Visigothic Necropolis of Castiltierra

Castiltierra (Segovia, Spain)

Belt brooch

Red Digital de Colecciones de Museos de España.
Photography: Ángel Martínez Levas

Excavation

Arias y Balmaseda (2015): 232.

Fibula

Red Digital de Colecciones de Museos de España.

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Description

In the 1920s, "human remains and some brooches, buckles [...] almost all of bronze" (Torresano, 1931) began to appear in the lands near the hermitage of Cristo del Corporario. However, the discovery of the necropolis of Castiltierra (Fresno de Cantespino, Segovia) took place at the end of the 1920s when the construction of a provincial road leading to Riahuelas began (Arias, Balmaseda, Díaz, et al., 2000). Soon, some residents of the village began to plunder the remains found in the graves, scattering the pieces. Motivated by the discovery, Juan García Sánchez, a painter and antiquities enthusiast, came to the village in the summer of 1930. He was interested in the objects extracted from the necropolis and began to buy them from the neighbors.

On December 18, 1930, García Sánchez met with the director of the National Archaeological Museum and secretary of the Superior Board of Excavations and Antiquities, Francisco Álvarez-Ossorio. The latter asked the painter to continue buying the pieces from the neighbors and they processed before Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigüedades a formal permission to carry out excavations in Castiltierra (Arias and Balmaseda, 2015). Nevertheless, furtive excavations continued to be carried out in Castiltierra and the Provincial Commission of Monuments decided to interview García Sánchez. Upon learning that he still had pieces from the site, the Commission invited him to hand them over. Finally, García Sánchez kept his word on January 15, 1931, but requested compensation in compensation (Arias and Balmaseda, 2015).

The local press echoed the discovery and it quickly became the target of chamarileros looking to do business with the objects. When the President of the Diputación learned that an antiquarian from Madrid was negotiating the purchase of the pieces with the Castilterranos, he asked the mayor of Castiltierra to take custody of the objects until the Provincial Commission of Monuments resolved the discovery (Arias and Balmaseda, 2015). They could not, however, stop the plundering, since according to Camps (1934) "abundant Visigothic specimens that were given as coming from Castiltierra were appearing in the antiquities market in Madrid".

Undoubtedly, one of those responsible for the plundering was the administrator of the estate, Félix Moreno, who continued excavating the site illegally in order to sell what was found to the chamarileros of Madrid. On the other hand, the purchases that García Sánchez made from the neighbors did not put an end to his fraudulent activity, but rather, moved by money, increased: "Suspended because of the storm the excavation work that the neighbors of Castiltierra have been doing in the Cerro Moro, fertilizing the weather somewhat, they have returned to resume them with more interest, if possible, than before, driven by the hope of finding 'El Tesoro' and encouraged by the words of those who by showing them made them believe in its exaggerated value" (Rodao, 1931).

Faced with the impossibility of undertaking an excavation of the magnitude suggested by the findings at Castiltierra -both for the quality and quantity of the pieces discovered-, the Provincial Commission of Monuments of Segovia informed the Superior Board of Excavations and Antiquities, in a letter dated December 30, 1931, that it lacked the funds and qualified personnel to carry it out. In this letter he requested that the Board itself, with financial support from the State, be in charge of the intervention. The issue was not immediately addressed and was postponed after an initial review four months later. Finally, in the session of May 10, 1932, as recorded in the corresponding minutes, the request was approved. E. Camps and J. M.ª de Navascués were then appointed as responsible for the excavation, who would be assisted by Juan García Sánchez during the development of the work (Arias and Balmaseda, 2015). After the Civil War, Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla continued the excavation work. He wanted the Falange and the Nazi institution Das Ahnenerbe to intervene jointly (Gracia, 2009). The importance of the discovery was such that Heinrich Himmler, a Nazi officer, even planned a visit. However, this was never carried out due to bad weather conditions.

All this resulted in the continued plundering of the Castiltierra necropolis for years. At present the pieces of the site are scattered in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, the Valencia de Don Juan Institute of Madrid, the Archaeological Museum of Granada and the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia. There were many objects that left the country and were part of private collections. Some of them are currently in the Metropolitan Museum of New York (two fibulae and a buckle); in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts(two fibulae); Vienna, Cologne or Nuremberg, among other cities.