The University Institute of Research in Iberian Archaeology of the University of Jaen has carried out the first field work campaign in the Italian region of Le Marche (Marche), centred around the municipality of Fossombrone, within the research project "ILITAURO: Methodology for the archaeological study of battlefields and sieges in the context of the Second Punic War: Metaurus, Iliturgis and Castulo (208 - 206 BC), whose principal researcher is the UJA researcher Juan Pedro Bellon.
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Area in which the archaeological microprospecting work has been carried out [Credit: UJA] |
The research on the location of the battlefield has an extensive historiographical background dating back to the 15th century. These studies have always been based on local traditions and philological studies. The theses on their location are varied, although there is no archaeological evidence to date to support these proposals.
The research approach initiated by the IUIAI is based on a strategic plan of integral analysis of the different proposals, considering them as the basis for carrying out archaeological surveys to validate them. However, at the same time, an autonomous line of work is being developed based on the analysis of the museum collections of several localities where the battle was traditionally located. In this way it has been possible to locate and study a set of dozens of slingshot projectiles made of lead, stored in the Civic Museum of Fossombrone, coming from the surroundings near this Italian locality.
The morphological similarities of some of the Italian projectiles to those located on the scene of the Battle of Baecula, together with the application of metallographic and isotopic analyses of the lead carried out on them, is one of the lines of research initiated, since it can establish the origin of the mineral and show similarities or differences to those used by the Carthaginian army in the Battle of Baecula.
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Slingshot projectiles made of lead, stored in the Civic Museum of Fossombrone [Credit: UJA] |
According to Juan Pedro Bellon, the initial results have highlighted the archaeological complexity of the territory of Fossombrone, especially the environment of Monte Aguzzo, in which the team has been able to document, during the work carried out during the first two weeks of July, metallic objects related to an episode of war, although for the moment it is difficult to associate them directly with the Second Punic War, in the absence of future campaigns to intensify and expand the archaeological sampling carried out in the area.
The UJA researcher believes that, however, the validity of the methodology developed by the IUIAI during the Baecula Project for the archaeological analysis of this type of brief and complex scenarios of conflict in antiquity, such as the siege of the Iberian oppidum of Iliturgis (Mengibar, Jaen) or the attack on the northern gate of the oppidum of Puente Tablas (Jaen), "which opens up an interesting horizon for archaeological research on the battle of Metaurus, of which the first steps have begun to be taken by the University of Jaen", he said.
The Battle of the River Metaurus was decisive for the development of the Second Punic War, since the Roman army prevented the Carthaginian armies of the Barca brothers, Hasdrubal and Hannibal, from meeting and generating a direct threat to Rome. This battle faced three Roman armies, commanded by consuls Marcus Livius Salinator, Lucius Portius and Gaius Claudius Nero to the Carthaginian troops commanded by Hasdrubal Barca in 207 BC.
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Archaeological microprospecting work carried out by the Iberian Archaeological Institute of the Universidad de Jaen [Credit: UJA] |
Source: Universidad de Jaen [trsl. TANN, August 01, 2019]
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