Discovery of the temple of Llívia's Roman forum confirmed

28/10/2016

The town council of Llívia (La Cerdanya, Girona) and the team of archaeologists directing the dig at the Roman forum of Iulia Líbica (modern Llívia) led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC), recently presented the results obtained in this year's campaign, conducted during the months of September and October.

The research confirms the existence of a building of large dimensions located on the central axis of the forum, on its northern side, perched above a podium and elevated two metres above a large arcade square. A building of these characteristics can be identified undoubtedly as the temple presiding the forum, researchers explain.

In accordance with the work in previous campaigns which confirmed the width of the forum measuring 42.50 metres, this year researchers programmed a new dig in the middle of the street, with the aim of verifying the presence of a possible sacred enclosure presiding over the remains. The starting hypothesis was that the temple, following the canonical model of the majority of Roman temples from the Augustus and Julio-Claudian eras, could have been located at that point of the forum.

The works allowed finding the continuation of the forum's northern wall and lateral wall, forming an L, which seemed to mark out the area of the podium of a possible temple. The podium makes up a terrace which is aligned with other walls which had already been discovered on the eastern side of the site.

Pavement and Statue Fragments

Inside of the temple cell researchers were able to document pavement made out of opus signinum, with slate tiles and embedded marble chips, forming a rectangle in front of a brickwork base on which a cult statue would have been placed to preside over the cell. The cell walls conserve the remains of paint coatings used to decorate. Another granite statue base was unearthed, located on top of the pavement and next to the wall.

The area next to the podium and building contained a back wall from Late Antiquity which leans against the structure of the temple and which includes numerous fragments of marble chips which had been reused as construction material.

Among these fragments, some corresponded to monumental statues measuring up to twice the size of an average human. The material used was very fine white marble, most probably Carrara marble. Especially interesting samples included a face containing an eye and parts of the hair, a large hand with a ring in its finger holding a square object, a large bust with the front part heavily damaged, but with the hair well conserved in the back, and a fragment of the lower part of a toga or tunic.

Based on these samples, and according to the archaeologists who direct the digs, Jordi Guàrdia and Cèsar Carreras, it is highly probable that these sculptures correspond to the representation of deities or deified emperors originally located within the cell of the temple. In the following months archaeologists will go on to clean, consolidate and study these objects, as well as positively identify the origin of the marble used, and work on identifying who the statues represent.

The stratigraphic studies and discoveries made in previous campaigns point to the possibility that the Iulia líbica forum was abandoned in the third century CE and dismantled in order to reuse the noble materials. On top of its ruins however there is evidence of later constructions during the Late Antiquity and the original solid architecture was continuously reused until at least the seventh century.

The Only Roman Forum in the Pyrenees

The Roman forum discovered at Llívia is the only one to be known to exist in a valley of the Pyrenees mountains. Other Roman cities nearby with forums, such as Lugdunum Covenarum (Sant-Bertrand de Comenge) and Ruscino (Perpinyà) in Gallia Narbonensis, and Empúries and Labitolosa (La Puebla de Castro, Huesca) in Hispania Tarraconensis, are all located on flat land.

The city of Iulia Líbica, located in the centre of La Cerdanya, was the capital of this region and its people, according to ancient sources, were privileged enough to be ruled under Roman law, and therefore probably had a forum since the time of Augustus, with its arcade square, temple, curia and maybe even a basilica. Here is where the administrative power of Rome ruled over the inhabitants of the region, who were fully integrated into the political, administrative and commercial structures of the empire.

Excavations at the Forum

Excavations at the Roman forum of Llívia began twenty years ago with a series of preventive digs during the promotion of a new housing project which finally revealed the remains of this site, then called Colomines A. At present, the dig which began again in 2013 and continued with successive excavation campaigns forms part of a research project directed by UAB professor and ICAC researcher Josep Guitart, with the participation of several researchers from the two centres and archaeology students from the UAB.

This project was carried out thanks to the collaboration between the Llívia Town Council, the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage of the Government of Catalonia and the Provincial Council of Girona, the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Given the significance of the discovery and the clear cultural and tourist value the architectonic complex from the Roman imperial era has for the La Cerdanya region, local authorities are preparing new projects to highlight and make use of the archaeological and monumental values of Llívia's Roman forum.

Images by the UAB and ICAC:
http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia1.jpg
General view of this year's excavation site.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia2.jpg
Detail of a temple cell.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia3.jpg
Detail of the pavement in a cell and a pedestal of a cult image.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia4.jpg
Sculpture fragment of eye and hair.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia5.jpg
Sculpture fragment of a hand of large dimensions.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia6.jpg
Sculpture fragment of head with hair.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_ForumdeLlivia7.jpg
Frontal view of the head, greatly deteriorated.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB_PlantalGeneraldelForumdeLlivia.jpg
General surface of the Roman forum Iulia Líbica.

Blog of the excavations conducted at Iulia Líbica:
http://blogs.uab.cat/iulialibica/