The remains of the first early Christian Church in the North West region of Murcia was discovered in Calasparra during an archeological dig on the Cerro de la Virgin.
Last week Dr. David Martínez Chico of the University of Valencia presented the findings of the dig he led in 2024.
The building, dates back to the century V and has a rectangular structure of a single aisle with a semi-circular niche within the eastern wall, and lateral sacristies that correspond to the architecture of the Eastern Mediterrean, especially of Siria, although also widespread in North Africa and the Baleares Islands.
This highlight of the 2024 excavations confirms that the church was active during the centuries VIII-IX (the Emiral Stage) by virtue of the Teodomiro Pact that permitted the survival of Christianity and its institutions in the kūra de Tudmīr (a «Kura» is an adminstrative term of Al-Ándalus that refers to a division of terrority similar to a district or province).
Moreover, the discovery of a weighing system and weights suggests that the church may have had a fiscal function such as tax collecting.
The discovery of the church expands the knowledge of the implantion of Christianity in rural areas during the late antiquity and the High Middle Age and underlines the strategic and economic importance of the settlement of Calasparra in the episcopal terrority of Begastri.
All of this represents a milestone in the archeological investigation of primitive Christianity and the rural occupation of the South East Penisular.
Finally, Dr. David Martínez Chico underlined the relevance of the discovery and its connection to its neighbour, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hope on the other side of the Segura river.
Last week Dr. David Martínez Chico of the University of Valencia presented the findings of the dig he led in 2024.
The building, dates back to the century V and has a rectangular structure of a single aisle with a semi-circular niche within the eastern wall, and lateral sacristies that correspond to the architecture of the Eastern Mediterrean, especially of Siria, although also widespread in North Africa and the Baleares Islands.
This highlight of the 2024 excavations confirms that the church was active during the centuries VIII-IX (the Emiral Stage) by virtue of the Teodomiro Pact that permitted the survival of Christianity and its institutions in the kūra de Tudmīr (a «Kura» is an adminstrative term of Al-Ándalus that refers to a division of terrority similar to a district or province).
Moreover, the discovery of a weighing system and weights suggests that the church may have had a fiscal function such as tax collecting.
The discovery of the church expands the knowledge of the implantion of Christianity in rural areas during the late antiquity and the High Middle Age and underlines the strategic and economic importance of the settlement of Calasparra in the episcopal terrority of Begastri.
All of this represents a milestone in the archeological investigation of primitive Christianity and the rural occupation of the South East Penisular.
Finally, Dr. David Martínez Chico underlined the relevance of the discovery and its connection to its neighbour, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hope on the other side of the Segura river.
