When we join archeology and site, an image of several people sitting on the ground will come to us, raising and cleaning the ground with palettes or brushes, welcoming the surrounding spaces with rope, some wheelbarrow and sieve, meter… We have seen it in Irulegi and Iruña Veleia, photographs of the time of Eliseo Gil.
Since 2010 another method has been applied at the I-V site: the excavator. Discover the videos "Destroying Asturias-Veleia" and "Querella for destruction".
What is the purpose of the excavation machine work? I find it difficult to do good archaeological work. Are stratigraphy and original structures respected? Are small and medium archeological objects collected that can provide useful information: ceramic pieces, coins, small metal and vitreous objects, bones of people and animals, pieces of coal...? Once they come out of place and mix with the ground in rough piles, we know that they lose all their value.
What is the purpose of the excavation machine work? I find it difficult to do good archaeological work. Are stratigraphy and original structures respected?
Eliseo Gil and his team drew thousands of ‘artifacts’ from the I-V site, including graphites that have not yet been properly analyzed, but also some of the objects exhibited in the archaeology of the ‘Bibat’ museum, witness of our history. Can those who have decided to work with excavators with public money and European money ensure that nothing has been damaged?
It's a great paradox that's happening. Eliseo had ‘counterfeited’ some graffiti pieces in broken ceramic chunks, animal bones, bricks and glass pieces that together would not fill a basket. For this reason, the scandal of Christ, known as the “Iruña Veleia case”, arose in the hope of irreparable damage to the Historical Heritage of Álava. Now thousands of cubic meters of land move without any consideration and nothing happens, but the protest of four cats, including the demonstration on the 28th.
Or are you thinking about tourism? Tourism has already been drafted, among other projects. It is certainly worth visiting Asturias-Veleia. I think they do it too quickly and inappropriately. Before talking archaeologists, historians, scientists, universities, amateurs...
Tomas Elortza Ugarte