Javier Bermejo Meléndez
After obtaining my doctorate in November, 2010, I initiated the process of consolidating teaching and research within the Hum-132 Vrbanitas Arqueología y Patrimonio research group. This was undertaken through various contracts and accreditation as a professor in October, 2013, which ultimately led to attaining full professorship in 2019. My academic trajectory subsequent to the predoctoral stage is marked by considerable activity and production. It is particularly prodigious as evidenced by my participation numerous research projects: four funded by the Plan nacional de I+D (Urban phenomenon; Funus; Deatlantir I-II); three by Proyectos Arqueológicos en el Exterior del Ministerio de Cultura (Tamuda; Pompeya; Portus as PI); three by Proyectos de Excelencia del Plan Andaluz de Investigación (Ciudades romanas del territorio onubense; Turobriga and CUB-I); and one of European nature (Ciudades del SO peninsular). I likewise directed the CVB II Project of the Marco Operativo Feder. My work also consisted of carrying out various survey and excavation campaigns that together with all of the projects cited above yielded numerous publications (more than 160) on a variety of topics (imperial cult, architecture, epigraphy, etc.) in journals of different depth and impact. These include Spanish journals such as Archivo Español de Arqueología, Saguntum, Lucentum, Pyrennae, etc. I have also published in foreign journals of impact from the field of the humanities (e.g. The Journal of Maritime Archaeology, Atta, Athaeneum, Epigraphica) where I have alway strived at quality and competence. I have likewise contributed papers to the proceedings of national and international meetings and to a number of monographs (in one case as solo author) and served as scientific co-editor of six collective works issued by publishing houses such as L'erma di Bretscheneider. My curriculum also includes residences abroad (27 months) in universities and research centres such as in Italy a the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología in Roma, the University of Bari, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, in Germany at the University of Hamburg and in Morocco at the Abdelmalek-Essaadi of Tetouán. Over time I have to my credit two six-year research periods as well as the co-direction of two completed doctoral theses and another six currently in progress. Three of the last are linked to the question of harbours in Antiquity
Phone: +34 959 219 189
Address: Centro de Investigación en Patrimonio Histórico, Cultural y Natural
Área de Arqueología
Facultad de Humanidades.
Universidad de Huelva
Avd. Tres de Marzo s/n
CP 21071
Phone: +34 959 219 189
Address: Centro de Investigación en Patrimonio Histórico, Cultural y Natural
Área de Arqueología
Facultad de Humanidades.
Universidad de Huelva
Avd. Tres de Marzo s/n
CP 21071
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Papers by Javier Bermejo Meléndez
settlements, often based on comparison with modern analogues. This paper presents an analysis
of the pollen and spore records associated with the thermal complex of Arucci Turobriga, a Roman city (1st
century BCE-3rd century CE) located in southwestern Spain. The pollen record represents an environment
consisting mainly of holm oak and cork oak groves and ash groves as riparian vegetation, accompanied by pine
and wild olive trees, as well as thickets of kermes oak, mastic, rockrose and broom. Due to their abundance
during the period of the town’s development, some species could have been used as forestry, agricultural or
ornamental resources, such as Cupressaceae and Pinus species, as well as olive, carob and hazel trees. The
group of herbaceous species represents a ruderal flora, probably associated with anthropised enclaves, given
the large number of nitrophilous species it includes. The spore record is dominated by parasitic fungi (mainly
Ustilago type and Puccinia type) and mycorrhizal fungi (mainly Glomeromycota p.p. and Glomus type). On
the other hand, the presence of spores of coprophilous fungi corroborates the identification of a latrine in
the northern sector of the city’s hot springs.
undoubtedly form part of the Irni territorium
Arucci (Aroche, Huelva) has provided interesting data for understanding city planning in general, and domestic architecture in particular. Investigation of their environments has allowed the identification of the distinct functions for which they were intended, including two significant tabernae that were connected to one of the main thoroughfares of the city. In one of them, an interesting set of ceramic fragments has been recovered, whose features allow us to recognize them as ceramic containers for fattening the much-appreciated dormouse. This find signifies an interesting novelty in the archaeological record of the city from which various aspects of the diet of its inhabitants can be inferred, as well as the breeding and production of the rodents.
achieved during the Taifa kingdom of Niebla and the Roman occupation is clearly noted in historical archives and archaeological records. In addition, the navigability of the Tinto Estuary would contribute to essential events such as the installation of the family of Christopher Columbus in a estate
located next to its port before the discovery of the New World
subfossil record of bivalves, foraminifera and ostracods is characteristic of Mediterranean brackish environments (lagoons, estuaries, deltas) with significant environmental stress, due to changes in the physical-chemical parameters and probably the periodic dredging of this seaway during a period of about 300 years. The presence of “Neptune balls” points to the development of probable stormy periods that deposit these unique structures in the internal areas of this historic port.
