and those on the upper the Carthaginians and extended their dominion to the Mediterranean strip of floor were used as the living spaces. the Iberian peninsula (197 BC), Darró underwent a remarkable urban transfor- mation. It experienced the highest growth in its history, reaching the maximum The equipment for producing iron, which all of the houses had, comprised two limits of the present-day site. kinds of furnaces. One type, called reduction furnaces, was vertical. For the most part, all that remains of them is the impression from their bases. They The ruins open to the public are part of one of the Iberian neighbourhoods. At were the first furnaces to be used in the metallurgical industry and were used its centre is a rammed-earth street with stone sidewalks and covered porti- to extract the metal from the raw ore, previously washed with water that was coes marked out from 195 to 175 BC, with a series of structures grouped on either drawn from open wells inside the buildings as in house 4 or kept in either side. Other, older ones were found beneath them, dating from 350 BC cisterns like those found to the west of the property that can be visited. The and razed when those seen today were built. In these buildings, both the older second type of furnace, called forges, was horizontal and cut into the ground. and more recent ones, facilities for producing iron have been identified. This As a result they are better preserved. They were used to melt the iron and activity is particularly well documented in houses 1 and 3. Each of them had process it, turning it into a variety of objects. In short, the process consisted a section devoted to artisanal activity overlooking the street with open doors of washing the ferruginous material, extracting the iron in the vertical furnace and melting the metal in the horizontal furnace to subsequently be worked.

The houses used from 195-175 to 50-40 BC had rammed-earth walls sup- ported by stone skirting and earthen floors. The upper floors were supported by wood beams and clay, and the terraced roofs were probably built from the same materials, as in today’s rural dwellings. In some cases the earlier struc- tures in this sector, dating to the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, had adobe walls instead of rammed earth. Unlike Roman houses such as those preserved on the neighbouring site occupied by the villa, their walls were neither plastered nor painted.

Recreation of an Iberian workshop for producing iron. In the background, a vertical furnace called a reduction furnace where the ore, previously purified through settling and washing, is heated and turned into iron. In the centre, a craftsman shaping a sword with a hammer after having melted the metal in a forge or horizontal Recreation of the western sector of the blacksmiths’ neighbourhood around 100 BC using data furnace, visible on the provided by the excavation. In the foreground, cisterns and iron ore purification system as well as two left side of the image. furnaces for reducing it. Next, buildings used simultaneously as houses and workshops. In the Drawing: Centum, 2015, background, the potters’ neighbourhood. with data from ALM and Drawing: JSA with data from ALM and JFM, 2015, SPAL Archive. JFM.

6 7 Two twin cisterns, made of stone but with earthen bottoms, were found to the right of the beginning of the Iberian street. They had overflows and conduits that ended in the street in an enclosure with different layers of gravel after passing through a secondary sedimentation and/or selection compartment. All of this implies the cisterns were used in washing iron ore, purifying it through different sedimentation processes. Two reduction furnaces, now covered, were found at the end of the circuit. As noted, other furnaces have been found on both sides of the street, giving the picture of an intensive industry beginning around 350 BC.

Like the rest of the Iberian village of Darró, all of these structures were aban- doned or changed use around 50-40 BC. Some, like the cisterns and small furnaces nearby, were covered with earth.

Recreation of Iberian house 3, located at the end of the longitudinal street. The building was erected around 350 BC and abandoned around 50 BC. The image shows its architectural volumes following significant alterations from 195 to 175 BC. Of note are the street’s stone sidewalk and the portico. It had rammed-earth walls with local stone skirting. It had a ground floor, upper floor and roof terrace. Drawing: JSA with data from ALM and JFM.

Recreation of the same Iberian house, 3, but with a cutaway showing its interior. The ground floor is dedicated to iron production, with iron ore reduction furnaces and forges. The rooms for domestic use are in the back, with a separate entrance, especially on the upper floor. Drawing: JSA with data from ALM and JFM.

8 9 The Roman Villa Remains from all periods of the pars fructuaria survive. The oldest, located near the present-day Passeig de Ribes Roges, belong to a Roman pottery workshop. This workshop produced amphorae for packaging wine and fish Not far from the Iberian village, on the bank of one of the channels of the mouth sauce as well as common kitchen and table ceramics and was in operation of the torrent of Sant Gervasi (which is now channelled underneath Carrer de from 50-40 BC to circa 100 AD. It consisted of two large rectangular furnaces Ponent), the first structures of a Roman villa or agricultural operation were built. and an enclosure for storing fuel and pieces and a settling basin for clay. All of At first it did not have a residence for its owners, who may have lived in Tarra- these vestiges remain covered pending protection by a system harmonizing co, and the workers lived in the old Iberian houses. The villa consisted of two their viewing and preservation. parts, the Latin-termed pars rustica or pars fructuaria where the agricultural raw materials were processed and the pars urbana or owners’ residence, built Very near the pottery workshop lie the remains of other rustic outbuildings. some time later. Although they have not been very well preserved due to modern agricul- tural activity there are some remarkable vestiges like the ruins of a torcular or press for extracting must and another for expelling oil, both dating to around 20-10 BC. To the east, two additional groups of structures have been

