ARCHIVED - Archaeological excavations conclude in Málaga metro construction site
Work to build an underground railway in the Andalusian city have brought to light 4,000 m2 of archaeological remains covering 8 centuries of history, from the Muslim era to the modern day.
Archaeological work on the final part of the Renfe-Guadalmedina section of Málaga’s metro has been completed, local and regional representatives have confirmed during a visit to the site. The 4.5-million-euro project began in 2019 when workers digging tunnels for the city’s new underground railway came across a series of remains of the western suburb of Muslim Málaga from the 11th to 14th centuries and later elements from the 16th to 18th centuries. The project has included efforts to research, record, extract, protect, transfer and store remains found under Avenida de Andalucía and Armengual de la Mota and to modify metro construction plans.
The latest archaeological activities at the site involved reinforcing, protecting and supporting two segments of the enclosing wall of the Arrabal de Attabanim, discovered in July of last year during the digging of the final 100 metres of tunnel in the area near the Guadalmedina river bed.
A meticulous operation was required to preserve them as they are vestiges with Cultural Interest Asset status as a part of the Attabanim archaeological complex. Following a resolution to protect them ‘in situ’ the metro project had to adapt to allow for the rampart remains to be supported and screens put into place to avoid damage from the metro tunnels beneath them.
While the walls will remain in their rightful place, smaller items found during the metro works have been removed and will be put on display in a museum in the future.