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.

subcircular whorl/weight – huso o peso subcircular

1. top profile - perfil de arriba

2. detail - detalle

3. rotation

4. rear - atras

5. rotation

6. profile - perfil

7. angle - angulo

8. angle - angulo

Find coordinates (within a 5-meter radius): 38.415203, -6.445040

Description: This is a sub-circular granite stone featuring a 1.1cm hole bored through its center. On what I’m calling its “top” there is a 1.7cm (in diameter) depression supported by a bulb visible in the first photo. On the same surface narrow and shallow indentations run from the stone’s edge to the hole in its center; these indentations appear to have been worn into the stone by a cord or string. One trough runs toward the 1.7cm depression and the other runs the opposite direction.

The opposite surface is plain save for a companion wear-mark to the trough which runs away from the 1.7cm depression (image 8). In total there are three of these so-called troughs. Image 6 tries to show how these troughs meet (beneath the lichen) and how over its use-life the stone had become distorted.

Speculation:I’ve come to support three possibilities in respect to this object’s use-life utility. They are:

Net Weight: Support Images: one two three four

Loom Whorl/Weight: Support Images: one  two

Pump drills also sport stones of this shape. None of the examples I’ve seen explain the extra off-center hole/depression on this piece.