First advances of the archaeological excavation in the mausoleums of the southeastern gate of Baelo Claudia: the monument of Iunia Rufina

Abstract

Recent archaeological works in the mausoleums near the South Eastern Gate of Roman Baelo Claudia (Bolonia, Tarifa, Cádiz) are presented in this paper. Both monuments were partly visible before the excavation and our aim was to throw light on their structure, spatial relation to the decumanus and their chronology. The open-area excavation allowed us to determine that they were looted in ancient times and that they even suffered an earthquake. Fortunately, the collapse of the mausoleums caused by that seismic episode covered –and hid- the different decorative elements with debris. Thus, the excavation has allowed recovering these valuable elements from one of the two mausoleums: the complete architectural order made in marble (base, column and capital), as well as the funerary inscription, made of bronze letters. This is an extraordinary find for the quality of the architectural elements and for being one of the few inscriptions made in litterae aureae that have been preserved.

Keywords

• necrópolis
• decumanus
• mausoleo
• orden corintio
• inscripción
• litterae aureae
• terremoto