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Reccopolis revealed: the first geomagnetic mapping of the early medieval Visigothic royal town

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2019

Joachim Henning ,
Michael McCormick Open the ORCID record for Michael McCormick [Opens in a new window] ,
Lauro Olmo Enciso ,
Knut Rassmann  and
Eyub Fikrit Eyub
Joachim Henning
Affiliation:
Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University, Hauspostfach 27, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629 Frankfurt, Germany
Michael McCormick*
Affiliation:
Initiative for the Science of the Human Past and Department of History, Robinson Hall, Harvard University, 35 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Lauro Olmo Enciso
Affiliation:
Historia y Filosofía, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Calle Colegios, 2, E-28801 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), Spain
Knut Rassmann
Affiliation:
Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI), Römisch-Germanische Kommission, Palmengartenstraße 10–12, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Eyub Fikrit Eyub
Affiliation:
Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University, Hauspostfach 27, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, D-60629 Frankfurt, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: sohpchair@fas.harvard.edu)
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Abstract

Reccopolis, in central Iberia, is the only archaeologically identified town founded by Germanic newcomers on Roman soil during the challenging socio-political and environmental circumstances of the mid to late sixth century AD. Despite archaeological investigations, doubts have persisted concerning the nature and size of Reccopolis. Recent geomagnetic survey, however, has revealed a dense urban fabric, unexpected new royal palace buildings, an extramural suburb and one of the potentially earliest Islamic mosques in Iberia. Reccopolis now stands as an exceptional example of early medieval urbanism that challenges our perceptions of urban development in sixth-century Europe.

Keywords

IberiaReccopolisearly IslamicVisigothsgeomagnetictownsLeovigild
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 369 , June 2019 , pp. 735 - 751
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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