Iruña-Veleia

Veleia was a Roman town in Hispania, now located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The site is located in the municipality of Iruña de Oca, 10 kilometers west of Vitoria. The town was an important station on the Roman road ab Asturica Burdigalam that ran parallel to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. At its apogee, the city could have been inhabited by some five to ten thousand people, and apparently went through different cycles of prosperity and decline into the Early Middle Ages until it was finally abandoned.

Location of Veleia and other Roman cities in the context of ancient Basque tribes and the modern Basque Country

It has been argued (e.g. J.M.Lacarra) that the location of Iruña is actually the Victoriacum founded by Liuvigild in his campaigns against the Vascones (581), since only a very small portion of the actual town has been unearthed so far by archaeologists.

The archaeological site of Iruña-Veleia is the most important from the Roman period in the Basque Country.[1] It was alleged to contain the oldest known texts written in the Basque language as well as, allegedly, the oldest representation of the crucifixion of Jesus found to date, but later it was said that the findings were forgeries.[2][3][4] Other authors favored their genuinely ancient provenance, in agreement with the stratigraphic dating performed by the archaeologists who made the discoveries.

In June 2020 the archaeologist who had made the claims and two collaborators were found guilty of fraud and presenting false records. The court ruled that the artefacts had been altered “with contemporary incisions that were intended to suggest they contained inscriptions or markings of the same age as the objects themselves, and that they possessed a historical and cultural value of which they were devoid.” The leader of the police investigation said that it had been “one of the greatest falsifications or manipulations relating to archaeological materials from the Roman world”."[5]

Chronology

Bronze and Iron ages

The town was founded in the 8th century BC, in the Late Bronze Age. The houses from this period, rectangular and round with adobe walls and thatched roofs, are similar to those found at the nearby site of Atxa (Vitoria).

Roman period

In the first half of the 1st century some of these houses were replaced by others of Roman style (domus). This architectural romanization continued as the century advanced.

The late Roman city (3rd and 4th centuries) is better known. It shows signs of decay and the construction of a wall that encloses an eleven hectare area. The town survived into the 5th century after Roman power had disappeared from the region, but by the end of the century only burial plots in abandoned buildings are found.

Modern age

There was an abbey at the site at least since the 16th century whose buildings remained visible until the mid 19th century.

Sensational findings

Developments

The Iruña-Veleia site had been granted 3.72 million euros funding by the Basque regional government. In 2006, a series of sensational findings at Iruña-Veleia were announced to the press by the director of the archaeological mission. These included what would have been the oldest non-onomastical texts in Basque, which were hailed as the first evidence of written Basque. Also, it was announced the discovery of a series of inscriptions and drawings on pottery fragments, some of which refer to Egyptian history and even some written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Finally, it was announced the finding of the earliest representation of the Calvary (crucifixion of Jesus) found anywhere to date.[6]

Eventually, a committee of experts, the "Comisión Científica Asesora" ("Scientific Advisory Committee") was constituted by the provincial government of Álava to study the findings.[7] The committee was originally made up of nine academics, all professors of the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria, along with three members of the provincial government of Álava, the director of the Provincial Museum of Archaeology, and the director of the excavation (Eliseo Gil), and was presided by the Culture Deputy of Álava herself. Later others, although not members of the Commission were consulted from Madrid, Italy and Britain.[8] Alicia Canto, professor of classical archaeology and epigraphy at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, cast doubts over the capacity of such committee to elucidate the veracity of the sherd inscriptions based on linguistic grounds, as well as highlighting the contradictory positions shown by some of its members while noting that some claimed texts were "beyond salvation".[8]

At its fifth meeting on November 19, 2008, every report except that by Gil found problems with the so-called "exceptionals".[8] The culture deputy of Álava, Lorena Lopez de la Calle, dubbed the case the "biggest archaeological fraud in the history of the Iberian Peninsula", and demoted the chief technical official of the Archaeological Museum of Álava for her support to the authenticity of the findings.[9] Ultimately, one of the members of the committee, Julio Núñez, became the new director of the Iruña-Veleia archaeological excavations.[10]

Forgery case

The provincial government of Alava pursued legal actions against the alleged perpetrators of the supposed fraud.[1][11] The sponsors of the project (Euskotren) also brought charges against the archaeological team, but the case was dismissed, and only the lawsuit filed by the provincial government of Alava remained in force.

