El Tolmo de Minateda: An Archaeological Settlement in Spain
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Spain
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Bronze Age, Classical, Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Iberian, Roman, Visigothic
- Site type
- City
On this page18 sections
History
El Tolmo de Minateda is an archaeological site near Hellín in Albacete, Spain, occupied for more than 3,000 years from the Bronze Age through the Islamic period. Its position at a strategic crossroads helped sustain the settlement, which later developed under Iberian and Roman communities and became an important urban center in the region.
Iberian and Roman settlement
The settlement flourished under the Iberians and Romans. In 9 BC, during the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, it received municipal status, probably under the name Ilunum. This gave the community a formally recognized civic position within the Roman Empire. From the middle of the second century, however, the settlement began to decline as villas in the surrounding valley gained greater importance.
The site’s position was linked to the Roman road from Complutum to Carthago Nova. In the medieval period, this route was known as the road from Toletum to Carthago Spartaria, connecting the southern Meseta Central with the southeastern Mediterranean coast.
Visigothic revival and the episcopal see
The settlement recovered in the sixth century during the efforts of Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor who ruled from AD 527 to 565, to reconquer former western Roman territories. After Visigothic control was re-established, an episcopal see, the official jurisdiction and seat of a bishop, was established at the site under the name Eio or Elo.
The bishops associated with the settlement signed council records as “ilicitanae, qui et eiotanae,” a formula suggesting some dependence on the powerful bishopric of Ilici. The upper part of the settlement was subsequently occupied by a religious and palatial complex, while a cemetery developed around it.
Islamic period and abandonment
In 713, the city was included in the pact between Teodomiro and the Muslim conqueror Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa. It continued for almost two centuries, although the church appears to have lost its religious function soon afterward. An Islamic quarter occupied the settlement until the late ninth century, when Emir Abd al-Rahman II destroyed the city.
After its destruction, the settlement was definitively abandoned in favor of Murcia. During the Islamic period it was known as Madinat Iyyuh, an Arabic adaptation of Eio. This name contributed to the later place-name Minateda and was also connected with the subsequent name of Hellín through a transfer of place-names.
Excavation and protection
Interest in the site’s ancient importance grew during the nineteenth century. Intensive excavation began in 1988 through a joint project of the University of Alicante and the Albacete Archaeological Museum, directed by Lorenzo Abad Casal, Sonia Gutiérrez, Blanca Gamo, and Pablo Cánovas.
In 1992, El Tolmo de Minateda was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest as an archaeological zone. The Junta of Communities of Castilla-La Mancha later established the Tolmo de Minateda Archaeological Park as one of its first five archaeological parks. Structural consolidation, improvements to the site, two visitor circuits, and an interpretation center formed part of the project, completed in early 2011. The archaeological park opened to the public on March 4, 2019.
Remains
The site occupies a rocky, pillar-like hill or elevated plain of approximately 7 hectares. Its remains extend across a settlement positioned at the meeting point of routes between the southern Meseta Central and the southeastern Mediterranean coast. Defensive works mark the entrance, while religious, palatial, funerary, and residential areas occupy different parts of the hill.
Route and entrance defenses
Access route
A branch of the Roman route passed through the hollow of El Reguerón before reaching the hill. Deep wheel ruts remain in its surface. The route served as the settlement’s access way for millennia and followed the lowest line of the hollow toward the entrance.
Defensive structures
Three defensive structures have been excavated at the entrance. The oldest dates from the second or first century BC and consists of sloping, battered masonry, with walls that incline inward as they rise. Remains within the structure reach back to the Bronze Age.
During the Augustan period, the earlier defense was faced with a wall of regularly cut stone blocks. Monumental inscribed blocks associate this work with the grant of municipal status, probably as Ilunum. Construction took place in the second half of 9 BC under Augustus, with the more or less direct intervention of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the provincial governor.
In the sixth century, surviving parts of the ashlar wall were incorporated into an advanced L-shaped bastion, a projecting defensive structure, with a vaulted gate flanked by two towers. The bastion apparently collapsed soon afterward, possibly because of seismic movement. Its northern corner fell across the road and made the route unusable.
Religious and palatial complex
Basilica
The upper part of the hill contains a Visigothic religious and palatial complex. Its principal building is a three-aisled basilica, or large Christian church, with the aisles separated by columns. An apse, the rounded space at the end of a church, formed the head of the building, while a tripartite baptistery, a baptismal area divided into three parts, stood at its foot.
Monumental building
A large monumental building adjoins the basilica on its northern side. Its spaces appear to have served representational, administrative, and residential purposes. The building may have been the palace of the Eio or Elo episcopal see.
Surrounding cemetery
A cemetery surrounded the religious and palatial complex. It contains numerous burials, including graves reserved for lay and religious elites who sought the protection of the church’s relics.
Fortified enclosure and later houses
Visigothic enclosure
South of the settlement is a long-walled enclosure, probably a Visigothic castellum, or fortified enclosure or small fort. Its position is associated with the strategic route passing through the settlement.
Semi-rural houses
During the late nineteenth century, the slopes became populated by semi-rural houses that were partly cut into the rock. They formed a small settlement that was abandoned in the mid-twentieth century. Restoration has begun on the best-preserved houses.
Funerary areas
North of the hill are visible remains of stepped funerary monuments from the Roman Republican period. Built with ashlar or adobe, these monuments contained cremation urns and the grave goods of the deceased. Imperial-period levels above them contain further cremation burials, with urns placed in pits dug into the ground.
A later necropolis, or cemetery, was used from the late Roman period through the Islamic period. It contains both Christian and Islamic burials within the same cemetery, reflecting the settlement’s changing religious history.
Minateda cave paintings
The nearby Minateda cave paintings date approximately from 6000 to 3000 BC, providing evidence of human activity in the area during the prehistoric period.
