The Loranca necropolis

The Loranca site has uninterrupted occupation from the 200st century after Christ until the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Among the documented remains, the location and excavation of two necropolis distant from each other about XNUMX m, both with similar characteristics and chronology between the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the seventh century after Christ, stand out. 

Necropolis A is located on a gentle slope, north of the Camino del Bañuelo. It has an area of ​​2.144 m² and 206 burial graves have been located with a total of 217 individuals.  

Necropolis B is located about 200 meters southwest of the previous one. It has an area of ​​703 m² and a total of 57 burial graves have been located in it, with a total of 58 individuals. 

In the two necropolises, the burials appear forming courses oriented from north to south. The normal orientation of the graves is east-west, with the head located at the extreme west, although there are examples with northwest-southeast orientation that are attributed to seasonal variations when based on the point at which the sun rises. There is only one singular case of an inhumation that is oriented in the opposite direction, with the head to the east and the feet to the west.

Three typologies are distinguished: grave graves (simple, rectangular, trapezoidal, oval and even elliptical), cyst burials and burials with only a superficial delimitation. In all cases, these are burials with individuals in the supine position. In general, they appear with the arms placed parallel to the body, the legs stretched out and the head turned to the south or north indistinctly, although some have small positional variations: slightly flexed arms or legs, arms over the abdomen, etc.

They are normally individual burials. Only four double burials have been documented, with the bodies supine and in parallel. There is some example of the reduction of previous remains and the subsequent reuse of the grave with a new burial, always in cysts. In many cases, remains of wood and iron nails have been found that would indicate the use of coffins.

In most of the burials, some type of personal adornment of the deceased has been found: iron and bronze belt buckles and clasps of different typologies, bronze rivets, various types of fibulae, among which those of hinge, omega and plate and arch fibulae. Bronze earrings, rings, and glass or amber paste necklaces have also been documented. Include a small ointment spatula and a bronze hair needle. In one of the burials, an iron dagger with bronze remains appeared on the hilt, located on the left side of the individual. 

The permanence of certain pagan rituals in these necropolis is curious. In two graves grave goods were found directly related to the funeral ritual: they are two ceramic bowls, one of them with 31 anepigraphic coins (without epigraph or inscription) in rather poor condition, which may be related to the myth of the Obolo de Charon. as payment to the boatman to cross to the beyond. Another pagan element is the identification of remains of funeral banquets.

The Loranca necropolis follow the general parameters of the rural necropolis in the Visigoth era. They are close to communication routes, in this case the Bañuelo path, in a place close to watercourses, Aldehuela and Loranca streams and, in addition, very close to late-Roman villa-type housing structures, such as those excavated in area B of the Loranca deposit. 

The results of the excavation indicate that both necropolis were used at the same time and that they belonged to populations that shared the same territory.