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Roman Forum Identified in Southern Spain

ANDALUSIA, SPAIN—According to a Sci News report, a Roman forum has been identified in southern Spain at the site of Ubrique. Macarena Bustamante Álvarez of the University of Granada said that local eighteenth-century scholar Juan Vegazo first suggested that the forum of an ancient Roman city was at the site, which is located on the Cerro de la Mora. Bustamante Álvarez and her colleagues uncovered a possible enclosure wall more than 50 feet long, remnants of large buildings, and a monumental altar, all of which have been dated to the Roman period. “These include the bases and shafts of columns, as well as other evidence of statue pedestals and column remains scattered throughout the city,” she said. Pottery and coins unearthed at the site suggest that it was inhabited until the end of the fourth century A.D. One of the coins bears Christian iconography, Bustamante Álvarez added. To read about a Roman arch unearthed at the southern Spanish city of Mengíbar, go to “Making an Entrance.”