Peninsula —as well as in the course of the main rivers— the port ettlements that mark the water from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea have a series of structures or environments whose architectural elements seem to follow standard patterns in their structural systems and location that are perpetuated throughout their evolution. The common need to solve the various problems caused by maritime traffic and port activity linked to the commercial networks of an increasingly complex provincialized imperial economy seems to lie in their endowment.
objeto desde 2004 de investigaciones y puestas en valor por parte del Ayuntamiento de Aroche y la Universidad de
Huelva, con el apoyo de la Junta de Andalucía. En 2014 se desarrolló una campaña en la denominada Casa Norte de la
ciudad, una domus donde fue documentado un tesorillo compuesto por 376 denarios del siglo I-II d.C., de los cuales
375 pertenecen a la Dinastía de los Antoninos y sólo una es emitida con anterioridad por Domiciano. Dentro de este
atesoramiento destaca un mayor numerario en época de Adriano. Más que un ahorro, el atesoramiento de Arucci
parece responder a una selección o colección de monedas.
Palabras-clave: Arucci; tesorillo; denario; Adriano.
urban model widely spread in Hispania, service cities that maintained and nurtured the Roman style life in territories with a dispersed population
preliminary results obtained in regard to its building floor and possible construction phases
such as the forum, macellum, campus and various domestic environments. The so-called column house is the paradigm of a domestic-craft environment, with a changing morphology that allows recognize in its, different phases of the own city, from its foundation to its collapse, identifying, at the same time, the moment of maximum urban
development apogee. In the same way, the archaeo-architectural analysis is a key tool for the definition of this space in contrast to other domestic environments of a more noble character such as the so-called north house or the peristilo house.
archaeological study of the known structures as well as of the hydraulic works in general encouraged the Area of Archaeology
of the University of Huelva to carry out an archaeological study on the remaining hydraulic structures. This intervention has resulted into the location of the several structures, the establishment of a chronology of the original construction and of the different phases of remodelling, as well as the description of the diachronic sequence of the aqueduct
between the 9th-6th centuries BC. This research starts from the study of every archaeological intervention done in the Archaeological Zone of
Huelva (ZAP), distinguishing among the most important interventions for our line of research.
Finally, to enrich and bring new perspectives to the state of the question, we have proposed the application ArcGIS, a geographic information
system program, as a support tool due to its capacity to, interconnect, manage and analyze all the information related to our case study. As well
as a new way to virtually disseminate historical heritage and a new point to advance in this line of research
countless times and, recently, researches based on
cutting edge technologies have increased, providing
interesting details. Therefore, this GIS-based
research analyzes the pre-Roman Chanza River’s
settlement pattern and resources utilization as well
as their transformations over the Roman conquest
and colonization of this territory, resulting in the
founding of the Arucci city.
All of that, allow us to delve into multiple
questions: Did they have submissive relationships?
Could Rome leverage the Celtic social situation?
Which role did the natural resources play? How
could these changes affect to the settlement pattern?
is constituted as an interesting architectural
complex within this category of public buildings
in the hispanian context. Located in one of the
highest levels of the city, this space dedicated to
the bathroom has been delimited and partially
excavated during various excavations campaings
and geophysical surveys framed in different
research projects. The results of the latest activities
are added to those already known, which has made
it possible to identify numerous rooms, piscinae,
latrinae, apodyterium, cisternae, and so on, that
brings us closer to knowing the functionality and
functioning of the thermal-baths in their time of
activity. From the chronological point of view,
the building is estructured in two areas, the first
one being built at a previus time in the second
half of the 1st century AD; and the second one in
the monumentalizing impulse that undergoes the
city in Flavian era, and maintain his use until his
abandonment in the first quarter of 3rd century
AD
of questions of a very diverse nature about society. This paper will contemplate the architectural and functional study of the Domus de Peristilo of the hispanorroman city of Arucci (Aroche, Huelva), in order to present a general overview of housing and the domestic architecture of the city, but also of the urbanism, economic, political, social and cultural framework in which it is inserted. In doing so, we will attempt to reconcile the disparate situation that characterizes this type of studies,
traditionally relegated to a secondary plane of importance in favor of the analysis of monumental public buildings, while we will stressing the need to increase them in a short and medium-term future.
