La Basílica da Ascensión y Os Fornos (Allariz, Ourense) y la cristianización de la arquitectura en la Antigüedad Tardía

Abstract

Se presenta el estudio arqueológico e histórico del conjunto arquitectónico de la Basílica da Ascensión y Os Fornos (Allariz), un monumento que, a través de sucesivas reformas, ha estado en uso desde la Edad del Hierro hasta la actualidad. Dada la hipótesis que barajamos, creemos que el cambio conceptualmente más importante es la conversión de una sauna vinculada al vecino castro de Armea en un lugar de culto cristiano que conmemora un episodio del martirio de Santa Mariña en el siglo VI. Modificaciones posteriores, de mayor importancia material, perpetúan la dedicación cristiana del edificio.
 The Basílica de la Ascensión and Os Fornos (Allariz, Ourense) and the christianization of architecture in Late Antiquity - This paper offers a review of the results of different archaeological projects carried out in the archaeological complex of Basilica de la Ascensión and Os Fornos. This monument has been reused from the Iron Age to the present. Special importance will be given to the transformation of the Iron Age sweat lodge into a christian building linked to the martyrdom of Santa Mariña, in the 6th century. Later transformations will consolidate the christian use of the monument.

OSL Dating of Earthen Mortars from a Medieval Building in Northwestern Spain: Crypt of Basílica da AscensiÓn (Allariz, Ourense)

“…An archaeological study of the building enabled the identification of various construction phases due to its remodelling in various historical periods (Table 1). It was originally identified as a sauna from the Iron Age, having been modified in different moments of history and resulting in the current crypt (Blanco-Rotea et al 2015). The aim of this paper is to use archaeological stratigraphy and chronology to compare it with the ages obtained from the dating of quartz mortar of each construction phrase identified in the crypt.…”

Territories of Faith: 1000 Years of Landscape Multifunctionality in Santa Mariña de Augas Santas (NW Spain)

“…The samples were air-dried and sieved through a mesh of 2 mm for separating the fine earth fraction, thus removing gravel and The transformations of the buildings that relate to the martyrdom and posterior worship have been investigated through archaeological methods. Of special interest for this work are the stratigraphic studies of the walls of the crypt and the Basílica de la Ascensión [19], the study of a singular group of over 100 medieval votive jars [38], and the archaeometric characterization and OSL dating of mortars [39], which attested the transformation and reuse of architecture through time and its relationship to the spread of the myth of Santa Mariña. In addition, dwelling structures from the 1st century AD have been identified and excavated in two sites nearby Santa Mariña in recent years [40][41][42].…”

“…Here we address these aspects through the study of the area of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas (hereinafter, Santa Mariña), located in Galicia (NW Spain). There, a series of Christian worship spaces, which have been identified with different phases of the martyrdom of Mariña [18,19], coexist with agricultural and forestry activities. Three out of the four ecosystem functions outlined in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [20]: the supporting, provisioning and cultural functions are unequivocally represented in today's Santa Mariña, which consequently qualifies as a multifunctional landscape.…”

An Interdisciplinary Study of Early Mediaeval Churches in North-Western Spain (Galicia)

“…This simplified system made it possible to streamline field work, which would be unfeasible within the project's timeframe and budget. It had already been used in other buildings in Galicia with good results [12,13]. In the 12 buildings studied, the existing planimetries were used or a photogrammetric survey was carried out to obtain the elevations on which to represent the reading [14].…”

“…From the hydraulic mortars observed, most of them, such as Portland cement mortars, correspond to more recent replacements [15,28]. In fact, the replacement of mortar is somewhat constant whilst a building is used [12,18]. This prevalence of soil mortars [14,17,18] is due to the scarcity of lime in Galicia, since its production requires the use of limestone rocks (scarce and only present in the eastern area) or of shells (mortars that use shells are very scarce, later chronologically and are more frequent on the coast), and for some reason, there was less production in the early mediaeval period.…”