Archaeological intervention in the Chapel of Santa Ana
16th century temple in Colmenar Viejo
The Chapel of Santa Ana
It began to rise in one of the most central areas of the town of Colmenar Viejo around the year 1525, for which several of the houses of its founder, D. Juan González del Real, chaplain of the Catholic Monarchs, were demolished. This was one of the most outstanding urban rearrangements of the urban area during the first third of the XNUMXth century.
The main portal of the chapel, which overlooks Calle de la Feria, is very simple. It is finished off with a round arch with large voussoirs framed by a corbelled alfiz. In the upper part, a small niche houses a sculptural group representing Santa Ana, the Virgin and the Child, all topped with a small roof.
The grave of D. Juan González del Real was 1,50 meters deep in the central part of the chapel. It consisted of a small structure with a lime and sand mortar base in which numerous nails had been embedded along the edge with the point upwards to receive several wooden boards. This assembly, which had to be sealed with a wooden cover, was the only mortuary preparation. The corpse was deposited in a supine position, following the layout of the chapel floor plan, West-East. The skull was slightly displaced from the trunk, tilted to the right. The arms were crossed, leaving both elbows at right angles with the attitude of crossing the hands, safely, in the belly area. The highlight was the arrangement of his lower limbs, flexed and crossed, in an "impossible anatomical" position according to the anthropological report. The corpse must have been shrouded with some type of clothing or shroud, which had not been preserved, collected by means of several pins, of which four copies were recovered, circular head and section.
The cenotaph is carved in dolomitic stone, without any type of inscription or decoration, except for some simple moldings. The location of the cenotaph did not exactly mark the position of the corpse, since the corpse was slightly displaced towards the central part of the chapel, so the foot area was completely removed, a circumstance that caused a problem during the excavation process .
It is possible to hypothesize that the cenotaph was made after the burial and was placed in the center of the chapel some time later, perhaps when the paving was made or when one of the other detected deceased was buried, of which their unknown is unknown. identity. Observing the disposition of the three burials, it can be understood that the cenotaph did not appear fully centered on the burial of Juan González del Real. Its slight displacement towards the central part of the chapel seems to also indicate the other two burials, so it could be a clear indicator of the moment of its completion and placement or of its transfer after the burial of the founder.
One of the most outstanding aspects of the archaeological intervention is the large amount of documented filler material, oblivious to any type of funerary context. In the small excavated space, 963 ceramic fragments and 672 fauna remains stand out, in addition to other finds. The characteristics of the land, sometimes slightly dark, with abundant remains of domestic fauna, as well as the highly fragmented ceramic pieces, would indicate that this place would have previously been a small dump or dump located in an open space.
In the founding text of the chaplaincy of Juan González del Real, the intention is clearly expressed to reorder several buildings owned by him to build the hospital and chapel complex, carrying out a small, but outstanding, urban restructuring in the vicinity of the most important plaza from the town of Colmenar Viejo. This required adapting for this new use both closed spaces, houses and other dependencies, such as open spaces, corrals and trans-corrals, as they are called.
Part of the ceramic fragments recovered in the archaeological intervention have a late medieval and modern chronology, within a Gothic-Mudejar environment, reflected mainly in the blue tiles with geometric motifs and in the pottery painted inside in green and manganese. The presence of plates, bowls, bowls, platters and jugs is important, along with other forms attributable to domestic use.
The basement of the Santa Ana chapel presents an extraordinary archaeological deposit, partially excavated, which can be culturally ascribed to the early stages of the Modern Age, one of the highlights of Colmenar Viejo's socioeconomic development.
Image gallery
Archaeological performance
The main objective of this excavation was to verify the existence of the remains of the founder of the chapel and the attached hospital, Juan González del Real, taking advantage of the need to solve moisture problems in the subsoil and relocate the cenotaph to its original location. The intervention was carried out after the agreement made by the Board of Directors of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Remedies, in its session of February 12, 1999.