This house offers us a cross-section into how people with a high life standard
lived in a roman colony in western Hispania. The archaeological work carried out has not
been finished yet, although it has made possible to document a section of one street, part
of the city- walls, as well as the architectural remains of several areas of the dwelling:
there are two porticoed courtyards at different heights linked by a marble staircase,
various room with fine decoration (mosaics floor and wall-painting) and also a bath area.
The ongoing works comprising both invasive and non-invasive techniques to shed a light
on the arrangement of circa 1000 square meters, the construction materials or the
identification of tesserae that allow us to date the construction in the III century with
reforms in IV century AC.
The musivaria is in such a state of conservation that it allows the geochemical study of
the stone and vitreous tesserae, the latter in chromatic ranges of great interest as a
testimony of the production process. The iconography on the pavements focuses on the
marine theme -related to the aquatic environment of the peristyle- and the gorgon Medusa.
We think that it is useful to know how Huerta de Otero looked, how it was designed and
built to go beyond the traditional narrative of the state of the art. So, we will present a
detailed updated of the available information. It provides a thorough description of a
Roman housing in Augusta Emerita, to contrast it with more general studies of Roman
dwelling in Spain, Italy and the Empire in general.
- Poster
