Living on the costa

The archaeological site of Holly farmhouseLocated in Mijasis back in the news with the study of the interior of a Phoenician cremation urn from the 7th century BC, which has allowed its 3D reconstruction, as well as the location inside of the bone remains, as announced by the mayor, Josele González.

The study has been carried out by the Mijas City Council, the X-Ray Diffraction Unit of the Central Research Support Services of the University of Malaga and the Benalmádena Vithas Xanit International Hospital, which have carried out the initiative through the realization of a computerized axial tomography (CAT)).

The councilor highlighted that the Cortijo de Acebedo “is once again a benchmark in the province with this study that analyzes for the first time in Malaga a Phoenician urn of these characteristics”, pointing out that the initiative represents “a very important step to learn a little about more ours archaeological site”.

González stressed the importance of the Cortijo de Acebedo site, “a historical heritage that we have under us and that we continue to value from the City Council so that it is an icon from the historical, archaeological and tourist point of view”.

The study has been carried out at the Vithas Xanit Internacional hospital using GE LightSpeed ​​VCT equipment and the images obtained have been studied by the X-Ray Diffraction Unit of the University of Malaga, which has allowed a 3D reconstruction of the urn and the location inside of the bone remains that remained after the cremation of the corpse and what appear to be some metallic objects that could correspond to part of the deceased’s trousseau.

For her part, the Councilor for Historical Heritage, Laura Moreno, declared that “it is the the only urn found in the province of Malaga that it is in perfect condition”, pointing out that from the department they are going to “move that urn to start cleaning it and see its contents by estates to know everything that it keeps inside”.

This cremation urn, of a type known in archeology as ‘Cruz del Negro’, the name of the Carmona site (Seville) where they were first found at the end of the 19th century, has been found in the recently located Phoenician necropolis in the archaeological site of Cortijo de Acebedo during the first phase of excavations within the General Research Project that the Mijas City Council, through its Historical Heritage Department, is carrying out at this site and its surroundings, being the first urn of this type to be carried out this study in the province of Malaga.

These urns served as skeletal remains containers that remained after the process of cremation of the corpse and part of the ashes and in many cases objects belonging to the trousseau of the deceased such as combs, rings, pendants, necklace beads, etc.

In this way, the deposit becomes the phoenician necropolis Located in the westernmost part of the province of Malaga, located at the foot of the ancient marine estuary, which is currently occupied by the Fuengirola river, and extends the structures located to date in the Acebedo site, confirming the data already known about its chronology that It dates back to the 7th-6th centuries BC and covers up to the 6th AD, more than a thousand years of Mijas’ history.

The data obtained from this study will allow the excavation of the interior of the urn to be carried out in a more precise and directed manner, which may allow obtaining information about the deceased person such as sex, age of death, possible pathologies, etc., and recover possible objects from the trousseau of the same.