Map with drawings of all known architectural structures of the Roman villa of Darró. In the centre and at the top, the palace occupied by the owners, termed pars urbana (ca. 100 – ca. 600 AD) in Latin, currently crossed by the railway although the ruins continue below it. In the central section, buildings Aerial view of the archaeological site from the north. In the foreground, on the right, the area from the pars fructuaria or pars rustica, which included a series of facilities connected to processing corresponding to the Iberian village (350-50 BC). On the left, the property containing most of the and trading agricultural raw materials. Kilns for baking amphorae and a wine press, for example. All vestiges of the Roman villa (50 BC – 600 AD) which were covered for their protection when this photo of this was in operation between 50 BC and 100 AD approximately. On the left-hand side of the was taken. However, next to the rail tracks you can make out the ruins of the owners’ residence or map, other buildings used between the 1st and 3rd centuries, and lastly, on the right, a large group pars urbana. of rustic facilities that were built between 220-240 and 425-450. Photo: PE, 2002, SPAL Archive. Drawing: Codex, 1998, SPAL Archive.

10 11 found with signs of presses, storehouses and pens. Some are from the 3rd A corridor open to the south, facing the sea, is of special note. Inside are rooms century AD, and others that occupy the eastern third of the property date to paved with lime mortar mixed with broken tiles (opus signinum) and mosaic the 4th and 5th centuries AD. (opus tessellatum). They appear to have been for the home’s owners and their family, near the peristyle or garden. Other rooms are grouped around them, The pars urbana among them baths. In the centre of the building is an oecus with a pentagonal apse and nave flanked by Corinthian columns, one of the capitals of which On the same property, near the railway, ruins of the palace where the owners appears on the cover of this leaflet. This room was used for the owner of the of the operation lived have been preserved. Such buildings were generically villa, the possessor, to receive visitors, friends and clients. called pars urbana within the Roman villa. In Darró it was separated from the productive structures (pars fructuaria) by a pond. It was located a bit higher The excavation of this impressive home is still underway. However, the abun- up than the other buildings on a gentle slope facing the sea shaped by the dant results to date indicate that it was built around 100-110 AD. Between natural terrain. Due to modern agriculture and its slow abandonment its state 220 and 240 it was expanded to the west. Around 350 the house was rebuilt of conservation is not excellent. The high-quality building materials, howev- and monumentalized. Thus the oecus was erected at the western end of the er, offer information that gives an idea of the appearance of this sumptuous corridor and various changes were made in the domestic spaces. The last building. For the most part it was built with skirting of local stone crowned by modifications to the palace were made between 425 and 450. As mentioned rammed-earth walls that were plastered and painted, white for the façades above, it is unknown when this building in particular and the villa in general and various colours inside. were abandoned. In any case, the cessation of activity should coincide with

The same area of the pars urbana of the villa shown in the above figure. Here a series of cutaways Recreation of the central area of the pars urbana of the Roman villa of Darró around 350 AD. The allow you to see the inside, with the mosaic floors (opus tessellatum) of the porch and private rooms. walls are plastered and painted white, the roofs alternate imbrices (flat tiles) and tegulae (curved tiles), Also shown are the interior garden or peristyle at the top of the image and the oecus on the left. In the and you can see the oecus on the left and the pond in front of the porch. latter you can identify the polychrome mosaics and Corinthian colonnades flanking its nave. Drawing: JSA, 2015, with data from ALM and JFM. Drawing: JSA, 2015, with data from ALM and JFM.

