roman house – la casa romana

ruin from the southeast – la ruina como visto del sureste

lower ridge formation – linea de sierra abajo

foundation – base

foundation – base

foundation – base

location map – mapa de colocacion

Site coordinates: 38.415253, -6.444951

Description: While walking one day on the ridge I met an old man who told me that “somewhere down there” was a “Roman house”. Now I can’t say certainly whether this structure was indeed inhabited by an Italian, but I did find this and this directly below it on the mountain slope.

The structure appears to be circular and is situated on a lower, minor ridge on the southeast mountainside. There’s a heavy concentration of pottery sherds along this lower ridge. The structure appears in a photo dated 2001 in Patromonio Oculto de Zafra by Jose Antonio Amador Redondo. In this photo, portions of walls remain; today, the structure is ruined to its foundation and was difficult for me to identify at all.

shallow cave – la cueva pequeña

1. entrance - entrada

2. ground (as in "grind") cavity on cave wall - muesca molida por la pared del cueva

3. long groove - muescas largas

 

Site coordinates: 38.415493, -6.442114

inside the yellow circle - dentro el circulo amarillo

 

Description: This little cave is in plain view and requires almost no athletic ability to enter. It is located on the southernmost ridge of the main sierra, on the eastern side. Image 1 shows the entrance and also it’s possible to see the grooves in Images 2 and 3 on the left wall, at about eye-level.

Image 2 shows a circular impression that, in my opinion, has been ground into the cave wall. Image 3 shows another, longer groove that extends upward into the cave’s ceiling. Taken together, the grooves roughly form an “exclamation point” shape ( ! ).

Speculation: I’ve speculated that perhaps the upper grooves could have allowed smoke to pass out of the cave (as there is evidence of smoke staining the cave walls near its deepest part). Also, that pair of vertical grooves could have caused rainwater to drain and drip in a specific place, to ease its collection.

I have no good explanation for the circular groove. Perhaps a basin could have been held there to collect water dripping from the above channels, or perhaps someone was passing time grinding out a near-perfect circle; I’m perplexed.

ruined moorish structure – estructura morisca en ruinas

moorish house ruin (materials) - materiales de las ruinas del pilar de moro

pilar de moro - moorish fountain basin

terrace corner - esquina de la terraza (del colina)

southwest foundation line - linea del cimiento (suroueste)

southwest inside corner - rincón suroueste

lower level southeast corner - rincón suroeste primera planta

terrace retaining wall - muro de contención del terraza (de colina)

Site coordinates:38.418305, -6.441641

Description: According to local writer Jose Antonio Amador Redondo, this is an old Moorish fountain basin. The bi-level house is ruined to its foundations. The basin is now a place where farm animals drink. It’s roughly 24 meters along its long side by 10 meters wide.

mapa - map