Tarraco: a century of digging and mapping

The Tarragona-based Catalan Institute of Classical Archeology, in collaboration with the Tarragona city council, has published an inventary of all 843 (!) archeological interventions that have taken place in Tarragona from the end of the 19th century to 2004. Extremely detailed maps and descriptions of all archeological dig-ups. The large Roman monuments of the bi-millenial city have largely been uncovered and studied but they are only part of the fascinating puzzle that is Roman Tarraco. Capital of the huge province of Hispania Citerior and one of the most important provincial capitals in the Western half of the Roman Empire, the city boasted not just a circus, theatre, amphiteatre, forums and temples but was also home to perhaps 40,000 inhabitants living in the residential area of the city, much of which is still being puzzled together by archeologists and historians. Go to the website of the city history museum and download the maps: www.museutgn.com/planimetria.asp. Detailed descriptions of the finds and of all the haps and mishaps of the excavations can be found on: www.museutgn.com/Planimetria/ID_184200918121.pdf.