In ancient times the Pyrenees were not a border
- Collado de Ibañeta about 2,000 years ago. The Romans built the road to pass the Pyrenees on this point. In 2008, the Aranzadi Society of Sciences began to look for the roadway to which old sources refer.
The Ibañeta pass was of great importance in the Middle Ages, since the Camino de Santiago was running around and, among other things, was confronted in those areas of the Roncesvalles conflict. But also some authors of Antiquity mention this road (Ptolemy, Antonino and the anonymous of Ravenna) as an expression of its importance in the Roman era. There were then three steps that crossed the mountain: east, Panissars; center, Somport; and west, Ibañeta. This road connected Cesaraugusta with Burdigala (Zaragoza and Bordeaux) and passed through Pompaelo (Pamplona). Therefore, the passage of Ibañeta was essential to connect the Roman cities of the Atlantic facade.
In 2008, the Aranzadi Society of Sciences began to look for the roadway to which old sources refer. In their beginnings they dedicated themselves to prospecting, focused on vestiges of different times, but they specialized mainly in the Roman road. The first track was discovered in 2011 and started digging in 2012. With the information collected they have completed the website of the Roman Highway of the Pyrenees calzadaromanadelpirineo.eus/eu/. And the 26-kilometer road from Zazpe to Aurizper has also been pointed out to the hiker.
Whoever makes this journey will not find a path of stone slabs. This is the image we have of the Roman roads, but the Aranzadi study has shown that, although urban roads were covered by slabs, in most cases the intermediate roads were dirt roads because they were easier to maintain. The visitor will not find great slopes; throughout the tour there is no more than 6% of slope, according to Oihane Mendizabal, Aranzadi’s colleague, “as most of the transportation was carried out through cars and animals, they preferred to prolong the journey so that the road was smoother than going up a strong slope”.
In addition, on both sides of the mountain range, in Donazahar (Baja Navarra) and Artzi (Alta Navarra), where an abrupt orography starts, rest areas have been found that may be “restop type”. Researchers have come to the conclusion that both spaces have very similar characteristics. And, therefore, this indicates that in the Roman era the Pyrenees were a point of connection, rather than a border.
If you manage to escape the multitude of tourists and look from the Concha railing to the Donostia pier, perhaps the imagination will accompany you in the time when it was an intense marine commercial city, in which the soundtrack of the gulls will accompany you. Perhaps you are... [+]
Despite the black skin and curly hair, they remained invincible men, with the intelligence and resentment of human beings.” So he wrote about the slaves CRL James in the book Jakobino Beltzak, who masterfully narrates the Haitian revolution. So many brutalities, torture and... [+]
The epic is built on the lives of many men and knowing that makes society more mature.” The writer Bibiana Candia is right. In Azucre (Pepitas de Calabaza, 2021) we are told the tragedy of the enslaved Galician migrants of the 19th century, but that story would have been... [+]
We are in the most industrialized territory of the Basque Country, the Left Margin of the Ibaizabal, or the Ría de Bilbao, if you will. Here the fireplaces had ordered it once. But to feed them, we used not only coal, but also the sweat of thousands of workers, and even more,... [+]
From the Mountain of Navarre, thousands of people took to America in the 19th century to survive in grazing or other activities. Historian Raquel Idoate recovers in her thesis the history of some 4,000 of them: how the trip was made, how they were invested in, roles about... [+]
Gulf of Ambracia (Ionian Sea). In the 15th century a. 2 September 31. The Romans achieved victory in the naval battle of Accio and ensured control over Egypt. Therefore, the Greek hegemony in the Mediterranean is concluded on that date, but the Hellenic influence has remained so... [+]
In the desert of Coahuila (Mexico), in the dunes of Bilbao, remains of a human skeleton have been found. After being studied by archaeologists, they conclude that they are between 95 and 1250 years old and that they are related to the culture of Candelaria.
The finding has been... [+]
In the south of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the cave of Leang Karampuang, archaeologists from the Griffith and Southern Cross universities and the Indonesian National Agency have discovered a painting of three anthropomorphic figures and a boar. According to the study... [+]