Balsa (Roman Town) - Urbanism and Territory

Urbanism and Territory

Several testimonies describe the existence of very extensive and dense Roman building remains before 1977. The archaeological terrain has been being heavily destroyed since then to the present days (2008) by agricultural works and the building of suburban villas.

Archaeological exploration has been very limited to two necropolises, two bath buildings, three fish factories and a few structures. The larger part has been done in the 19th century, with pre-scientific standards. On the other hand, a total of sixty places with Roman findings are known in the archaeological perimeter of BALSA.

Archaeotopography revealed important and extensive urban structures: a theatre, a pier and internal harbour, a hippodrome, large hippodamic quarters and several others.

The urban centre had an extraordinary size for a municipal town without a capital status: the urban limits spawned no less than 116 acres (47 ha) and the peri-urban area occupied at least 266 acres (108 ha). Its plan reveals a double town, or a massive development juxtaposed in two urban moments.

The civitas territory corresponded to modern Eastern Algarve, bordering the province of Baetica and with an approximate area of 585 square miles (1,520 km2), mostly occupied by hills then rich in forests and minerals.

Significant remains of Roman agrarian centuriations can still be traced in modern surveys, limited to the littoral plains where olive groves, vineyards and dry orchards are historically best adapted. The coast was formed by lagoons and estuaries, whose agro-maritime capacities were extensively exploited in Roman times.

The major fluvial road of river Anas (modern Guadiana) was controlled from BALSA territory along its better navigable part, draining several mining districts south of Myrtilis (Mértola, Portugal). Several better known villae or vici like "Pedras d'el-Rei", "Paul da Asseca", "Cacela", "Manta Rota", "Vale do Boto", "Álamo", "Montinho das Laranjeiras" and many others belonged to the territory of BALSA.