Discovery of Roman ruins in Vieira do Minho – and a museum is on the way!

Thursday, 07 October 2010 00:00

A large Roman building was discovered by archaeologists from the University of Minho (UM) during a survey in Vieira do Minho. The finding is a unique example of Roman ruins in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and they will continue to be studied. The Board of Vieira do Minho is preparing a draft museum plan for the site. The ruins were discovered in a field in Cantelães, near the Castro de Vila Seca, a village of pre-Roman origin, where they recently discovered traces of fortifications from the Roman period and Middle Ages. The excavations ended about a week ago and the researchers are still evaluating the data collected in these surveys.  The site may have been a small village or a mansio, a large inn that was commonly found on the sides of Roman roads – in this case the Roman highway, linking Braga to Astorga. The only certainty is that it is a large building, which extends over an area of several hundred meters. In addition, the traces of pottery and glass that were found possibly date the site back to the first century AD and early second century. The Town of Vieira do Minho is evaluating the development of a draft plan for the site to see if the size of the finding justifies the creation of an archaeological park in that area of the county.