Roman camp of La Cerca (Aguilar de Anguita)

A commanding summit

Between Aguilar de Anguita and Anguita, atop a flat-topped hill, a vast walled perimeter of 12 hectares controls the Tajuña valley, the passage towards the Tagus, and the watershed with the Jalón. It lay in the territory of the Lusones, a Celtiberian tribe of the region.

A century-long debate

Discovered in 1912 by the Marquis of Cerralbo, who excavated around 1915, interpreting it as an Ibero-Roman enclosure. Soon after, German archaeologist Adolf Schulten, citing Livy, identified it as a Roman military camp: the operational base of Cato’s army in the early 2nd century BC to assault Segontia and subdue Celtiberia. Later researchers, such as Jorge Sánchez-Lafuente, consider it primarily a Celtiberian city later reoccupied by Roman legions.

Recent findings

In 2026, more than a century after Cerralbo, new excavations yielded numismatic and military evidence of Roman legions. Nearby lie the dolmen of Portillo de las Cortes and the hillfort of Hocincavero. More in Celtiberia.