settlements, often based on comparison with modern analogues. This paper presents an analysis
of the pollen and spore records associated with the thermal complex of Arucci Turobriga, a Roman city (1st
century BCE-3rd century CE) located in southwestern Spain. The pollen record represents an environment
consisting mainly of holm oak and cork oak groves and ash groves as riparian vegetation, accompanied by pine
and wild olive trees, as well as thickets of kermes oak, mastic, rockrose and broom. Due to their abundance
during the period of the town’s development, some species could have been used as forestry, agricultural or
ornamental resources, such as Cupressaceae and Pinus species, as well as olive, carob and hazel trees. The
group of herbaceous species represents a ruderal flora, probably associated with anthropised enclaves, given
the large number of nitrophilous species it includes. The spore record is dominated by parasitic fungi (mainly
Ustilago type and Puccinia type) and mycorrhizal fungi (mainly Glomeromycota p.p. and Glomus type). On
the other hand, the presence of spores of coprophilous fungi corroborates the identification of a latrine in
the northern sector of the city’s hot springs.
undoubtedly form part of the Irni territorium
Arucci (Aroche, Huelva) has provided interesting data for understanding city planning in general, and domestic architecture in particular. Investigation of their environments has allowed the identification of the distinct functions for which they were intended, including two significant tabernae that were connected to one of the main thoroughfares of the city. In one of them, an interesting set of ceramic fragments has been recovered, whose features allow us to recognize them as ceramic containers for fattening the much-appreciated dormouse. This find signifies an interesting novelty in the archaeological record of the city from which various aspects of the diet of its inhabitants can be inferred, as well as the breeding and production of the rodents.
achieved during the Taifa kingdom of Niebla and the Roman occupation is clearly noted in historical archives and archaeological records. In addition, the navigability of the Tinto Estuary would contribute to essential events such as the installation of the family of Christopher Columbus in a estate
located next to its port before the discovery of the New World
subfossil record of bivalves, foraminifera and ostracods is characteristic of Mediterranean brackish environments (lagoons, estuaries, deltas) with significant environmental stress, due to changes in the physical-chemical parameters and probably the periodic dredging of this seaway during a period of about 300 years. The presence of “Neptune balls” points to the development of probable stormy periods that deposit these unique structures in the internal areas of this historic port.
Peninsula —as well as in the course of the main rivers— the port ettlements that mark the water from the Mediterranean to the Cantabrian Sea have a series of structures or environments whose architectural elements seem to follow standard patterns in their structural systems and location that are perpetuated throughout their evolution. The common need to solve the various problems caused by maritime traffic and port activity linked to the commercial networks of an increasingly complex provincialized imperial economy seems to lie in their endowment.
objeto desde 2004 de investigaciones y puestas en valor por parte del Ayuntamiento de Aroche y la Universidad de
Huelva, con el apoyo de la Junta de Andalucía. En 2014 se desarrolló una campaña en la denominada Casa Norte de la
ciudad, una domus donde fue documentado un tesorillo compuesto por 376 denarios del siglo I-II d.C., de los cuales
375 pertenecen a la Dinastía de los Antoninos y sólo una es emitida con anterioridad por Domiciano. Dentro de este
atesoramiento destaca un mayor numerario en época de Adriano. Más que un ahorro, el atesoramiento de Arucci
parece responder a una selección o colección de monedas.
Palabras-clave: Arucci; tesorillo; denario; Adriano.
urban model widely spread in Hispania, service cities that maintained and nurtured the Roman style life in territories with a dispersed population
preliminary results obtained in regard to its building floor and possible construction phases
such as the forum, macellum, campus and various domestic environments. The so-called column house is the paradigm of a domestic-craft environment, with a changing morphology that allows recognize in its, different phases of the own city, from its foundation to its collapse, identifying, at the same time, the moment of maximum urban
development apogee. In the same way, the archaeo-architectural analysis is a key tool for the definition of this space in contrast to other domestic environments of a more noble character such as the so-called north house or the peristilo house.
archaeological study of the known structures as well as of the hydraulic works in general encouraged the Area of Archaeology
of the University of Huelva to carry out an archaeological study on the remaining hydraulic structures. This intervention has resulted into the location of the several structures, the establishment of a chronology of the original construction and of the different phases of remodelling, as well as the description of the diachronic sequence of the aqueduct
between the 9th-6th centuries BC. This research starts from the study of every archaeological intervention done in the Archaeological Zone of
Huelva (ZAP), distinguishing among the most important interventions for our line of research.
