Clunia excavation: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly homage

The cemetery in the final shootout of The Good The Bad and The Ugly is just north of Clunia, so we decided to shoot and edit a remake in homage to Blondie, Angel Eyes, Tuco, …

Clunia excavation: Bouldering

Joan took me bouldering. Next time we want to bring some ropes and technical gear to climb some of the bigger rock faces at the site, too. Though according to the New York Times, bouldering …

Clunia excavation: More excursions

Our first excursion was to the Valle de los Lobos, where a chapel nestles among outrageous cliffs and caves. The guide showed us fossilized snails and remnants of ancient plankton in the stones at the …

Clunia excavation: Full moon at Tiermes

Last weekend we visited Tiermes, another abandoned Roman city in the region. Mike and Aixa excavated here years ago and guided the rest of us through the red sandstone cliffs and foundations of the ancient …

Clunia excavation: The caliphate fortress of Gormaz

Last weekend we visited the caliphate fortress of Gormaz, which occupies a massive hill overlooking vast swathes of farmland in the province of Soria.

The fortress hosted Moorish forces during most of the tenth century as …

Clunia excavation: Making discoveries

Knowing where you discover something is important: archaeologists survey the base of the theatre at Clunia.

Rosa brushes off one of two chunks of a statue bust in a room built alongside the entrance to the …

Clunia excavation: One week in

This month I’m wearing a different hat. I’m helping English-speaking archaeology students get fieldwork experience at an excavation of an abandoned Roman city about 160 kilometers north of Madrid called Clunia. A Spanish archaeology …