The research and excavation activity of the last decades has been very remarkable. The interest of the researchers turned in Spain to the aspects of Greek colonization, of Iberian civilization and of the Spanish-Roman provincial world, especially through the fruitful excavations of Ampurias, Tarragona, Numantia and the study of Italica, Mérida, etc. The Iberian culture, formed with the direct Greek and Phoenician influence, developed in particular in the south-eastern regions of the Spain and in the Guadalquivir valley, through the cities of Cadiz, a Phoenician colony, and Ampurias, a Greek colony. Especially with regard to sculpture, Iberian art appears to be directly influenced by the Greek experience. Exemplary monuments of this Greek-Iberian art are the sculptures of Redovàn, Agost, Villaricos, El Salobral, Verdolay. The Lady of Elche, dated today to the Augustan age (instead of, as previously believed, to the 4th century BC) and considered as the cinerary “bustum” of a Roman or Romanized matron, is the refined and eclectic crowning of a long tradition of local sculpture, which grew on the example of Greek art. In most cases the Iberian settlements were transformed with the Romanization. A typical example is that of Munigua, in Baetica, whose recent investigations have shown that the site was occupied since the 4th century BC. C. from Iberian populations and which turned into a monumental center (a grandiose terrace with the sanctuary was found) following the Romanization between the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Christ. Also in Numantia the excavations resumed around 1962 have allowed the recognition of the urban area of the Celtiberian city that lies under the Roman city built over the ruins of 133 BC. C., and involved a careful study of the finds to arrive at a clarification of the painted Numantine pottery, generally attributed to the city destroyed by Scipio. Very recent are the excavations carried out in the Iberian-Roman city of Castulo (Cazlona) and in the necropolis complex. In Ampurias, founded as it has been demonstrated today around 575 BC. C., the efforts of the scholars were directed to the publication of the data obtained from the excavations: the discovery and location of the Greek and Roman necropolis, and in particular the examination of the amphitheater and the stratigraphy of decumanus A,
According to usprivateschoolsfinder, new excavations have also been conducted in archeologically already known cities such as Italica, Mérida, Barcelona, etc. Italica is one of the Spanish cities whose urbanism and monuments are best known (among which the most representative are the amphitheater and the rich dwelling houses). The main purpose of the works carried out in Barcelona in the years 1957-67 was the restoration of the walls of the Lower Empire with the recovery of re-used sculptural and architectural pieces. Excavation works took place in the area of the Roman baths and in the necropolis. In Mérida, a residential area of the Antonino-Severian age has been unearthed, while the excavations of the Roman necropolis have revealed a group of aedicules from the 2nd century AD. C., interesting documentation of the change in the funeral rite and the introduction of the burial. Submarine archeology has also given surprising results, such as, for example, the recovery of a sunken ship off the coast of Malaga, with a marble statue of the so-called “drunken Dionysus” and several marble slabs. In general, underwater exploration has been concentrated around the Balearic Islands, in the bay of Palma and Pollentia; essentially amphorae of the common Greek, Roman or Punic type with local variants have been recovered here. Aerial photographs were also used in most of the archaeological sites during the excavation phase. underwater exploration was concentrated around the Balearics, in the bay of Palma and Pollentia; essentially amphorae of the common Greek, Roman or Punic type with local variants have been recovered here. Aerial photographs were also used in most of the archaeological sites during the excavation phase. underwater exploration was concentrated around the Balearics, in the bay of Palma and Pollentia; essentially amphorae of the common Greek, Roman or Punic type with local variants have been recovered here. Aerial photographs were also used in most of the archaeological sites during the excavation phase.
Among the architectural monuments of a private nature we must mention the villa of El Romeral, in the province of Lérida, whose excavations, begun in 1966, led to a chronological definition of the architectural complex, with a first phase in the 2nd century and with the of greatest apogee in the second half of the 4th century AD. Christ. As for the mosaics, three localities of the “conventus Tarraconensis” (Emporion, Tarragona, Barcelona) present continuous series of mosaics starting from the 2nd century BC. C. up to the Late Empire. The oldest pieces were found in Emporion, in the harbor district. In the 1st and 2nd centuries the black and white geometric floor mosaics follow patterns from Italy. Recent finds in Barcelona, The Three Graces of Barcelona; Perseus and Andromeda of Tarragona).
