EL CASON (JUMILLA)

The late Roman pantheon called El Casón is located in the area “Tras el huertecico”, on the outskirts of Jumilla. It forms part of the old Roman site together with the villas of Los Cipreses, El Pedregal and other remains that have been appearing in this town. His patronymic appears already in the 18th century, when Canon J. Lozano Santa quotes him. To locate this small family mausoleum, once inside the city of Jumilla, you have to go to the southwest of the hill of the castle, reaching the neighborhood of San Antón. The monument has been integrated into a small square where it is contemplated exempt and passes the avenue of the Casón.

It is currently located in a square, within the town, since it has undergone significant expansion during the 1970s. This urbanization of the area caused the deterioration of the monument, both due to human attacks and the fact that the runoff water from the Castle area was going to hit the tomb directly. Despite all this, the high level of materials (durable rocks and well-balanced mortars) and the construction technique of the mausoleum have allowed it to survive in very good condition to this day. We only found small damage from non-load-bearing rigging and cracks in the plaster on the roofs.

The late Roman pantheon called El Casón is located in the area “Tras el huertecico”, on the outskirts of Jumilla. It forms part of the old Roman site together with the villas of Los Cipreses, El Pedregal and other remains that have been appearing in this town. His patronymic appears already in the 18th century, when Canon J. Lozano Santa quotes him. To locate this small family mausoleum, once inside the city of Jumilla, you have to go to the southwest of the hill of the castle, reaching the neighborhood of San Antón. The monument has been integrated into a small square where it is contemplated exempt and passes the avenue of the Casón.

It is currently located in a square, within the town, since it has undergone significant expansion during the 1970s. This urbanization has a rectangular plan, approximately 4.33 by 3.42 meters outside, and 3.21 by 2.29 meters inside. On the short sides are the front and rear façade. On each side there are free-standing exedras or apses, with a semicircular arch plan, banked on the outside and slightly semicircular on the inside. All this gives rise to a building with a cruciform central plan.

The three tombs inside had been looted in the past. The funeral rite in all three cases was burial. Two of the burials are aligned with the axial axis of the monument, and the third is perpendicular, being delimited by three masonry low walls in the shape of an inverted T. Both the burials and the perimeter foundation walls were covered with a thick layer of mortar. Above them, limestone slabs were placed on which the covering system would rest, which would constitute the floor of the chamber. There are very few skeletal remains found inside, due to the aforementioned looting, and it is not possible to verify with certainty what era the ones that have been found are from. It is only known that they belonged to four individuals, a child aged one and a half or two years, a young man and two adults, one of them over 45 years of age.

Numerous archaeological interventions have been carried out on this site, such as those by Cayetano Megelina in 1956, or the one in 1995, which gave rise to the comprehensive historical-archaeological research project that José Miguel Noguera Celdrán presented to the General Directorate of Culture of the Region of Murcia to continue with the study of this singular enclave and prevent its deterioration. The excavations carried out in the surroundings of this building, as well as the various fortuitous finds, have not made it possible to accurately establish the characteristics of the settlement in which it was integrated, although there is no doubt that it had a rural character.

This mausoleum is part of the context of funerary architecture from the late Roman period, fourth century, of the Iberian Peninsula, with vestiges in various urban cemeteries, but above all rural, with special incidence in the Mediterranean area, inside the Ebro valley. and in Extremadura.

Elena Cardenal and Antonio Poveda for URBS REGIA

of the area caused the deterioration of the monument, both by the human aggressions as well as the fact that the runoff waters from the area of the Castle were going to run directly against the tomb. Despite all this, the high level of materials (durable rocks and well-balanced mortars) and the construction technique of the mausoleum have allowed it to survive in very good condition to this day. We only found small damage from non-load-bearing rigging and cracks in the plaster on the roofs.

De Mergelina, C., El Casón de Jumilla, Arquitectura de la Antigüedad Tardía en la obra de C. de Mergelina.
Los mausoleos de La Alberca y Jumilla, Murcia,1999, 93-103.
Celdrán Gomáriz, P., 2004: El Casón de Jumilla. Arqueología de un mausoleo tardorromano, ed. Dédalo, 2004
Noguera Celdrán, J.M., 1996: : “El Casón de Jumilla”: Líneas de estudio para un proyecto integral de investigación histórico-arqueológica de un mausoleo tardorromano”, Memorias de Arqueología. Área de Arqueología de la Universidad de Murcia, 1996 (revisado 2001)
ID., 1996a: “El Casón de Jumilla”, Séptimas Jornadas de Arqueología Regional (14-17 mayo), Murcia, 367-411.
ID., 1999: “El sepulcro de Jumilla (“Casón”)”, Los mausoleos de La Alberca y Jumilla, Murcia,1999, 105-155.
ID., 2007: “El Casón de Jumilla: Estudio arqueológico e interpretación de un mausoleo tardorromano” Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, Universidad de Murcia.

El Casón, Monumento Nacional

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