November 20, 2023.- New operation of the Civil Guard in the province of Soria against the plundering of archaeological pieces in areas classified as archaeological sites.
The Nature Protection Service of the Soria Civil Guard Command in the framework of the “VARONA” operation, last Thursday, November 16, 2023, detained a person who was caught in an infraganti manner when he was plundering the archaeological site of the “Alto de la Dehesa”, in the municipality of Baraona (Soria).
At the time of the arrest, this person was carrying out holes and illegal excavations on the ground, provided with a metal detector, a hoe and different material to carry out excavations. In addition to the intervention of the metal detector and the tools it carried, in the register that was made at that time it could be found up to 15 metal pieces of archaeological interest.
The arrested person who responds to the initials RGL, is a 48-year-old male and who has numerous criminal records for crimes against the Historical Heritage, having also been arrested by members of the Seprona this month of September, for the attempted robbery at the archaeological site of Los Villares in the town of Santervás del Burgo (Soria)
As a result of the arrest of this person, a search was carried out on a farm owned by his family in which more than 1,000 metal pieces of archaeological interest were intervened, including 50 antique coins, 5 ceramic pieces, 16 plomos or ancient stone weights, as well as several arrowheads, spears and knives. In addition, the registry also located 2 vault keys that could have been from the 16th century and that could have belonged to the roof of some church or hermitage.
The investigations carried out by SEPRONA have been carried out for months, since holes and illegal surveys have been located in the aforementioned place, which is why the surveillance of the area was intensified with the support of the Central Operational Unit for the Environment (UCOMA) and thanks to this investigation it has been revealed that the person arrested could have been plundering archaeological sites for years.
With this operation, it has been possible to recover numerous pieces of various kinds, which cover different periods such as the Celtibera, Roman and medieval periods and which allegedly have been plundered in different sites of the province of Soria.
The person arrested and who had these pieces in his possession has been charged with a crime against the Historical Heritage and was placed last November 18 at the disposal of the Court of Instruction No. 1 of Almazán.
On the other hand, the facts have also been brought to the attention of the Territorial Service of Culture of the Junta de Castilla y León, so that the damage caused in the site is determined by that Service and in terms of the archaeological pieces intervened, they will be delivered to the Numantino Museum for its custody, conservation and expertise.
The archaeological site of the “Alto de la Dehesa” in Baraona was declared of Cultural Interest in 1991 and in its place there would be a Necropolis (funerary place) belonging to the Second Iron Age. It was common among the Celtic peoples of the time cited the incineration of the deceased, depositing the partially carbonized remains in vessels or funeraries of ceramics typical of the peoples that inhabited the Hispania preromana along with jewels or fusayolas (counterweight placed on the spinning spindle), in the case of female burials or weapons and adornment plates in the case of male burials, among other objects.
This funerary ensemble in its original state provides valuable information not only about the age, sex or social status of the subject but also about social organization, cultural progress, as well as commercial exchange and influences of all kinds with other peoples, not only of the peninsula but also of the continent.
The modus operandi of “detectorists” or more commonly known as “piteros” is the localization of buried metal objects through the use of metal detectors, often taking advantage of the circumstances of isolation and/or darkness. Guided only by the trail of metallic objects and with the only light of a small flashlight, they excavate the ground with a hoe or similar object, removing the ground, breaking the vessels and fragmenting all kinds of materials such as bones, ceramics, wooden remains, leather or fabrics and spreading it around the place along with the ashes of the deceased.
The final object of these alleged archaeologists or numismatists as they define themselves, is the finding mainly of jewels, coins or characteristic objects that are sold among collectors or antiquarians, obviating their illicit origin, as part of family inheritances. The coins, devoid of their historical context, are valued according to the metal, its age and the clarity of its relief, varying between 50 and 200 euros, the most common of the Celtiberian period.
The removal of the terrain that entails the decontextualization, loss or appropriation of historical materials, causes a destruction of the archaeological substrate that is considered extremely serious from the cultural and scientific point of view, especially if one takes into account the scarce benefit that the entire operation brings to the author.
It is the fourth operation against archaeological despoliation carried out by the Civil Guard of Soria through SEPRONA in the last 3 years and the third so far this year. In the year 2021 within the framework of Operation “Pelendones” 246 old coins and 100 historical metallic objects were recovered, coming from the archaeological site of Calderuela (Soria), in February this year within the framework of Operation “Lanus”, 5 expoliators were detained in the site of Renieblas and 8 old coins and 3 archaeological pieces were intervened and finally in September 2023 within the framework of Operation “Cerealia”, 1 person was detained and another 2 were criminally investigated, for the attempt of expoliation of the archaeological site of Vaciterás.
The Civil Guard wants to highlight the importance of citizen collaboration that contributes greatly to the detection of all kinds of illegal activities and the identification of their perpetrators, contributing to the improvement of security in rural areas, remembering that the telephone 062 for permanent attention is available to citizens.