Sisapocapital del cinabrio en la Antigüedad

  1. Mar Zarzalejos Prieto
  2. Carmen Fernández Ochoa
  3. Germán Esteban Borrajo
  4. Patricia Hevia Gómez
Book:
Actualidad de la investigación arqueológica en España III (2020-2021): conferencias impartidas en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional

Publisher: Secretaría General Técnica, Subdirección General de Atención al Ciudadano, Documentación y Publicaciones ; Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte

ISBN: 9788481817720

Year of publication: 2021

Pages: 277-298

Type: Book chapter

Abstract

Classical sources link the toponym Sisapo with the town that produced the most celebrated cinnabar in Roman times. Archaeological and epigraphic documentation allows us to identify this ancient city with the site of La Bienvenida (Almodóvar del Campo, Ciudad Real), definitively breaking with the cliché that placed it in Almadén, the area that houses the world’s largest accumulation of cinnabar. This place, located in the Alcudia valley and founded at the end of the 8th century BC and occupied until the 5th century AD, became a control centre for the mining operations on the northern slopes of the Sierra Morena. In this paper, we synthesize the results obtained on the activity phases of the settlement and the articulation of the mining landscapes that were its exploitation territory.