Santa Lucía Site

The inspection of the terrain allowed the presence of one or more deposits to be detected in a section of the work layout that affected a little more than 4.000 m2. In the rest of the route, no archaeological evidence was found.

A total of 63 archaeological structures belonging to the Santa Lucía site were identified, which are located on the land located on both sides of the Venturada-Redueña road (N-230) and on the banks of the Las Huertas or Santa Lucía stream. , areas in which, according to the Archaeological Charter of the municipality, remains of occupations have been described that cover a wide chronological arc that goes from the Middle Paleolithic to the Modern Age (XVI-XVIII centuries), passing through the Iron Age, epoch Roman, Early Medieval and Plenomedieval.

The control of earthworks revealed the presence of an archaeological site characterized by the disposition of isolated and well-differentiated deposits of earth with abundant organic inclusions (coals, ashes and bone) that made up a group of structures that could be classified in the Iron Age, by the type of ceramic material they contained. Possibly, they were residential areas with the typology of cabins and attached structures in which areas with abundant ashes, signs of rubbled land were documented, along with fragments of burned adobes and alignments of boulders as vestiges of the old constructions.

Based on the preliminary data, it was possible to determine that it was a Second Iron Age settlement, consisting of rectangular huts and graves excavated in the ground. This type of settlement is usually located on the plain, on the edge of the river terraces or on small headlands near the courses of the rivers. In the Community of Madrid such deposits have been found, such as those of Arroyo Culebro and Fuente de la Mora (Leganés), Laguna del Campillo (Rivas), El Baldío (Torrejón de Velasco) or La Ribera, in the airport area from Barajas.

The study of the Redueña deposit revealed the remains of up to four cabins scattered between the Vega area and a small cerrete that crowns the site. All the cabins had pebble floors, but only those located in the upper area had stone plinths or straight feet. Abundant structures excavated in the ground were also located, of varied shapes and sizes, whose function could be that of possible habitation areas, garbage cans or undetermined uses. All these elements have been dated throughout the XNUMXnd century BC.

The cabins were rectangular. One of them had two rooms with pavements of different thickness. Only in one case has the entrance to the house been detected, since the level of their demolition is very high. The huts next to the Santa Lucia stream also show signs of destruction due to the floods.

The archaeological materials are still in the study phase, but it can be anticipated that most of them belong to the Second Iron Age, although some pieces that could be older have also been documented. The ceramic material predominates, followed by the bone remains belonging to the cattle herd of the settlement.

The predominant ceramic is the common type, made on a wheel. Remains of fine gray ceramics and some ceramic fragments of slip or black varnish were also recovered. The most frequent decorations are based on paint, incisions and grooves. Among the former, the motifs of bands or concentric circles of reddish ocher color and slip of reddish brown tones stand out. The incisions are detected in some fragment with parallel bands, probably made with a comb. In some edges made by hand, incisions, ungulations and splits decorating the outer perimeter have been detected, in what appear to be some of the most archaic fragments in the sample. Two pieces have been found that appear to be chips from some kind of game.

Of later chronology, already of Roman affiliation, only the presence of a fragment of Terra Sigillata and a loom weight marked with a cross has been detected. A fragment of decorated glass border completes the set of most recent pieces documented at the moment. 

The lithic material consists almost exclusively of fragments of a granite mill. These are portable pieces of small dimensions for domestic use, about 35-40 cm long, of the wafer type. There are also some pebbles that served as sharpeners.

Pieces of metal are scarce, they are reduced to shapeless fragments of copper or alloy of this small metal, fragments of plates or rods and some needle or awl. Only a very small piece of iron has been collected.

The construction of the Redueña Wastewater Pumping Station (EBAR) and drive to the Venturada Treatment Plant (EDAR).