The 2026 archaeological campaign at the site of O Castelo de Valencia do Sil, funded by the Concello de Vilamartín de Valdeorras and directed by Celtia Rodríguez-González, a researcher at Lab2PT and the Archaeology Unit of the University of Minho, has provided new data on the domestic occupation, daily life and social dynamics of this late Roman settlement.
Among the main results are the identification of new domestic rooms integrated within the large residential complex, as well as the recovery of complete or nearly complete ceramic materials and metal objects associated with the 4th and 5th centuries AD. These finds include knives, everyday objects and personal adornment items, such as bronze rings, which allow us to deepen our understanding of the domestic, productive and social practices of the communities that inhabited the site.
One of the most significant finds of the campaign was the identification of skeletal remains corresponding to an infant individual, documented in association with levelling deposits related to the structures and probably linked to one of the earliest phases of occupation of the settlement.
According to Celtia Rodríguez-González, director of the excavation and researcher at Lab2PT/University of Minho and the University of Santiago de Compostela, “finding an infant individual in this type of context is relatively unusual for the chronologies we are working with. In the case of O Castelo, the stratigraphic position seems to indicate a possible relationship with the first phase of the settlement, around the 1st century AD.” The preliminary bioanthropological study, carried out by Laura González-Garrido, indicates that the remains correspond to a minimum number of one individual, with an estimated age at death of between 36 and 38 weeks of gestation. This is therefore a perinatal individual, probably a full-term foetus, of undetermined sex.
These results, which are still preliminary, open up new lines of research into funerary practices, domestic rituals, childhood, motherhood and care in the late Roman communities of the north-western Iberian Peninsula. O Castelo de Valencia do Sil is thus consolidated as a key site for understanding ways of life, domestic organisation and social dynamics in Valdeorras between the 4th and 5th centuries AD.

 

Participant institutions: Council of Vilamartin de Valdeorras, Archeology Unit University of Minho, Lab2PT/IN2APST, Sputnik Labrego, Proxecto Coidarq, University of Santiago de Compostela
More information about the Project: https://coidarq.com/