Researchers from the Directorate General of Culture of the Government of Navarra have found an inscription of about 2,000 years in the mining site of Aierdi VIII, in the mining complex of Lantz. None of this has ever been found inside a mine, either in Navarre or throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In a press release, they have explained the importance of the finding, both because of its archaeological context and because of its role as an example of ancestral literacy. Thus, one of the possible hypotheses is that it may be written in the "vascuence" or in the ancestral language of the Basque Country.

Researchers have emphasized that the finding is "unusual", since although at that time Romanization and Latinization were already advanced, it may be an indication "that indigenous languages were used and written".

"Ikae" or "igae"

It is 61 meters from the entrance of the Latrines mine and 18 meters deep. It consists of three "paleohispanic" symbols 23 centimeters long by 13 meters wide, made with a sharp instrument with a point of rome. They have been transcribed as “ikae” or “igae”. Although the scarcity of texts for comparison and the brevity of the word make interpretation difficult, they say that it could be an inscription "in vascuence", as it may be related to the word "ik (h) ai".

The research group of the Directorate General of Culture of the Government of Navarra explained that the word ikhai is the meaning of the Basque poet Arnaud Oihenart in his writings in the seventeenth century and that it can be compatible with its content. In any case, they insisted that the hypothesis should be taken "cautiously", since, according to them, knowledge of the languages spoken at that time is scarce.

No exact date of registration has been given, but the archaeological context indicates that it was recorded in a process of exploitation of the site some 2,000 years ago, in the Roman era. Given the importance and vulnerability of the finding, the Directorate General for Culture of the Prince of Viana Institution has closed access to the mine and limited the site for research purposes.

After Irulegi's hand

Prior to the inscription of Lantz, in very few deposits have been found words and texts that may be written in the Vascophony variant of the Iberian scripture. The best known was made public two years ago. Text found in a bronze sheet in Irulegi.

In a study carried out by Aranzadi, it was assumed that it was the "oldest document in the history of the Basque Country". The president of Navarra, María Chivite, also attended the presentation ceremony.

An even bigger project on Lantz mining day

This finding is part of a larger research project, coordinated by the Directorate General of Culture in collaboration with the City Council of Lantz, whose objective is to catalog and study the mining area of Lantz. Since 2022, an international team of experts in archaeology, geology, chemistry, speleology and epistology has been working in the area.

The study has covered an area of almost 2 km², with more than 30 opencast operating points and 20 thinning mouths with underground gallery. Three of them have been the subject of archaeological research to date: Aierdi III, Aierdi IV and Aierdi VIII. Excavations are under way in Aierdi IV. It has been confirmed that the first mining day farms could begin at the end of the Prehistory, but their increase seems to have occurred with the construction of the Roman road Pompelo Oiasso, which facilitated the transport of the resources obtained.

According to the first data, the Lantz mining complex could be one of the most important mining districts of the Western Pyrenees in ancient times. It appears that the Roman administration organized and exploited to the fullest.