Civil War common graves found during roadworks
Remains of Republican soldiers found in Los Serranos
UNMARKED graves containing the remains of 14 Republican soldiers killed during the Civil War have been found during roadworks on a highway through the hinterland of Los Serranos.
Builders resurfacing and widening the CV-345 through Andilla, in the north-west of the province of Valencia close to that of Cuenca (Castilla-La Mancha), uncovered three common graves and two individual tombs, which forced them to down tools.
The trunk road, which connects Higueruelas with El Cerro de la Nevera (literally, 'fridge hill') in nearby La Yesa, was immediately visited by provincial MPs, who arranged for the tombs to be excavated.
REMAINS from the Byzantine era – dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries AD – have been discovered in Cartagena city centre.
The area stands between Calle Andino and Calle Escorial. Archaeologists have found an oven used to manufacture pottery, parts of broken pottery and several sections of wall. According to a city hall spokesman the walls clearly divide different rooms and are grouped around an inner patio, where the oven was found.
The archaeologists pointed out that parts of a Roman pillar had been found previously at the site. They noted that residents in the Byzantine area used to recycle building materials from previous civilisations for building work.
After the remains were examined by forensics, it was confirmed they were the bodies of 14 men who were fighting on the opposite side of the war to dictator General Franco, who gained power when the Republicans lost.
The site – kilometre 24 of the highway – had been earmarked as a possible unmarked pit, which the regional and national government are working hard to get to in order to identify those buried and return the bodies to any surviving family members they may have, so they can give them a proper funeral.
The spokesman noted that the remains are very close to the water table so deeper excavation work is not currently feasible.
Impressive Roman heritage been unearthed and preserved in Cartagena but few remains have been found from the
In the case of the 'Andilla 14', they will be interred in a dedicated memorial site the local council plans to set up in the cemetery.
According to the historic memory recovery group (GRMH), the grave sites found are likely to be linked to the Corral de Aguavientos sanatorium, which was used as a military hospital during the Civil War and was later pulled down.
It mainly attended to Republican soldiers evacuated from the Eastern Front, who would have been fighting in a sector close to Andilla in the El Toro mountains. periods before and after the Romans settled in the area, which are the Punic and Byzantine eras respectively.