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ARCHIVED - Annual excavation underway at Las Cabezuelas predominantly Iberian site in Totana
Pieces found at the site are currently on display at the Murcia Archaeological Museum
The annual archaeological excavation at the site of ´Las Cabezuelas´, organised by the Asociación para la Promoción Cultural y Turística de Totana Kalathos is currently underway for the eighth year, slowly revealing more about this settlement which is located on a small hill close to the artisan quarter of the modern town and which reached its zenith in the time of the Iberians (in the second half of the 1st millennium BC).
No evidence has been found that the site was fortified, and it has been established that the inhabitants subsisted on their crop farming and livestock rearing activities. Important ceramic relics have been found from between the 6th and 1st centuries BC, including amphorae, pottery, plates and burnished pieces in the “kálathos” tradition (a multifunctional form of ceramic with a narrow base and tapered form made to imitate a basket and used for fruit or wool, widely found on Iberian sites and acquired as prestigious trade goods along Mediterranean trade routes, using Terra Sigillata techniques employed by Greek potters during this period).
The Archaeological Museum of Murcia in Murcia city is currently displaying several pieces found on the site, both of local origin and trade goods, which are the “piece of the month” at the museum throughout the summer months (click for Archaeological Museum Murcia City).
During the second and first centuries BC the Iberian inhabitants began to make their way down the hill to the area now occupied by the town of Totana, and evidence of this gradual migration can be seen in the Ibero-Roman materials from the later Roman periods.
The excavations have always been undertaken by volunteers although the town hall has presented proposals to the regional government for 300,000 euros in funding to enable it to purchase the site from private owners in order to further develop the plot with a view to enabling visitors to enter and learn more about the history of the town at some time in the future.
Images: Asociación para la Promoción Cultural y Turística de Totana Kalathos