Conjunto Arqueológico de Carmona

The city of Carmona stands on an impregnable plateau which has enabled the uninterrupted presence of human settlement from prehistoric times to the present day, with abundant testimony to its past. Its solid urban appearance which remains to the present day, is the result of successive fortifications that provided the city with its main feature since it reached its maximum splendour during the Roman occupation.

There are widespread remains, the Cordoba Gate, the Sevilla Gate, the funeral enclosure and the Amphitheatre being the most prominent manifestations. On the outskirts of the walled enclosure a considerable section of the Roman necropolis is preserved along with other typical examples suburban activity: the quarries for extracting ashlar stone used for construction, potteries and the Amphitheatre used for public spectacles.

The use of the necropolis is dated around the 1st and 2nd centuries. The most frequent funeral ritual was cremation. The collective mausoleum, formed by an underground chamber, for use by a family, is the most common type of burial in the Carmona Necropolis.

The Necropolis is one of the sites on the Peninsula that preserves the largest number of paintings. The funeral enclosure features two particularly spectacular tombs, the Tomb of the Elephant and the Tomb of Servilia.

This archaeological site was discovered and excavated towards the end of the 19th century, as the result of an initiative by Juan Fernández López and George Bonsor. The Necropolis was in use around the 1st and 2nd centuries BC.

The most frequent funeral ritual was cremation, although buried remains have also been found.

Points of interest: Servilia’s Tomb and Elephant Tomb