Two excavators destroy more than 250 linear meters of the site of the Vaccine City Pintia in Valladolid | Culture

In Pintia (Padilla del Duero, Valladolid) are the sites of the vanished pre-Roman city of the Vacceos. But since last Thursday there has been less deposit. Two excavators destroyed 235 linear meters of the city center and destroyed houses, streets, buildings and parts of the wall. In fact, remains of ceramics from 2,400 years ago, fragments of painted stucco or ashlars of its imposing buildings are more than visible on the ground opened by the steel blades of the machines, although a large part was already covered after the disaster. .

According to technicians, around 1,600 cubic meters of archaeological site was completely destroyed. The Civil Guard has already opened proceedings and received statements from those responsible. The Minister of Culture of the Government of Castilla y Léon, Gonzalo Santoja, is expected to visit the site of the massive looting this Monday.

The Vacceos were a people who settled mainly in what is now the province of Valladolid and parts of Salamanca, Ávila, Burgos or Segovia. They built various fortified cities in the Duero plain, among which stood out Pintia, a settlement of about 125 hectares that included the city itself (Las Quintas) and a huge necropolis (Las Ruedas), which is believed to have housed about 100,000 people over the course of time of the centuries and the industrial district of Carralaceña.

Archaeologists have been working for 45 years Center for Vaccination Studies Federico Wattenberg, from the University of Valladolid, study it with the utmost care. At this point, work is so slow that only a little over half a hectare has been excavated. The discoveries during this time are numerous. More than 30,000 objects, including some very fine brooches, horses, children’s toys, weapons, jewelry, gold torcs, thousands of small clay balls whose use is unknown, decorated ceramics of various types, urn burials, four gold treasures and silver… A spectacular archaeological world – the Vacceans have buried themselves with beautiful grave goods, including children with their toys – covered by tons and tons of earth that has been plundered by the detectors for decades. Currently it is protected and can be visited, so the looting has stopped or at least reduced.

But Pintia has a problem, it is in the heart of the Ribera del Duero. The clay soils are highly valued by farmers. Since its perimeter was declared an archaeological zone to balance research and production activities, farmers can cultivate their land as long as it does not go deeper than 35 centimeters. For this reason, planting vines is prohibited, as the roots of these plants can reach a depth of more than a meter and destroy the spectacular Roman and Vaccian structures hidden just over 50 centimeters away.

In order to create a water canal to irrigate the country, the two excavators opened a trench 1.50 meters deep and almost one meter wide on Thursday. The southwestern part of the city, the original area of ​​this settlement, was razed. It was in this area that the so-called Third Treasure was found a few years ago, a series of silver and gold pieces including earrings, coins, bracelets and toques. So far four have been found with similar characteristics.

The landowner flatly denies destroying “anything.” “That’s a lie. I didn’t destroy anything and that needs to be proven. “If the drivers had found something, they would have stopped.” In a very raised tone he explains: “The land is mine.” You can do it and I can “No one has told me anything that can’t be put into a pipe that is used for production, for food. Let some come here and tell us what we have to do. NO”.

Carlos Sanz, For his part, the director of the site and professor of prehistory at the University of Valladolid assures that the destroyed area “was the most populated in the city and may have been its area of ​​origin.” The volume of destroyed information, up to four stratigraphic levels of 1,200 years of history , exceeds by a third the volume of excavations using archaeological methodology since the founding of the study center.”

Gema, a neighbor and landowner in Padilla de Duero, was also very angry about the situation last Sunday. “We all know that we cannot penetrate deeper than 35 centimeters into the earth. So if we want to supply them with water, we install air pipes for irrigation and then dismantle them. The easy and inexpensive option is to open a ditch, lay pipes and transport the water to your land. That’s what they did. This is outrageous because Pintia is the most valuable thing we have in the community. It’s my granddaughter’s legacy,” pointing to a girl of about twelve who says she also wants to become an archaeologist. “From Machu Pichu,” she says, as they both visit an interpretation center of the site in the center of the community, which houses a selection of pieces from that culture, which dominated goldsmithing, ceramics and weapon making.

Those responsible at the site are currently working on three projects: the exhibition Pintia. Glass jewelry for eternity, which will be inaugurated on January 24th or 25th at the University of Valladolid Museum (MUVa), the signage of the entire area indicating where the main streets and buildings of the Vacceo-Roman city were, the mural reconstruction of its most notable cultural milestones, including spectacular ones Clothing and the digitalization of the urban fabric. However, some may face delays as specialists now need to excavate the entire destroyed area to assess the damage.