12 13 the dates of the most recent tombs in the necropolis, which seem to date no At the top and on the slopes of the hill of Sant Gervasi a dense Iberian set- later than the 6th century. tlement has been identified, the oldest of the site, with remains of houses and numerous silos. It continued through Roman times but its vestiges have The villa’s cemetery was located on the property that can be visited today, in largely disappeared due to the construction of the Xalet del Nin, the building the most superficial part of the archaeological stratification. After being aban- that now stands there, and the railway line. There was a Roman votive inscrip- doned as an Iberian neighbourhood around 50-40 BC, this place was used tion from the 2nd century AD on one of the walls of the hermitage dedicated as lodging for the agricultural operation’s workers. From around 100 AD it to saints Gervasius and Protasius located on this hill; today it is preserved in housed some rustic outbuildings. Around 350 AD the buildings were definitively the Víctor Balaguer Library Museum. The sacred nature of the site, probably abandoned and demolished since the pars fructuaria was moved to the far acquired in Iberian times and shown in the imperial Roman inscription, may eastern side of the site. Shortly afterwards this place began to be used as a have had continuity and be the reason the chapel was built. Additionally, the necropolis and simple graves were laid, covered either with pieces of ampho- present dedication to saints Gervasius and Protasius is very old and could rae or double-pitched roofs. The most recent graves date to the 6th century. perhaps syncretize the pagan cult of another set of twin brothers, the Dioscuri In the High Middle Ages and especially during the early modern period from Castor and Pollux. the 17th century, the spaces that the Roman villa and Iberian village had oc- cupied were used as farmland, mostly as vineyards, which were in operation until the 20th century.

Vestiges of the pottery workshop of the pars fructuaria of the villa, which produced amphorae for packaging wine and fish sauce as well as kitchen and table ceramics between 50 BC and 100 AD. At present they remain covered, pending their final restoration. In the background, the promontory of Sant Gervasi, occupied throughout antiquity (6th century BC to 6th century AD), first by the Iberians Ruins of a torcular or mechanism for obtaining wine by pressing grapes. It is located in the pars and then by the Romans. To the left, the Ribes Roges beach. fructuaria of the Roman villa and was used from 50 BC to 100 AD approximately. Photo: JFM, 1986, SPAL Archive. Photo: ALM, 1998, SPAL Archive.

14 15 Obverse of an Iberian bronze coin. It shows a head looking to the right, probably representing a kinglet or personification of authority. On the left, Iberian sign TI. Iberian house 1, 2012, date: 150-100 BC. Photo: ALM, 2016, SPAL Archive.

Reverse of the coin in the above figure. A rider appears holding a palm over his shoulders. Below, the legend Kese in Iberian characters, indicating it Limestone block with the inscription EX VOTO. CAIVS CLODIVS. AEMILIANVS (Ex-voto. Gaius was minted in Tarragona Claudius. Aemilianus). It is preserved in the Víctor Balaguer Library Museum of Vilanova i la Geltrú, or its surrounding area. although for many years it was part of a wall in the hermitage of saints Gervasius and Protasius at the Iberian house 1, 2012, top of the promontory of Sant Gervasi. It has been dated to the 2nd century AD and indicates that date: 150-100 BC. there was a sanctuary where the chapel is today or nearby. Photo: ALM, 2016, SPAL Photo: MBS, 2008, SPAL Archive. Archive.

16 17 Fact sheet Address Plaça de Darró, 3 (west end of the Passeig de Ribes Roges) 08800 Vilanova i la Geltrú Basic information about the site Contact City, county and province: Vilanova i la Geltrú, Garraf, Barcelona [email protected] Location: in the urban centre of Vilanova i la Geltrú, at the end of the Passeig Tel. (+34) 934 022 171, (+34) 687 917 009 de Ribes Roges and along the promontory of Sant Gervasi Period: The Iberian village was in use from the 6th century BC to the 1st cen- tury AD. It was replaced by a Roman villa in the mid-1st century AD which was used at least until the 6th century AD.

Basic information about the intervention Developer: Vilanova i la Geltrú City Council and Barcelona Provincial Council Execution: Local Architectural Heritage Service of the Barcelona Provincial Council Dates: 1980-2016

Archaeological excavation Leadership: Albert López Mullor, Javier Fierro Macía Collaborating archaeologists: Àlvar Caixal Mata, Juan García Targa, Montserrat Gumà Marquès, Mateu Riera Rullan, Laura Suau Lleal Other collaborators: Anna Castellano Tresserra, Maria Clua Mercadal, Antoni Ferrer Martí

Consolidation and adaptation of the ruins for visits Current leadership: Joan Closa Pujabet, Arcadio Arribas Arroyo, architects

Author of the text of this leaflet Albert López Mullor

Authors of the figures Javier Fierro Macía (JFM), Joan García Targa (JGT), Albert López Mullor (ALM), Jordi Sagrera Aradilla (JSA), Paisajes Españoles (PE), Mateu Riera Rullan (MRR), Laura Suau Lleal (LSL), Javier Ortiz Tironi, Sacramento Castillo Alcaraz (Cen- tum), Codex Arqueologia i Patrimoni, SL (Codex)

18 19 Gerència de Serveis d’Equipaments, Infraestructures Urbanes i Patrimoni Arquitectònic Servei de Patrimoni Arquitectònic Local Comte d’Urgell, 187. 08036 Barcelona [email protected] www.diba.cat/spal