Archaeologists working in Cantabria cave for 25 years garma they recovered A burial complex from the Visigothic era, from the depths of the void basal gallery created by two cemeteries with human remains, swords and other metallic objects in a perfectly preserved condition.
The remains were found and recovered at sea during environmental control work by speleologist Mariano Luis Serna, who descended into the underground river at the lower level of La Garma to collect water samples. a complex archaeological operation.
The excavation managers of this world heritage cave, Pablo Arias and Roberto Ontañón, It is one of the most unusual burial societies discovered in recent years on the Iberian Peninsula. for conservation status and the atypical place where bodies were buried around 700 BC.
The bones and grave goods were found in an area that periodically floods, covered with a black patina from rainfall. manganese Oxide, stated that they may have preferred to preserve this finding during its presentation.
They had already been in La Garma Visigoth Funeral Remains, In the shallower lower gallery remaining in the area where only one belt buckle was removed to include it in the collection of the Museum of Archeology and Prehistory of Cantabria (Mupac).
after many doubts it was decided to sort out bones and objects so that they would not be flooded, because flooding is common in the basal gallery.
Besides human remains, a “spa”, a long double-edged sword 85 centimeters long; two copies “scramasax”, short, double-edged scimitar-like swords; an acetre or small bronze cauldron and another as yet unidentified object.
The wooden hilts of swords are unusual and manganese oxide this covers them with a black patina.
The type of materials found indicates that they belong to the material. same period as the Visigoth ruins in the lower gallery of the caveIt is around the 8th century and the people buried are high-ranking people.
Visigoth settlements north of the Pyrenees
A dowry like this was found elsewhere. Visigoth settlements north of the Pyrenees, but in unburied tombs deep in a cave.
A large team of experts, led by Pablo Arias and Ricardo Ontañón, of archaeologists, anthropologists, restorers and engineers, was organized to reach and extract the remains.
The team that participated in this rescue operation on June 9, it took more than three hours to reach the burial complex, after a journey down four floors from the cave entrance, It is located 50 meters above the gallery and runs about 200 meters along the river bed.
Recovered materials are currently A delicate stabilization process in the laboratories of the Museum of Archeology and Prehistory of Cantabria, Directed by Ontañón.
To be applied later a range of analytical techniques This will contribute to providing valuable information about one of the darkest periods in Cantabrian history, about which little is known.
among other techniques carbon 14 dating will be used, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to reconstruct their diet, DNA, metallography or X-ray fluorescence.
The last stop of these tracksIt will be a field dedicated to the archeology of the Visigothic era, It’s inside Mupac’s new permanent exhibition, according to Pablo Zuloaga, Cantabria’s Vice-President and Minister of Culture.
Source: Informacion
