The fate of villae: the example of Horta da Torre (Fronteira).

Abstract

The excavations carried out at the Roman villa of Horta da Torre since 2012 have documented an interesting process of post-abandonment reoccupation and systematic destruction of the built space. Though archaeological evidence can sometimes be tenuous, it records a concrete case of occasional reoccupations, while parallel circumstances have also been detected at various archaeological sites in Lusitania and other areas of Hispania. Evidence has been found to suggest that Horta da Torre was a location at which yet another phenomenon occurred, during which monumental structures and ways of living in the countryside in the imperial era were disrupted, thus allowing for questions about subsistence strategies in the post-classical period to be posed.