Alto de San Cibrán, located between the municipalities of Ponteareas and Salceda de Caselas, will host a new archaeological excavation campaign between 13 and 31 July. The intervention will continue the work begun in 2024, which helped identify this site as one of the most significant fortified centres of the Early Middle Ages in the area around the River Miño.
The campaign is part of the research project Strategies of Territorial Control in Early Medieval Gallaecia —ConTroGAL—, led by Mario Pereiro Fernández, researcher at SÍNCRISIS-CISPAC of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. The work also forms part of the Castelos no Aire project and is funded by the municipalities of Ponteareas and Salceda de Caselas, with the collaboration of the common land communities of Guláns and A Picoña, owners of the land where the site is located.
In this new intervention, the excavation will focus on several buildings located in the central area of the settlement. The aim is to advance knowledge of the internal organisation of the inhabited space, analyse the relationship between the different documented structures and test the chronological hypotheses formulated on the basis of the results obtained during the previous campaign.
The work will be directed by Mario Pereiro and will involve technical staff from Tempos Arqueólogos, a company specialising in archaeological interventions, as well as students from the Degree in History at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. The campaign therefore combines scientific research with a training dimension, encouraging student participation in interventions linked to Galicia’s early medieval heritage
As in other activities within the Castelos no Aire project, the excavation will be carried out under the Open for Works initiative, which allows the public to visit the site while archaeological work is under way. Visitors will be able to learn first-hand about the development of the intervention and speak with the research team about the progress of the campaign.
Photographs: Aerial view of Alto de San Cibrán and 2024 excavation. Castelos no Aire
