Visit to Archeological Museum

[expat]

This morning we visited Museo Arceologico de Almeria. 15 minute drive from where we live. It is devoted purely to the area in and around Almeria. Starting with the the Los Millares Society. The first farming and stockbreeding community, 5500 - 3200 BC. Then the Argaric Society 2250 - 1550 BC (which was the beginning of the cultural inheritance of what was then un-named but was named al-marijja by Caliph Abd al-Rahman in 955 AD). There was then a long period of various tribes coming and going with the longest stayers being the Carthaginians. Rome landed a settlement of soldiers and civilians in 206 BC in what was the Ribera de la Algaida (between Roquetas, where we live, and Aguadulce). https://www.andalucia.com/history/romans.htm 

376 AD saw the start of numerous invasions starting with the Goths escaping the Huns. Vandal tribes in 409 AD received land from the Romans under treaty and in 417 AD the Visigoths invaded. In 476 AD  Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer after losing the Battle of Ravenna (Northern Italy, last Capital of the Western Roman Empire). Most chronologies place this the end of the Western Roman Empire.

A few of the uncovered coinage from this area

The Moors ruled parts of Andalucia from the early 8th until the late 15th centuries – 800 years of history. A part of a hoard found near Almeria

[Kali]

Thanks for sharing!

[DonnaML]

Thanks! Just one suggestion: the photos might look a bit sharper on the screen (especially on a desktop) if you reduced their size somewhat. All you have to do in Windows, in editing the post, is to right-click a photo, click the Ctrl button, and then "edit image." 

[expat]

2 hours ago, DonnaML said:

Thanks! Just one suggestion: the photos might look a bit sharper on the screen (especially on a desktop) if you reduced their size somewhat. All you have to do in Windows, in editing the post, is to right-click a photo, click the Ctrl button, and then "edit image." 

These are a little better, but they were imaged through reinforced plexiglass with subdued internal lighting. No flash fotography was allowed.

 

[Parthicus]

Neat, thanks for sharing.  The Islamic pieces look like they are from the time of the Almohads (12th-13th century AD), which was after the intellectual and artistic peak of Islamic culture in the Iberian peninsula.

I spent a week in 2005 in Madrid visiting the various museums there, including the National Museum of Archaeology.  There were only a few coins on display (I remember an exhibit showing the different Roman denominations, and a nice aureus of Augustus with hippopotamus on reverse).  The highlight was the Dama de Elche (a statue of a woman from c. 400 BC).  I also remember some crowns of Visigothic kings, but what stood out to me among the VIsigothic artifacts were some elaborately-decorated belt buckles in bronze and with inexpensive colorful stone decorations.  You'd expect that wealthy people in a culture would show off with fancy gold and gemstone items, that's not surprising.  But the fact that less-wealthy people, who could only afford bronze and cheap stone, still felt the need to express themselves artistically in their clothing, shows a higher level of sophistication and makes the Visigoths seem less "barbaric".  Anyway, thanks for sharing, hope I can make it back to Spain sometime.

[robinjojo]

Interesting coins and information on this museum in Almeria.  Thank you for sharing.

PBS aired a series on Moorish Spain, The Ornament of the World, a few years ago.  I think now it is available only by subscription or purchase of the DVD from PBS.

I highly recommend the series, especially for those not familiar with this little known period in Spanish and European history.

Here's a link:

https://www.pbs.org/show/ornament-world/

 

[CPK]

I like that Claudius.