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The combination of non-invasive research techniques, such as prospecting or remote sensing, and invasive ones, such as archaeological excavation, have allowed Galicia to expand knowledge about a "very unique" site, the Castro Valente fortified enclosure.

Located

,

that remains hidden under dense vegetation, and of which a group of archaeologists from the University of Santiago de Compostela have begun to discover the secrets.

At the moment, only the first steps have been taken and, however, those responsible for their study already consider that they are "stimulating enough" to promote subsequent interventions that expand the data collected "in this unique fortified enclosure", considered

All the details that they have managed to find out are contained in the investigation '

, the work of Mario Fernández Pereiro and José Carlos Sánchez Pardo, from the 'Sincrisis' cultural forms research group of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

The Castro Valente presents, as a fortified enclosure, some

" to study the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the High Middle Ages.

This chronological assignment is based on the scarce documented material culture and on the documentation of similar parallels throughout the northwest of the peninsula.

The experts point out "without fear of being wrong" that one of the most studied settlement models in the context of the northwest of the peninsula is the one used by the Galician world, the commonly called castros, which have the particularity of having a defensive system, normally stone , and whose decline began around the turn of the era, with the establishment of the Roman Empire in the northwest of the peninsula.

It is in this transition stage in which this study is located, in the fortified sites framed in this transition from the Roman state to the High Middle Ages, which "resembling hillforts, and, being called hillforts, are not really hillforts from the Age of Galician iron".

Among them, "large and monumental" enclosures stand out, such as that of Castro Valente,

, the oldest being that of Manuel Murguía, husband of the key writer in literature. XIX century, Rosalía de Castro.

A threatened enclosure

Experts warn that

.

The first, that the summit of Castro Valente was "artificialized" during the construction of the fortified enclosure, and in recent decades it has suffered several cycles of pine planting and the construction of various firebreaks that "alter and destroy" the archaeological site, in addition of the "serious threat" posed by acacia roots.

There are two other possible effects that "may alter the conservation" of the site.

with four wind turbines and a substation was recently requested ,

and the execution project for the Lousame-Tibo electric power transmission line is being processed, which provides for the placement of six towers on the slopes.

In addition, they warn that natural erosion, together with the historical reuse of construction materials and

, "also seriously affect the conservation" of the site.

Location of the fortified enclosure of Castro Valente. Xunta de Galicia

drone flight

A LIDAR flight by drone of the entire extension of the enhanced site in 2021 has made it possible to "perfectly" appreciate the extension and layout of the wall.

It is a "monumental wall line" with a perimeter of more than 1,200 meters that was, according to historical descriptions, crowned with up to 30 cubes or towers.

, although "dense acacia vegetation covers the layout of the walled enclosure."

In other parts of the enclosure it is also possible to locate evidence of the layout, although its conservation is not comparable.

During the surface prospecting of the site, up to six well-preserved cubes were located in the northwest area of ​​the wall, among the dense vegetation.

In the eastern and northern sectors of the enclosure, several accumulations of stone construction material were recorded that could indicate the possibility of the existence of more cubes or towers in this area, but the destruction caused by the firebreak tracks meant that hardly a trace of them remains.

The state of conservation and the vegetation makes it very difficult to identify elements such as "some doors" referred to by Murguía in his studies,

.

The other two accesses, of minor importance, are located in opposite places in the enclosure.

One was identified thanks to aerial remote sensing and access is complicated by the dense vegetation in the surroundings.

The other seems to be located in an area heavily affected by a fire road, and identifiable by the existence of a possible tower that would defend this access.

Due to the dense vegetation,

, although there are some elevations on the ground that may indicate wall structures, although an archaeological excavation is necessary to verify this hypothesis.

Brief excavation campaign

In December 2020, a brief archaeological-logical excavation campaign was carried out to assess the potential of the Castro Valente fortified enclosure.

Three valuation surveys were carried out

.

In one of them, the very conservation of the faces of the wall, together with the continuous infiltration of water through the profiles of the survey, "raised fears for the physical integrity of both the excavation team and the wall itself."

Therefore, it was not possible to conclude it.

The archaeological dig, though brief, provided "much interesting data."

It has made it possible to carry out a partial documentation of the typology and construction technique of the defensive system of the walled enclosure, which is preserved in very good condition in the northwestern area of ​​the site, in the environment where the archaeological intervention was carried out.

This technique focuses on the

, combining different sizes, arranged in regular courses.

The partial excavation of one of the towers attached to the wall seems to these specialists "a novelty in itself", since it allowed documenting one of the 30 cubes mentioned through historical sources.

This type of structure attached to the wall

, with the exception of some such as those documented in Castro Ventosa or the walls of Lugo, Braga or Astorga.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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