El Agua necropolis

The sequence has at least three moments. In the early imperial period it works as a cemetery beside the road, following the Roman habit of lining up monumental tombs at the exits from the city so that travellers would see them. In an intermediate phase a reinforced retaining wall is built to terrace the hollow running down to the river. In the late Roman period the place is used as a cemetery again, now with graves cut in the ground and a high proportion of child burials.

It belongs to the same industrial and funerary sector as the early imperial Roman potteries on avenida de Lusitania and Camino del Peral, where craft activity gave way to funerary use from the 3rd century onwards. Preservation is uneven and some of the walls have been left exposed, though the elements are badly out of context. Part of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, World Heritage (UNESCO, 1993). Location approximate, on the excavated block.