Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia (Dec 2019)
El campamento romano (castra aestiva) de Gazólaz (Navarra)
Abstract
Se da a conocer un nuevo campamento romano de campaña hallado en Gazólaz, en el interior de la comarca de Pamplona y se recogen los resultados de la prospección llevada a cabo en el mismo. El campamento se fecha en época sertoriana. El estudio e interpretación de los datos recabados en campo así como de su contexto histórico, supone un nuevo paso en el conocimiento de las campañas militares romanas y en la interpretación de los acontecimientos bélicos que provocaron el definitivo sometimiento de esta parte del territorio vascón a la autoridad romana. ___________________________________________ It is presented a new roman marching camp found in Gazólaz, inside the region of Pamplona, and the results of the archaeological survey made there. It is located on a hill with wide views over the Pamplona Basin, occupies an approximate area of two hectares and has a very regular plan design, partially adapted to the terrain. It has a slightly rectangular basic design with rounded corners. Material evidences recovered there have been scarce but expressive. There are a few clavi caligarii scattered throughout the camp area, as well as a highly circulated Ercávica as and a roman citizenship iron ring (annulus). The set of characteristics, location, defensive system, materials, etc. allowed us to define it as a marching camp (castra aestiva). The camp at Gazólaz has to be put in relation with the roman marching camp at Aranguren, with the finding of lead slingshots in the hillfort of Irulegi (Lakidain, Aranguren) as well as other findings in the basin of Pamplona. All of those evidences are part of a wider campaign in the context of the Sertorian Wars (80-72 B.C.). In relation to the above, we should put the roman camp at Los Cascajos, in Sangüesa (Navarre). This is a semi-permanent camp (castra hiberna) located on the border between vasconum and suessetanum territorium and also dated in the Sertorian Wars. Therefore, we can propose the existence of an individualized military campaign carried out by Sertorian troops in the Pamplona Basin. This campaing could have come from the East, from Los Cascajos camp. In this context, this camp could function as a operating base and strategic control point in the limit of both ethnic groups. The most important consequence of the war in this area is the founding of Pompelo. despite having a favorable position to Pompeius, the end of the war and the Pompeian reorganization brought with it the forced disarticulation of the settlement of the Iron Age and the abandonment of most of the hillforts. The foundation of Pompelo after the war, around the years 72-71 BC, responds to a Roman scheme of organization of territory and power. So that Pompey chose to found a city in a region where there was no population nucleus that could fulfill that function. In a crossroads, next to the Pyrenees and in the limit of the territory conquered by Rome until that moment, this city responds to the interests of Pompeius, and in a symbiosis of personal and state interests, also to those of Rome. Pompeius gave his name to commemorate his triumph as part of a broader program aimed at strengthening his prestige, and thus, favoring the creation of clienteles that would establish his power in the area.
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