Roman villa of El Hinojal
A Roman villa in the dehesa of Las Tiendas, some 18 km north-west of Mérida, beside the line of the Emerita–Olisipo road. The remains cover around 800 m², and the excavation carried out between 1972 and 1974 under José María Álvarez Martínez uncovered a set of rooms paved with mosaics around a peristyle: the pars urbana of the villa, the owners' residential quarter.
- Type
- Villa
- Preservation
- Foundations
- Protection
- Inventoried · Nivel B-23
- Coordinates
- 39.01529, -6.48602
- Photographs
- 3
What it is and what is left
Eight mosaics were recovered, held to be the work of a local workshop of exceptional importance and dated to the mid-4th century AD. The hunting scenes stand out — among them the boar hunt and the panther hunter, with a rider who probably represents the master of the house — a repertoire typical of the late Roman rural aristocracy, which had itself portrayed in the act of venatio as a mark of status. The natural wear of the floors and the repairs they show indicate a long occupation of the house, at least from Constantine to Theodosius.
In the same place, on the Cerro de la Plaza, architectural and pottery remains of another rural settlement are recorded on the surface, along with a cemetery nearby, so the area formed a small rural district in the territory of Emerita.
It has not been possible to establish from the sources consulted what was left visible after the excavation: the mosaics were lifted and the estate is private property. Location approximate, within the dehesa.
Where the finds are
The eight mosaics lifted in the 1972-1974 excavation, among them the hunting scenes (the boar hunt and the panther hunter), the work of a local workshop of the mid-4th century.
What each period left here
It reads downwards: each band is a period with fabric in this site, newest first, deepest last.
3 facts
3 photographs
Roman
This site has fabric from this period. Mérida has 57 more sites built in the same layer.
See the whole layer →The villa turned up by chance in the 1970s: a mosaic came to light during farm work in the dehesa, and behind it was the whole house. It was excavated between 1972 and 1974.
J. M.ª Álvarez Martínez, «La villa romana de El Hinojal en la dehesa de Las Tiendas (Mérida)» (Dialnet)The most talked-about mosaic is a hunting scene: a rider at the gallop, probably the master of the house, running down a panther.
Musivaria HD — Mosaico del cazador de la pantera (Las Tiendas)The mosaics themselves give away how long the house lasted: the wear and the repairs indicate a long occupation, at least from Constantine to Theodosius. And you can tell who did the repairs, because by the time they were patched there were no longer mosaicists in the area as good as those who had laid them.
Musivaria HD — Villa de Las Tiendas (El Hinojal)
Below the deepest layer of each site is the ground itself: what has not been excavated yet, or what left nothing built. The catalogue only claims what is documented.
A short walk from here
Straight-line distances, worked out from the coordinates of each site.