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.

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.

hilltop ruin – la ruina de la cima

ubicación de ruina de cima - hilltop ruin location

vista de zafra - view of zafra

vista de la montaña - mountain view

mandibula de vaca - cow jaw

 

Site coordinates: 38.422503, -6.441776

Description: At the crest of a little hill northeast of the main ridge stands this peculiar little structure. It is ruined down to a standing enclosure of unmortared stones stacked more than a meter high. Its shape is roughly circular with a slight bulb on the southwest side. In this bulb there is evidence on the walls of past fires, but no evidence on the surface of the ground. The structure is littered with cow bones. In the map above it’s possible to see a quadrangular enclosure immediately to the south; this appears to have been an animal pen or a garden. A quick survey of surface debris didn’t reveal any sherds or evidence that the structure ever had a tiled roof.