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archaeologist excavate an almost 5,000 - year - old Spanish fortress were surprised to witness a burying from a much more recent era : a military man from ancient Rome who was bury with a military dagger .
The corpse of the man , who die between the ages of 25 and 35 , were discovered near the fort ’s outer wall . This exhibit a mystery because , at the time of his death , the construction would have been abandoned for more than 2,500 years and the walls had probably collapsed , say archaeologist César Pérez , the site ’s excavation leader .
The fortress was discovered in 2021 during preliminary surveys for a solar power plant in Spain’s southwest Extremadura region.
The Romans occupied what ’s now Spain from 218 B.C. until roughly the quaternary 100 A.D. The fortress burial include a " pugio " — the standard dagger of the Roman USA — that suggests the utter man was a soldier and possibly a deserter . But he may instead have been a victim of murder , accident or disease , Pérez told Live Science .
The entombment seems out of place because no other traces of occupation by the Romans or any late people have been establish at the fortress land site . It is also possible that the human was buried there because the Romans sometimes used ancient monuments to inter their dead , Pérez explain .
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(Image credit: Acciona/Tera S.L.)
The fort is much big and more elaborate than expected for this time , which paint a picture the ancient people who built it had knowledge of attacking and defending such structures .
Archaeological excavation show that the fortress was built almost 5,000 years ago and abandoned rough 2,500 year ago .
archeologist also find a Roman Age inhumation at the website that they think dates from more than 2,500 years after the fortress was abandoned .
(Image credit: Acciona/Tera S.L.)
Copper Age fortress
The fortress site , place on a brow near the town of Almendralejo in southwest Spain , has been dubbed " Cortijo Lobato " after a local farm . It was discover by an muscularity society , Acciona Energia , in 2021 during sight for a solar power plant . The firm has now engaged the individual archaeological fellowship Tera S.L. to document the land site while the solar big businessman works has been built around it .
The ruined fortress is much orotund and more elaborate than expected , and shows that the local people had a sophisticated cognition of defend and attack such structures , Pérez say . The ruination date back to the " Chalcolithic " or Copper Age ( between about3200 and 2200 B.C.in this region ) , the period before the Bronze years when citizenry had learned to bring tin to copper to make it more durable .
The ancient fortress boast a five - sided central enclosure , which is surrounded by four ditches and two concentric wall , with diameters of about 200 feet ( 60 meter ) and 250 feet ( 77 m ) .
(Image credit: Acciona/Tera S.L.)
Its outer rampart was in the beginning about 6.5 animal foot ( 2 m ) blockheaded and reinforced with 10 semicircular projections call citadel that were up to 20 infantry ( 6 megabyte ) across . The gate to the fort were extremely narrow and would have allowed only one person at a time to pass , Pérez allege .
The Roman grave was of a gentleman aged between 25 and 35 who was buried with a stock Roman military dagger , jazz as a " pugio . "
Other artifacts unearth at the site included these stone arrowheads , which archeologist conceive day of the month from the initial business of the fortress more than 4,500 years ago .
(Image credit: Acciona/Tera S.L.)
Mystery abandonment
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(Image credit: Acciona/Tera S.L.)
Evidence of extensive firing equipment casualty to the walls and in the ditches indicate that the fortress at Cortijo Lobato was sacked in a violent onslaught and empty around 2450 B.C. — although the archaeologists ca n’t say who destroyed it , or who was champion it . The entire internet site is spread out over more than 3 acre ( 1.2 hectare ) and include a artificial lake for urine , presumably so that the defenders could well resist a siege .
Pérez said the central enclosure seems to have been built about 500 geezerhood before the fortress was abandon , while the wall and ditches surrounding it seem to have been built at a late date .
This expansion of fortifications think over a not bad pauperism for protection , and propose that the fortress had evolved from a small stronghold into a regional defensive center , Pérez said .
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