Los Bañales

Los Bañales is a Roman archaeological site located in the municipality of Uncastillo, in the northwestern part of the province of Zaragoza, Spain. It is located in the region of the Cinco Villas, with extensive occupation before, during, and after the Roman period. The site is a case study for the archaeological study of urbanization, cultural change, imperialism, trade and exchange, landscape, and social history. The site consists of a city whose name remains unconfirmed, although it is likely to have been Tarraca. It occupies an area of more than twenty hectares (49 acres), bounded on the north by a monumental residential space, on the south by two sizeable hills, on the east by the elevated remains of a Roman aqueduct, and on the west by a necropolis. Large monumental thermal baths were constructed at the end of the 1st century CE and an aqueduct transported water to the city from a nearby reservoir. The current name of the site comes from the hermitage of Our Lady of The Baths (Nuestra Señora de Los Bañales), which was built within what is now the archaeological area. In the early years of work at the site, only the extensive hydraulic system was studied in detail. Since 2008 research has resumed and new architectural spaces and material culture have been uncovered, including domestic, commercial, and possibly religious structures and artefacts as well as evidence for Roman, late antique, and medieval occupation. At present the project has the support of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage of the Government of Aragon, the District of the Cinco Villas and the municipalities of Uncastillo, Sádaba, Layana and Biota.