Consell restores nine horse skulls found in the Roman villa Casas de Campo in Villena

These ruins were found during excavations carried out by the archaeological department of the Villena City Council, with funding from Culture, which allowed us to explore this town in Partida del Campo, located in the Villena-Caudete depression. Century district south of Via Augusta.

Throughout the different campaigns, various areas in the villa were identified: a bathroom (balneum), a dated well Between the 1st century BC. C. / II d. C.., a 6th-century house chamber and a tomb with horse remains.

The horse was used for different purposes during Roman times: transportation, warfare, a symbol of power and social prestige, and sometimes as a source of food. Classical sources and fossil records tell us this: horse sacrifices as a practice It is performed at some funeral ceremonies and some festivals.

3D scanning

IVCR+i was responsible for the preservation and restoration of recovered remains to facilitate recovery and subsequent investigation. All this somehow completed high resolution 3D scanning It has two main goals: to ensure the preservation of the bone complex and to facilitate future research and analysis without the need for physical manipulation of the remains, which contributes to promoting their long-term preservation.

On the other hand, the archaeozoological study to be carried out after the restoration of the bone material will allow the causes of death of this existing group of equids to be determined. in the well and the pitand in this way come closer to the symbolic actions and ritual behaviors practiced in the Roman villa Casas de Campo in Villena.

consequences of these restoration work These will be held in Tarragona on 14, 15 and 16 November. It will be presented at the Bone Preservation and Restoration Meeting.