Un denario de Publio Carisio hallado en el yacimiento de Rompesparteñas (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia)

Abstract

The site of Rompesparteñas has been identified as a Roman settlement, with a chronological framework spanning from the Late Republican period (2nd–1st centuries BC) to the Early Imperial period (1st century AD). In quantitative terms, the site yields very little ceramic material. However, following various surveys conducted at the site, some amphora fragments dating to the mid-1st century BC have been documented. To this evidence, can now be added a rare denarius of Publius Carisius, minted between 25 and 23 BC. In addition, the strategic location of the site is related to a road leading to Alta Andalucía, which has been used since the Iron Age. This is known thanks to the oldest metallic element found at the site: the bridge of a pre-Roman fibula from the 6th-5th centuries BC. Given the absence of structural remains, the settlement may be associated with a small military detachment that likely occupied the hillside for a brief period of time, possibly coinciding with the occupation of the castellum of Archivel and the turris of Barranda in the early 1st century BC. Around the 1st century BC, both military sites formed part of a system of defence and control in the upper basin of the Argos and Quípar rivers, whose mission was to watch over the transit routes and ensure security in a region of transit, with important military and civilian traffic. All of this could ultimately explain the different finds.