2013 – October : Visit to the Roman Villa/farm complex at Cortes nr. Silves
Cortes is on the ancient ( Phoenician ) route from Silves to Sao Bartolomeo de Messines.
Dennis Graen introducing the site
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In 2009 excavations started after roof tile and tesserae fragments on the surface, known to the current landowner, led to a geomagnetic survey. A significant Roman Villa, the first of the Algarve hinterland was discovered set in a barrocal landscape of limestone and red soil. It spans at least three modern land divisions, each 500m long and only 20m wide. Access is down a steep bank to a long east west terrace which looks out over a large plain. There is evidence of several phases of occupation, Neolithic finds are mixed in with later pre Roman and several phases of Roman structures with 7th cent. thought to be the last phase prior to the Moorish occupation of the territory. Earthquake damage repair is visible in one wall.
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The main villa, thought to be 1st cent., has revealed an eastern gallery of rooms ( possibly two storeys ) and a mirrored western gallery is anticipated. Across the south facade is a long water tank in sections with an apse in the east. No mosaic floors or decorated walls remain but tantalising fragments of both have been found. The centre of the villa has a peristyle with a fountain in a tetra-konchos shaped pool ( a square with ears ). The lead filler and outflow pipes are still present.
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Artefacts found include many needles, loom weights, spindles and a leather knife; a predominance of sheep bones is strong evidence of raising sheep and a wool industry. Pliny in his Natural History records the superiority of Lusitanian wool – local sheep crossed with a North African breed produced dark coloured wool. Coins from 1st cent. B.C. to 3rd cent. A.D., games pieces, bronze seals and fibulae were unearthed.
A mysterious decorated marble slab ( quarried in Estremoz ) with a partly legible (possibly Hebrew) inscription was found in a 390 A.D. Layer. We were left to puzzle who the prosperous occupants may have been – perhaps Romanised Lusitanians and who the unfortunate sixteen to eighteen year old male was whose skeleton ( r.c. dating suggests 570 A.D.) lies on the edge of the villa and awaits conservation.
We would like to thank Dennis Graen, Marijke Rind and Henning Warbensich of Jena University Thuringia for the visit as they prepared to close down the site. We wish them well in their negotiations with the landowners to continue the dig in the future after a georadar ( deeper and more revealing ) survey.
We would like to thank Dennis Graen, Marijke Rind and Henning Warbensich of Jena University Thuringia for the visit as they prepared to close down the site. We wish them well in their negotiations with the landowners to continue the dig in the future after a georadar ( deeper and more revealing ) survey.
