The archaeological works led by Josep Maria Macias, Albert Ribera, and Miquel Rosselló delve into the ways of life, customs, and society of this settlement.

Archaeological works at the Visigothic site of Valencia “la Vella” in Riba-roja de Túria (Valencia) –promoted by the Riba-roja de Túria City Council and the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology– have found evidence of a structure that could have been large water well that It would connect with the water table of the Turia River to deliver water that would be used for human consumption by the people who lived in the settlement.

2022 archaeological campaign in this historical spot has concluded with the seventh excavation campaign of the ancient Visigothic city of Valencia “La Vella”, within the framework of the heritage recovery project that the City Council and the ICAC have been carrying out last years, with the collaboration of the Department of Culture of the Diputación de Valencia.

The archaeological works this year focused on the cleaning and recovery of certain areas of the archaeological site, with special attention to the adaptation of new segments of the perimeter wall that delimited the settlement. In addition, a new tower has been located belonging to the dividing wall between the intermediate and lower platforms of the Visigothic city. To date, throughout all the archaeological campaigns, the cleaning work has brought to light up to ten towers in the entire area of the archaeological site.

The archaeological excavation also led to the discovery of the remains of a possible communication door between the middle platform, with a character focused on crafts and the residential part, and the large public square existing on the lower settlement platform. The discovery of new storage silos states the evidence that this area was part of an artisan enclosure, that also specialized in glass production.

Another outstanding finding has been an altarpiece with a square shape, in its upper part, and a circular one, in its lower part, which could be a large water well that would connect, if the first hypotheses are confirmed, with the water table of the Turia river. It is in the upper part of this altarpiece where the mechanism through which the water would be transported to the settlement would be installed.

The origin of the water for human consumption in this settlement is one of the biggest existing questions, currently, regarding Valencia «la Vella». One of the access routes to water consumption would be directly from the Turia River, which is very close; while the other origin could be the various aqueducts that were built in their day and of which there are studies and findings in various historical works.

Archaeological works at the site have continued with a survey carried out on the upper terrace of the archaeological site and which has confirmed the presence of a metallurgical oven which, in turn, would allow demonstration of the high level of employment on the intermediate platform. The artisanal and residential function in the central neighborhood of Visigoth city is one of the hypotheses that have been demonstrated after the work of recent years, with a space dedicated to various economic activities of its inhabitants, in addition to their homes and silos. product storage.

The mayor of Riba-roja de Túria, Robert Raga, praised “the enormous work and work carried out each year by the team of archaeologists together with all the participating students, with very important work to study and work on the ground with the objective to know with greater profusion all the aspects that involved the Visigoth civilization; every year we learn more aspects and vicissitudes that help us understand our village through its past”.