Solar Plant Construction Takes Unexpected Turn After Workers Uncover 5,000-Year-Old Discovery

Spain is famous for its alternative energy power plants – if Don Quixote were alive today, he would perhaps go crazy with joy because of the number of wind turbines, and the sunny south of the country is literally covered in solar panels. Yes, this doesn’t guarantee the absence of blackouts – but today we won’t talk about that…

A few years ago, workers were excavating near the town of Almendralejo in southwestern Spain, intending to begin construction of a new solar power plant – however, these plans of the energy company Acciona Energia weren’t destined to come true. In return, we got several archaeological discoveries at once.

More info: Acciona Energia

The workers in Spain once started doing earthwork to build a solar power plant – and found an ancient fortress

Aerial view of workers uncovering a 5000-year-old fortress during excavation for a solar farm construction site.

Image credits: ACCIONA / Youtube

The archaeologists say that the fortress was built in the Copper Age, which means it’s around 5,000 years old

Almendralejo is a small town in the province of Badajoz, which is in southwestern Spain, near the Portuguese border, and the largest historical find there is a ceremonial dish of the Roman emperor Theodosius, dating back to about 388 A.D. Today, the dish is in a museum in Madrid, but the town has given archaeologists a new reason to talk about it.

Aerial view of workers uncovering a 5000-year-old fortress during solar farm construction excavation site.

Image credits: Tera S.L.

It all started in 2021, when employees of the energy company Acciona Energia began installing a new solar power plant – but the first excavations already discovered the remains of an ancient fortress in the ground. The archaeologists who arrived confirmed that the oldest finds there date back to about 2,450 B.C. – that is, almost five thousand years ago.

Archaeologist photographing ancient skeletal remains uncovered during workers digging for solar farm construction.

Image credits: Tera S.L.

Now, scientists from all over the country and abroad are going there to examine the fortress and its findings

The hilltop fortress, called Cortijo Lobato, is a fortification of about 140,000 square feet – and archaeologists are pretty sure that, at its peak during the Copper Age, it had three rings of walls and almost 25 towers. In other words, it is the largest fortification of that time in Spain – twice as large as the one other site like it in whole country.

Ancient human skeletons partially uncovered by workers digging to build solar farm, revealing 5000-year-old fortress remains.

Image credits: ACCIONA / Youtube

At that time, there were no states in the classical sense in the territory of modern Spain, so the fortress probably just served to protect local settlements from wild animals and, possibly, from aggressive neighboring tribes. However, judging by the state of the fortress gates, it was stormed more than once, so it fulfilled its function, but obviously not always successfully…

Ancient stone arrowheads and tools uncovered during digging for a solar farm near a 5000-year-old fortress site.

Image credits: Tera S.L.

Researchers carefully examined the remains of the walls and fortifications, and found that a large fire had once taken place there.

“One of the strongest indications that this was an intentional act is the burning of wooden doors embedded in the adobe walls. These doors were far from other flammable materials, which suggests that the fire was not accidental, but rather the result of an assault on the fortification,” a dedicated article on the El Pais website says.

Ancient rusted sword being measured with a ruler, discovered during digging for solar farm construction site.

Image credits: ACCIONA / Youtube

The fortress was in use for about 400 years – quite a short time from a historical perspective. However, at that time, most of Western Europe was made up of simple agricultural communities, so there was simply no organized state that could take care of the restoration of the once ruined fortress.

Ancient rusted dagger uncovered during excavation at site planned for solar farm construction.

Image credits: Tera S.L.

The power plant won’t be built there, but the findings could provide a boost for the region’s tourism and economy instead

Well, the company had to say goodbye to plans to build a power plant in the area, but now Almendralejo has become a real place of pilgrimage for scientists, both from all over Spain and abroad. Perhaps such a large-scale historical find, and the upcoming discoveries, will also contribute to the development of tourism in the region.

Rows of solar panels installed near a large excavation site where workers uncovered a 5000-year-old fortress.

Image credits: Tera S.L.

“We are very excited about this project, as the recovery of this valuable heritage will undoubtedly boost tourism and the economy of the area,” says Mikel Ortiz de Latierro, Acciona Energía’s Director of Environment, Social, Health and Safety, and Quality, in a statement on the company’s official website.

“We have already received the first academic visitors who have shown great interest in the sites.” Moreover, new finds in Almendralejo show that people also lived here later.

Aerial view of solar panels installed on grassland casting long shadows at sunset during solar farm construction.

Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)

The new finding, for example, is the burial of a man – probably a Roman legionary

During the Roman Empire, Legio VII Gemina was based in Spain, which was mainly engaged in maintaining order and the road system. Not far from the ancient fortress, archaeologists also found a burial site from that time, where a man with his feet cut had been buried face down, and a sheathed dagger had been placed on his back.

Worker digging near solar panels at a solar farm construction site uncovering a 5000-year-old ancient fortress site.

Image credits: anatoliy_gleb / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Historians believe that this could be the grave of one of the Roman soldiers, because the dagger, called ‘pugio,’ is a standard weapon of the legionnaires of that period. As for the position of the body face down – this could probably mean that he was given a dishonorable burial. Perhaps the guy committed some kind of offense, but we are unlikely to learn the truth.

Workers installing solar farm supports in a grassy field next to a large solar panel and surrounding trees.

Image credits: anatoliy_gleb / Freepik (not the actual photo)

Be that as it may, it’s always interesting when completely unexpected discoveries happen in the most diverse areas of human knowledge – from physics or chemistry to history and archeology. So let’s hope that further excavations in Almendralejo will bring us many more exciting finds and reasons for scientific research. Who knows, maybe the mystery of the forgotten legionary will also be revealed someday…

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