The Numantine Museum of Soria located in

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...

, Spain, focuses on the history of the

province of Soria Soria is a Province (Spain), province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. Most of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. Demogr ...

through art and archaeology. The name chosen for the museum, which means pertaining to

Numantia Numantia ( es, Numancia) is an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the current municipality of Garray (Soria), Spain. Numantia is famous for its role in the Celtiberian Wars. In 15 ...

, reflects the historical importance of Spain's most famous

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

, which is a few kilometres from Soria. The museum also displays material relating to other Iron Age settlements in the province, notably

Tiermes In Sami shamanism, Horagalles, also written Hora Galles and Thora Galles and often equated with Tiermes or ''Aijeke'' (i.e. "grandfather or great grandfather"), is the thunder god. He is depicted as a wooden figure with a nail in the head and with ...

and

Uxama Uxama Argaela was a Celtiberian, and subsequently Roman, city located on El Castro hill, overlooking the present town of El Burgo de Osma in Soria, Spain. Topography of Uxama History As one of the cities of the Arevaci, it actively participat ...

, complementing small on-site museums.

History

The museum was the result of a 1919 merger of two museums in Soria, the Provincial Museum founded in the 19th century and inaugurated in 1913, and the Museo Numantino that was developed from the study of the archaeological site of

, that began in the 19th century and gained importance from 1906 to 1923. The museum building was designed by Manuel Aníbal Álvarez and funded by Ramón Benito Aceña. It was constructed on land donated by the Council and inaugurated 18 September 1919 by

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...

. In 1932 the ''Museo Provincial'' changed its name to ''Museo Celtibérico''. In 1941 the two museums united but maintained their independence until 1968. The integrated museums were called ''Museo Provincial de Soria'' first, then ''Museo de Soria'' and finally ''Museo Numantino''. In 1989 it took on a total reform and the exposition was amplified up to 7.000 m².

Building

The original building was one story with three wings among which there were two courtyards. In the 1980s was extended to a body of three floors in a building on the side of the courtyard. Conceived in chronological order, the visit begins in the Lower Paleolithic with the parts remaining of an Elephas Antiquus. From Bronze Age it can be highlighted weapons and tombstones and from the Iron Age, potteryare vessels and forts. From the Celtiberian stage are preserved pottery, brooches, pectorals, weapons and tools from the fields of Numancia, Uxama, Tiermes and others in the province. From the Roman period there are objects found in villages and cemeteries. Closes the provincial archaeological landscape the Middle Ages, from which there are preserved architectural ruins, pottery and coins.

Funds

It has three floors in two wings, divided into six main exhibition halls. The permanent exhibition presents, in chronological order, the history of the province of Soria. It starts at the

Lower Paleolithic The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in ...

and passes to the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

, highlighting the

Solutrean The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Paleolithic of the Final Gravettian, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP. Solutrean sites have been found in modern-day France, Spain and Portugal. Details T ...

piece known as ''Placa de Villalba''. The deposits of the southwest of the province provide a lot of Neolithic objects.

Beaker Culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the Inverted bell, inverted-bell beaker (archaeology), beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the E ...

and the Bronze Age are also important pieces represented as belonging to the Covelda deposit and the Villar del Alba menhir. The Iron Age has its representation obtained in several fields, but notably those of Numantia, Tiermes and Uxama. This period occupies the exhibition halls on the upper floors that make up the Celtiberian Section. The Roman occupation was very important due to its social and political changes. The museum displays findings from the sites of Cuevas de Soria, Santervás del Burgo and Quintanares de Rioseco also highlighting found at Numantia. There's a Visigothic representation that comes from places that were consolidated as the towns of Numancia, Osma and Tiermes. There are important Muslim pieces reflecting the strong Muslim presence in the province where they organised the Marca Media with capital in

Medinaceli Medinaceli () is a municipality and town in the province of Soria, in Castile and León, Spain. The municipality includes other villages like Torralba del Moral. Etymology Its name derives from the Arabic 'madīnat salīm', which was named afte ...

. After the Muslims left, the Christian repopulation implants Romanesque and Gothic art. The exhibition ''Celtibérica'' is also chronologically ordered and divided into three periods, the old, full and late with many pieces in all. It can be highlighted the notable funerary pediment with swords and antennas, brooches, pectorals or spiral plate and funerary urns. Also relevant is the ceramic part.Guía del Museo
/ref> The route is accessible for blind and partially sighted people to whom they are addressed a number of pieces and reproductions that can be touched.

References

{{authority control Archaeological museums in Spain Museums in Castile and León Province of Soria