April 2024 : Visit to an excavation site in Faro and
the "Balsa Roman City" exhibition in Tavira
The AAA received an invitation to visit an urban excavation site in Faro operated by ERA Arqueologia, a Portuguese archaeology company. The visit was guided by Francisco Correia or ERA.
After lunch in Tavira, Celso Candeias, the archaeologist of Tavira municipality, guided us at the exhibition “Balsa, Roman City”. The exhibition provides a journey of 2000 years, to the time when the Roman city named Balsa flourished and became the capital of a Roman municipality.
Balsa was located next to the banks of the Ria Formosa located between the current Luz de Tavira and Santa Luzia, Tavira and was a port city of the Roman Empire. Historically, it was part of the Roman province of Lusitania. Balsa was founded before Roman rule, but it reached its peak during this period. The Roman city was created in the 1st century BC, having been cited as a city of the Roman Empire by several authors. At its peak, Balsa occupied an area of 45 hectares, making it one of the largest cities in Lusitânia. It was larger than Olisipo (currently Lisbon) or Ossónoba (currently Faro). Balsa acquired autonomy and minted coins at the beginning of Roman colonization.
AAA Lecture on BALSA: http://arquealgarve.weebly.com/l-22-11-joa-bernardes-balsa.html
Research Project on BALSA: https://balsa.cvtavira.pt/projecto/
Univ. Algarve Master on BALSA: https://sapientia.ualg.pt/handle/10400.1/17407
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsa_(Lusit%C3%A2nia)
