The mayor of Lleida, Fèlix Larrosa, recently visited the archaeological restoration laboratory at the University of Lleida (UdL), where he expressed the City Council's intention to exhibit a collection of rare 12th-century coins restored by the university.
"Findings like this allow us to place the city at a key moment in its history, when Lleida was the city of the three cultures," said Larrosa during the visit, according to El Punt Avui.
The archaeological restoration laboratory, headed by technical coordinator Carme Prats and research support technician Maria Trigo, is restoring about one hundred coins that were found last November during the archaeological excavation of the future bus station in Lleida, reports ACN. The coins, made of vellón—an alloy of silver rich in copper—were located at the site next to the train station where the new bus station is being built, according to La Vanguardia.
The coins were issued between 1115 and 1134 CE during the reign of King Alfonso I of Aragon, known as el Batallador. On one side of the coins, there is a portrait of King Alfonso I of Aragon, and on the reverse side, there is the mark of Aragon. The coins were wrapped in cloth inside a ceramic jar that someone had hidden, La Vanguardia reported.
"The restoration is complex because the coins are barely half a millimeter thick," explained Prats. Many of the coins have adhered to each other, forming groups of up to twenty pieces, further complicating the restoration process.
So far, a dozen coins have been treated, and the expectation is that the restoration work will conclude after the summer. "They are different mintings; they are not exactly the same, but they are all from the same reign. And this is very curious because normally when people hide coins, they hide what they have been collecting throughout their life, but these are all from the same period of time and reign. The archaeologists are investigating why," said Prats.
The laboratory is applying chemical treatments to conserve the silver and eliminate the corrosion of the copper. The coins were minted in Jaca, and all restored coins so far belong to the same monarch, Alfonso I of Aragon.
During the excavation, other findings were made, including bronze elements that would adorn small wooden boxes, abundant ceramic material, and a pair of ancient keys. Notably, a bayonet for muskets was found at the bottom of a trench excavated during the War of Independence around 1810, coinciding with the siege by Napoleonic troops.
The excavation also uncovered remains of two buildings from the late 12th century, with several rooms flanked by two streets located outside the walls of the medieval city. It is believed that these constructions were inns or hostels located at the entrance of the city and near the market of the Raval de Sant Pau del Mercadal. The constructions were demolished around 1366 when a new defensive wall was built for the city. Once documented, the archaeological remains were covered to allow the construction of the new bus station on top of them, as reported by El Periódico.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.