Finally, to enrich and bring new perspectives to the state of the question, we have proposed the application ArcGIS, a geographic information
system program, as a support tool due to its capacity to, interconnect, manage and analyze all the information related to our case study. As well
as a new way to virtually disseminate historical heritage and a new point to advance in this line of research
countless times and, recently, researches based on
cutting edge technologies have increased, providing
interesting details. Therefore, this GIS-based
research analyzes the pre-Roman Chanza River’s
settlement pattern and resources utilization as well
as their transformations over the Roman conquest
and colonization of this territory, resulting in the
founding of the Arucci city.
All of that, allow us to delve into multiple
questions: Did they have submissive relationships?
Could Rome leverage the Celtic social situation?
Which role did the natural resources play? How
could these changes affect to the settlement pattern?
is constituted as an interesting architectural
complex within this category of public buildings
in the hispanian context. Located in one of the
highest levels of the city, this space dedicated to
the bathroom has been delimited and partially
excavated during various excavations campaings
and geophysical surveys framed in different
research projects. The results of the latest activities
are added to those already known, which has made
it possible to identify numerous rooms, piscinae,
latrinae, apodyterium, cisternae, and so on, that
brings us closer to knowing the functionality and
functioning of the thermal-baths in their time of
activity. From the chronological point of view,
the building is estructured in two areas, the first
one being built at a previus time in the second
half of the 1st century AD; and the second one in
the monumentalizing impulse that undergoes the
city in Flavian era, and maintain his use until his
abandonment in the first quarter of 3rd century
AD
of questions of a very diverse nature about society. This paper will contemplate the architectural and functional study of the Domus de Peristilo of the hispanorroman city of Arucci (Aroche, Huelva), in order to present a general overview of housing and the domestic architecture of the city, but also of the urbanism, economic, political, social and cultural framework in which it is inserted. In doing so, we will attempt to reconcile the disparate situation that characterizes this type of studies,
traditionally relegated to a secondary plane of importance in favor of the analysis of monumental public buildings, while we will stressing the need to increase them in a short and medium-term future.
del sector septentrional del muelle de la Linterna de Portus, ha permitido inferir su tiempo relativo de funcionamiento.
Se ha establecido la historia de vida de este conjunto en 5 fases: (1ª) Primera colonización, (2ª) Depósito de los fragmentos
de columnas, (3ª) Segunda colonización, (4ª) Bioerosión y (5ª) Depósito del Muro, tercera colonización, desplazamiento
vertical y nueva bioerosión. En particular, se establece que los fragmentos de columnas se encuentran en una posición
infrayacentes con respecto a los bloques de muro. La presencia de una tasa de bioerosión muy alta (>70%) por la actividad
de esponjas clionaidas en los fragmentos de columnas de mármol, aporta un tiempo relativo de la actividad de las
mismas de unos 20 años. El hallazgo de un ejemplar adulto de Pholas dactylus en un bloque de los muros depositados
posteriormente a los fragmentos de columnas, permite inferir su actividad a lo largo de un máximo de 12 años. Se
establece, por tanto, que el tiempo relativo de funcionamiento del sector estudiado se podría establecer entre los 30-35
años. Las condiciones ambientales en este sector portuario serían inicialmente marinas someras, con salinidad normal a
salobre, con influencia mareal, pero de baja energía hidrodinámica, y con sedimento fino y tasa de sedimentación nula.
Estas condiciones serían cambiantes hasta la total colmatación, desuso y abandono.
landscapes of marshes and estuaries that, historically, have shaped the historic settlement. The evolution of the coastal forest
masses of Huelva throughout the Holocene reflects the intense relations between man/environment since 3000 BP. The pine
forest, Pinus pinea, is the protagonist of the coastal landscapes, while, inside, the forest masses suffered continuous processes of
deforestation, reaching their disappearance in the areas with the greatest agricultural potential. In addition, this coast was an
important source of economic resources, as in the case of fisheries in ancient times, as well as a coastline connected to the most
important commercial circuits, thanks to among other activities, to the export of the mining wealth of its inside. Proof of this
is the important heritage that it possesses and that configures a rich, diverse cultural landscape with material testimonies of
various kinds, archaeological sites, port structures, defensive elements, industrial docks and so.
