Abstract:

This paper discusses Valencia la Vella, which is a fortified settlement near València. Referred to in our sources from the fourteenth century onward, when it was identified as being a lost Roman town, possibly Pallantia and Etobesa, nothing was known about the site archaeologically until 1978. A first set of excavations was performed from 1978 to 1980. Revealing walls and three public buildings, these excavations revealed that the site dates to the late antique period. This article will detail the first results obtained by a new archaeological research project in Valencia la Vella that occurred between 2016 and 2019. It discusses work on the topography of the settlement, the digging of stratigraphic trenches, documentation of the settlement, the most damaged wall section, and geophysical prospections. All this work has allowed us to confirm that the site’s nucleus dates to the Visigoth period. It also shows that the site was densely populated and economically vibrant. This has allowed us to revise our original working hypothesis, according to which this is more of a fortified settlement than the urban center we now believe it was. This allows for the conclusion that Valencia la Vella can now be considered as one of the most important Visigoth archaeological sites informing our understanding of urbanism and society during the sixth and seventh centuries in Eastern Hispania.