ICAC runs this summer a new campaign of archaeological works at the Roman villa of Mas dels Frares (Constantí, Tarragona).
The intervention will take place from June 28 to July 30, 2021. The activity belongs to the research project Estudi i difusió de la vil·la romana del Mas dels Frares (Constantí, Tarragonès), I Fase (Projecte quadriennal CLT009-18-00100), under coordination by Josep Maria Macias, leading researcher at the Arqueología Cristiana y de la Antigüedad Tardía research team, and technical direction by Karen Fortuny and Francesc Rodríguez.
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The Roman villa ‘Mas dels Frares’ is located in the municipality of Constantí (near Tarragona), 1.5 km from this town and next to the Experimental Winery of the Faculty of Oenology of the URV. Some archaeological marks point to the existence of a Roman villa with productive wine-type structures. The place was built during the change of Era and lasted until the 7th century. In the 2019 and 2020 archaeological works, researchers verified the stately character of the villa and found the remains of an agricultural warehouse with large earthen jars.
Join us and get involved in archaeological works, archaeological drawing, architectural consolidation, and the study of materials.
Working hours will be from 7 am to 2 pm. Minimum attendance is two weeks.
Registration deadline
The registration deadline is next 11 June 2021. Registrations should be addressed to kfortuny@icac.cat.
Archaeological works in this Roman villa started in 2019, within the collaboration agreement between the University Rovira i Virgili (URV), the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) and the City Council of Constantí to foster archaeological research in the archaeological site ‘Mas dels Frares’ and place value on the patrimonial entity of this Roman site of the old territorium of Tarraco. The project also has the funding of the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Catalunya.
In the 2020 excavations, directed by researchers Karen Fortuny and Ada Lasheras, and with the participation of students from the Interuniversity Master’s Degree in Classical Archeology (URV-UAB-ICAC) and the Degree in Art History and Archeology at the URV, we set the magnitude of the site and verify that it was a stately Roman villa. Excavation works followed a strategy of small surveys in the field to trace the scope of the site. Researchers also found remains of an agricultural warehouse with large earthen jars that were used to store wine and took organic samples to set the origins of the productive activity associated with wine.
One of the most remarkable features of winemaking in Catalonia is precisely its long tradition since the Phoenicians and Romans arrived on our shores. ICAC research can provide new historical evidence of this millenary tradition and show that in an adjoining space in the Mas dels Frares experimental winery, where future winemakers are trained today, wine was already being made in Roman times.
Funding:
Generalitat de Catalunya, Ajuntament de Constantí, Consell Regulador Denominació d’Origen (CRDO).
With the support of:
Faculty of Oenology of the University Rovira i Virgili, URV.
