Valdeherreros-La Azafuera (Riba de Saelices): from Celtiberian village to Roman vicus

Across from the cave

Facing the Cueva de los Casares, on the left bank of the Valdeherreros stream where it joins the Linares or Salado river, in Riba de Saelices, lies a site recounting Rome’s arrival at the paramera.

Two lives, two destructions

• The first occupation is late Celtiberian, from the 2nd century BC: a pottery production area with stone structures for kilns, and adobe houses with thatch roofs. It was destroyed within that same century.
• After a century-long gap, the site was reoccupied in the imperial Roman era, as a small vicus dependent on the oppidum of Riba de Saelices. It was destroyed again in the 2nd century AD.

Researchers have even examined whether any of those destructions could have been caused by an earthquake.

Nearby

Above the cave stands the watchtower. More in Celtiberia.

Visiting

We must be clear: of all the Celtiberian sites in the Señorío, today only two are genuinely prepared for visitors, El Ceremeño in Herrería and Peña Moñuz in Olmeda de Cobeta. Valdeherreros-La Azafuera is scarcely adapted for the public: unarranged, almost without signposts, and with what can be seen with the naked eye very difficult to interpret without guidance. If you visit, do not stray from the paths, do not climb on walls, and do not collect anything from the ground.