In June 2020 the perpetrators were found guilty of fraud and the production of false records.[5] The court ruling stated that the artefacts had been modified "with contemporary incisions that were intended to suggest they contained inscriptions or markings of the same age as the objects themselves, and that they possessed a historical and cultural value of which they were devoid.” Soon after the verdict, Gil filed an appeal for acquittal and the prosecutor filed an appeal for a greater penalty.[12]

In August 2020, a group of 14 scientists published a letter in several Basque newspapers, warning that the so-called forgery is a scientific controversy that remains unresolved, and that "scientific issues must be resolved in scientific forums, such as scientific journals and conferences, not in courts of law". This letter was signed by prominent archaeologists, among others.[13]

See also

Bibliography
  • (in Basque) Barandiaran, Alberto, Veleia afera, Elkar, 2010. ISBN 9788497839150
  • Elkin, Mike (2009): "The Veleia Affair" Archaeology Volume 62 Number 5, September/October 2009.
  • (in French) Iglesias, Hector (2009), « Les inscriptions de Veleia-Iruña » {pdf} Les inscriptions de Veleia-Iruña (version entièrement revue et augmentée d'un index alphabétique). Artxiker, bibliothèque numérique d'IKER, Centre de recherche sur la langue et les textes basques du CNRS, Baiona-Bayonne.

References
  1. (in Spanish) "Álava se querella contra los responsables del fraude de Veleia", El País, 2009-03-25.
  2. (in Basque) "Veleia: disparateen zerrenda", Sustatu, 2008-11-20.
  3. (in Spanish) "Tres arqueólogos abandonaron Veleia tras los hallazgos de 2006", El País, 2008-11-22.
  4. (in Spanish) "Iruña-Veleia, culebrón arqueológico", El País, 2008-12-06,
  5. Jones, Sam (11 June 2020). "Spanish archaeologist sentenced for faking Basque finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. (in Spanish) "Un maestro entre el Nilo y el Zadorra", Diario de Noticias de Álava, 2006-06-09; "En Veleia hubo alguien muy culto y de alto 'status', que dominaba la historia egipcia y sabía escribir jeroglíficos", El País, 2006-06-09; "Aparecen en Veleia restos de inscripciones en euskera del siglo III y de temática cristiana" Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, Noticias de Álava, 2006-06-09.
  7. López de Lacalle Arizti, Lorena. "Nota de la Diputada de Euskera, Cultura y Deportes, Lorena López de Lacalle Arizti" (PDF).
  8. Elkin, Mike (September–October 2009). "The Veleia Affair". archive.archaeology.org. Archaeology. 62 (5). Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  9. (in Spanish) "La Diputación alavesa relega a Amelia Baldeón a un museo de segunda fila", El País, 2009-03-04.
  10. "La UPV-EHU, con Julio Nuñez al frente, redactará el Plan Director de Iruña-Veleia". Gara. 6 November 2009.
  11. (in Spanish) "La Diputación aporta al fiscal nuevas pruebas sobre el engaño de Veleia. Una empresa alemana afirma que los gráficos aportados por Cerdán para autentificar los hallazgos «son una copia» de su manual", El Correo, 2009-03-03.
  12. David González (4 July 2020). "La Fiscalía recurre el fallo de Iruña Veleia y pide elevar en 21.600 euros la multa a Eliseo Gil" [The Prosecutor's Office appeals the Iruña Veleia ruling and asks for Eliseo Gil's fine to be increased by 21,600 euros]. Er Correo (in Spanish).
  13. Antonio Rodríguez Colmenero, Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain;Edward C. Harris, MBE, PHD, FSA, Founding Executive Director Emeritus, National Museum of Bermuda; Xabier Gorrotxategi, Ph.D. in Archaeology; Luis Silgo, Ph.D. in History, specialty in Archaeology; Noé Villaverde Vega, Ph.D. in Archaeology with European mention, among others (31 August 2020). "La ciencia y la sentencia sobre el caso de Iruña-Veleia" [Science and the court ruling on the Iruña-Veleia case]. Diario de Noticias de Navarra (in Spanish).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). An English translation is available in Science and the court ruling on the Iruña-Veleia case

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