Hispania, in what could be described as the boundaries of Baetica. This area was one of the most influenced
from the end of the second millennium by Mediterranean commercial currents, mainly Phoenician and Greek.
The Iberian Pyrite Belt, the most developed mineralized spot of the Iberian Peninsula, with profitable
concentrations of silver, copper and iron, and the crossroads between the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds,
were the two elements that contributed to this circumstance.
The settlement presents a polyphase sequence that spans from the end of the second millennium to the present
day, with no solution of continuity. This lengthy chronological sequence contains some events of special
historical relevance, such as the Tartessian period. Almost all archaeological research on the city have been
focused on it and have had the negative consequence of forgetting other historical periods. This is the case of the
Roman period, so forgotten and little known up to the point of forging a negative image of it, which defined it as
a nucleus of little importance in Baetica
Augustus period, sometime in the last two decades of the first century B.C., and represents the end of a long
process of territorial control and pacification in the Baeturia Celtica. Through an ex-novo establishment, this
settlement had the typical elements of the urban configuration of Roman cities in the Hispanic and Western
Mediterranean context. The results of more than two decades of digs and geophysical research allow us to
clearly define both its intra moenia spaces, public buildings, roads, and domestic areas, as well as its suburbiae,
necropolis, monumental buildings, etc.
As far as its extension is concerned, we can deduce about 8 hectares with its immediate suburban area, although
the area within city walls is practically half of this. The walled enclosure has an irregular polygonal floor plan,
with a structure that adapts to the topography of the terrain and a maximum axis of 235 m. and a width of 215 m.
study of the urban world of the entire Province of Baetica, is conceived from an integral vision of the
phenomenon. According to this reasoning, this project deals with the study of the main lines of research on these
cities, literary sources, epigraphy, numismatics, public and private architecture, sculpture and the funerary world,
among others. The conception and editing of this enormous project find its most direct precedent and inspiration
in the great compilation works which, over the last 150 years, have collated the knowledge of all the cities,
towns, and tribes of the different Roman provinces. In this case, the CVB project goes on with the
implementations made possible by new technologies and the perspective offered by time in the presence of new
discoveries and research, of works such as those of E. Desjardins, Géographie de la Gaule Romaine, H. Nissen,
Italische Landeskunde, or the famous one of A. Tovar and somehow initiated by Schulten Iberische
Landeskunden with its three volumes, one for each Province Baetica, Lusitania and Tarraconensis, the latter
published posthumously. It is in the first volume of this now classic work that this corpus finds its most direct
pioneer.
Hispalensis y Astigitanus, así como el establecimiento de los límites de los mismos. A las síntesis temáticas elaboradas por diferentes especialistas se añaden las scheda de todas las ciudades de los dos conventus conteniendo una información jerarquizada y ordenada según grandes líneas temáticas; urbanística, arquitectura, mundo funerario,
escultura, epigrafía, diagnóstico y conservación del sitio, etc. con toda la bibliografía de referencia o específica de cada una de las entidades urbanas. Para acceder al contenido total de esta información se ha diseñado una herramienta consistente en un entorno web amigable, de
acceso de consulta abierto, con motores de búsqueda y una cartografía georeferenciada actualizada con los límites y posiciones de yacimientos. Ello supone un aspecto de enorme potencial y con un perfil novedoso, posicionar el conocimiento que sobre el urbanismo bético
se tiene en un entorno web con el añadido del desarrollo de un conjunto de herramientas de consulta y gestión.
Se espera que esto suponga para los investigadores y administraciones responsables de la tutela y conservación del patrimonio, un cambio importante en sus metodologías de estudio y políticas de gestión.
imperiales, focos de atracción de las principales mercancías y productos que se exportaban desde los primeros.
La ruta portuaria del arco atlántico del suroeste que se presenta en las siguientes páginas supone una síntesis relativa al conocimiento de los principales puertos marítimos y fluviales objeto de estudio en el proyecto DEATLANTIR, sus principales novedades arqueológicas, así como el conocimiento que a día de hoy se tiene de los mismos. En esta
ruta se podrá seguir la dinámica histórica y arqueológica de todo un conjunto de ciudades, la mayoría superpuestas, cuyo conocimiento se encontraba fragmentado y carente de síntesis. El lector igualmente
encontrará bibliografía de referencia que le permitirá profundizar en aspectos y detalles de mayor calado.