Archaeologists in Urús, Spain, have uncovered Roman sling bullets inscribed with the name of Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, the Roman governor who led forces against an ancient revolt in the Pyrenees mountains of northeastern Spain. The discovery was made alongside the remains of a related Roman military camp.
The camp, discovered near a mountain pass known as Collet de Jovell, is linked to a rebellion by the Ceretani people against Roman rule in 39 B.C. Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona say the site represents the last known military clash between local tribes in the region now known as Catalonia and Roman forces.
The discovery also changes historians’ understanding of where the fighting took place. Experts had long believed the revolt occurred farther west in the Pyrenees, but the new evidence points instead to Cerdanya, the ancestral homeland of the Ceretani people. Rome’s conquest of the Iberian Peninsula lasted nearly two centuries and was marked by repeated resistance from local populations, according to researchers.
From ambush to excavation: Piecing together the Ceretani revolt
Roman troops first arrived on the Mediterranean coast at Emporion in 218 BC. The ancient historian Cassius Dio wrote that the Ceretani ambushed Roman soldiers around 39 BC., forcing them to retreat.
According to Cassius Dio’s account, Calvinus punished his own soldiers for fleeing the ambush before moving to suppress the revolt.
The camp was discovered during a survey conducted in April 2024 as part of a long-running research project referred to as Landscape and Territory in Ancient Cerdanya. The team, led by Oriol Olesti, Joan Oller, and Jordi Morera, along with local researchers, recorded and mapped each artifact using GPS before adding the data to a digital database.
Excavators recovered iron studs from Roman military sandals, clothing pins known as fibulae, and coins, all of which date the site to the second half of the first century BC. Two lead sling bullets provided the most precise evidence.
How Roman sling bullets confirmed a governor’s camp
Roman soldiers cast sling bullets from lead rather than gathering stones, and the two recovered at the site bear the inscription CN D, short for Cneus Domitius. Researchers matched the marking to Calvinus, linking the camp directly to the governor’s campaign against the Ceretani.
The team believes the camp’s position, overlooking a route into the Cerdanya plain, made it a strategic base for Roman forces during the revolt.
After the uprising failed, Roman forces carried out harsh repression, and Ceretani settlements across the region were largely abandoned, according to researchers.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
