Iruña-Veleia
Encyclopedia
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
town in Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
, currently located in the Basque Country, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The site is located in the municipality of Iruña de Oca
Iruña de Oca
Iruña de Oca is a municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Is compounded by five towns called "concejos" which names are:*Nanclares de la Oca *Montevite*Ollávarre...
, 10 kilometers west of Vitoria. The town was an important station on the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
ab Asturica Burdigalam
Ab Asturica Burdigalam
Ab Asturica Burdigalam was a Roman road that linked the towns of Asturica Augusta in Gallaecia and Burdigala in Aquitania....
that ran parallel to the coast of the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
. At its apogee, the city could have been inhabited by some five to ten thousand people.
The archaeological site of Iruña-Veleia is the most important from the Roman period in the Basque Country. It was alleged to contain the oldest known texts written in the Basque language
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
as well as, allegedly, the oldest representation of the crucifixion
Calvary
Calvary or Golgotha was the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early first century walls, at which the crucifixion of Jesus is said to have occurred. Calvary and Golgotha are the English names for the site used in Western Christianity...
of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
found to date, but soon after the findings proved to be forged
Archaeological forgery
Archaeological forgery is the manufacture of supposedly ancient items that are sold to the antiquities market and may even end up in the collections of museums. It is related to art forgery....
.
Bronze and Iron ages
The town was originally founded in the 8th century BC, in the Late Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. The houses from this period, rectangular and round with adobe walls and thatched roofs, are similar to those found at the nearby site of Atxa (Vitoria).
Roman period
In the first half of the 1st century some of these houses were replaced by others of Roman style (domusDomus
In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. They could be found in almost all the major cities throughout the Roman territories...
). This architectural romanization continued as the century advanced.
The late Roman city (3rd and 4th centuries) is better known. It shows signs of decay and the construction of a wall that encloses an eleven hectare area. The town survived into the 5th century after Roman power had disappeared from the region, but by the end of the century only burial plots in abandoned buildings are found.
Modern age
There was an abbey at the site at least since the 16th century whose buildings remained visible until the mid 19th century.Archeological forgery case at the Iruña-Veleia site
The Iruña-Veleia site had been granted an unusually large 3.72 million euroEuro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s funding by the Basque regional government. In 2006, a series of sensational findings at Iruña-Veleia were announced to the press by the director of the archeological mission. These included what would have been the oldest non-onomastical texts in Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
, which were hailed as the first evidence of written Basque.
Also, it was announced the discovery of a series of inscriptions and drawings on pottery fragments, some of which refer to Egyptian history
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
and even some written in Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
. Finally, it was announced the finding of the earliest representation of the Calvary
Calvary
Calvary or Golgotha was the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early first century walls, at which the crucifixion of Jesus is said to have occurred. Calvary and Golgotha are the English names for the site used in Western Christianity...
(crucifixion of Jesus) found anywhere to date.
However, none of these findings were submitted to any scholarly journal or any serious expert assessment.
Fabricated pieces
Eventually, all these inscriptions turned out to be a fabricationArchaeological forgery
Archaeological forgery is the manufacture of supposedly ancient items that are sold to the antiquities market and may even end up in the collections of museums. It is related to art forgery....
, as concluded by the 26 experts who analyzed the data for almost 10 months, and that went public on November 19, 2008. The texts were described as "crude manipulation," "incoherent," having texts and words both "incorrect and non-existent", and as being so "obviously false as to be almost comical." The case has been dubbed as the "biggest archaeological fraud in the history of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
"
The regional government of Alava is currently pursuing legal actions against the fraud perpetrators.
See also
- Basque languageBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
- CaristiiCaristiiThe Caristii were a tribe reported by Roman historians in Northern Hispania west of the Deba and east of the Nervion rivers, in modern Biscay and Alava...
- AutrigonesAutrigonesLocation of the tribe of the Autrigones.The Autrigones were a pre-Roman people of ancient Spain, described by the Roman historian Paulus Orosius as neighbours of the Gallaeci, and thus had their homeland in the northwest of Hispania.-Location:Their historical territory now lies split between the...
- Ab Asturica BurdigalamAb Asturica BurdigalamAb Asturica Burdigalam was a Roman road that linked the towns of Asturica Augusta in Gallaecia and Burdigala in Aquitania....
(the Roman roadRoman roadThe Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
that run through Veleia). - Glosas emilianensesGlosas EmilianensesThe Glosas Emilianenses are glosses written in a Latin codex. These marginalia are important as early examples of writing in Basque and a form of Spanish...
for the actual oldest text in basqueBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
External links
- Iruña-Veleia Official website (in English)
- Official reports on the controversial findings
- Ieshu Ioshe Marian, blog that follows in detail the controversy surrounding the excavation (in Spanish)
- En el ángulo oscuro blog that follows in detail the controversy surrounding the excavation (in Spanish). Most contributors believe that the investigation of the case was insufficient.
- SOS-IruñaVeleia Web site with a complete overview of the findings, all the informs and a lot of information about the affair. This website defends the need of more investigation about the archaeological evidence (in English, Spanish and Basque).
- Iruña Veleia y sus "revolucionarios" grafitos VIII: Más cerca de la autoría, blog created by epigraphist Prof. A.Mª. Canto discussing the alleged findings and the judicial research on a modern author of the inscriptions.