The excavations carried out in the last year in the Molinete Archaeological Park have uncovered a cardo or Roman road and for the first time three domus or houses from the 1st century AD The co-director of the excavations of the Molinete Archaeological Park, José Miguel Noguera, explained this Thursday that with the performances carried out they have reached the middle of the domus of the atrium. The house is located in a block divided into three terraces adapted to the unevenness of the Molinete hillside. The domus of the atrium is located on the intermediate terrace and was articulated around an atrium with columns, which was a distribution space from which one entered the rest of the rooms. “The house was built in the second half of the first century AD and must have belonged to local elites who lived at the foot of the Acropolis, in Roman-style houses,” Noguera pointed out.
Among the spacious rooms, they have documented a dining room and offices of the owner, which shows the high purchasing power. The evolution of the houses over the centuries reveals how one of the rooms of the house in the atrium was transformed in the 3rd century AD. C. in a kind of garage where to keep a car and have the draft animals. Noguera stressed that with these excavations they achieve “a milestone that adds attractiveness to the offer of the Molinete Archaeological Park and that can now be enjoyed.” The mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, assured during the balance of the actions carried out that the excavation of the other part of the domus of the atrium continues with 1.5 million euros of financing. The next archaeological works in Cartagena will be the consolidation of the north wall of the baths and the recovery for your visit of the site of the Plaza de los Tres Reyes.
One of the rooms, which could be the owner’s archive or office, includes a mosaic. The room was paved with a lime mortar floor decorated with geometric and floral motifs. It is a mosaic of republican tradition from the 1st century AD, which follows the prevailing fashions of the 1st century BC.
As a novelty, fragments of glasses and bottles from Germany have also been discovered, showing the perfect integration of the Port of Cartagena with the rest of the Roman Empire. The doctor in History and Arts, Almudena Velo, member of the Historical Archeology and Heritage of the Western Mediterranean research group of the University of Murcia (UMU) indicated that they are studying the typology of the glass remains. In addition to the tableware carved with a careful finish surface, window glass has been found in the pipes. “They could be from one of the houses or from a nearby workshop. This type of material was highly appreciated for recycling due to its thickness”.
As for the cardo, it is a street oriented from north to south that flanks the atrium building. It was built in the second half of the 1st century BC with limestone polygonal slabs, under which the sewage system was preserved. On the other side of the street, a sanctuary was built for the worship of the gods Isis and Serapis. On some slabs the tracks of the wagon wheels are preserved, which shows how crowded it was.
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