Four individuals have been ordered to pay a fine of 1,620 euros each after being found guilty of plunder and damage at the La Mesa archaeological site in Burgos, where excavations have long been conducted to study a Roman settlement dating from the 1st to the 2nd century AD. This is established by a recent sentence from the Provincial Court of Burgos, which confirms the prior conviction handed down by the Criminal Court No. 2 in Burgos province.
These events occurred on March 24, 2019, when the four people, equipped with metal detectors, pickaxes, and other digging tools, and dressed in work coveralls and hiking boots, entered several plots within the site, located in the upper valley of the Tirón river in the region known as Riojilla Burgalesa.
After surveying the ground and subsurface with metal detectors, they began small excavations in areas where metallic remnants might be found. Their goal was to seize historically valuable objects from what had been a notable rural city spanning roughly 20 hectares, without authorization.
Holes
To mark the terrain, they laid stones on top of one another and used plastic tapes to signal the routes they traversed. When they were intercepted by agents from the Seprona division of the Civil Guard, the defendants had carved six boreholes, each between ten and twenty centimeters in diameter and about ten centimeters deep, forming a nearly straight line perpendicular to the access road to the plots.
With these test digs spanning multiple zones, the individuals caused damage to the site’s stratigraphic sequence, hindering the scientific study of the area as described in the Provincial Court’s ruling, dated November 6, 2023, and cited by El Periódico de España in coverage from the same publishing group as this account.
The four defendants failed to obtain any historically valuable object, as they were apprehended at 3:20 a.m. in two vehicles, an Opel Vectra and a Citroën Xsara Picasso, about 300 meters west of the excavations near Belorado. The men were still wearing work coveralls with fresh soil residue, and the vehicles contained digging tools that showed signs of recent use.
Ultimately, the defendants were found in possession of markers and implements indicating an intent to remove or collect artifacts, though no artifact of special significance was recovered at the scene.
Fine
The first-instance ruling sentenced the four accused as the criminal authors of acts of looting affecting a site of historical heritage, imposing a nine-month prison term replaced by a monetary penalty at a rate of six euros per day, totaling 1,620 euros for each defendant.
On appeal, the defendants challenged the verdict, arguing, among other points, a violation of the accusatory principle, incorrect evaluation of the evidence, and an error in applying the looting offense to the alleged attempted act.
The Provincial Court upheld the initial decision, noting that the four accused were aware of the site’s protected status due to visible signage and their ties to the area, including residence or periodic stays that connected them to the region.
The court clarified that Article 323 of the Penal Code punishes those who damage or loot goods of historical, artistic, scientific, cultural, or monumental value, or those found within archaeological sites, with penalties ranging from six months to three years in prison and fines up to 24 months. In this case, the sanction did not exceed nine months because the number of boreholes was not very high and the defendants had no prior offenses of a similar nature, as found by the investigating body and later confirmed by the Provincial Court.
Overall, the case underscores the delicate balance between safeguarding protected archaeological evidence and managing the risk of illicit exploration, highlighting the legal framework that governs looting activities and the penalties that accompany them, especially when the target is a site of clear scientific and cultural importance, as confirmed by authorities and reported by multiple outlets at the time of ruling.