Marco Flavio perceived the pattering of the rain on the armors and the wet clay of the ground against his cheek. His mind drifted back to the rainy nights when his mother would comfort him from the thunder in distant Thrace. “Jupiter is angry,” she’d whisper, lifting him onto her knees. The soldier of the Legio VII Gemina had gone on patrol the previous evening with a fixed plan: to desert by nightfall. He’d heard rumors that Emperor Aurelian was preparing to send a detachment to distant Palmyra.
Under the cover of darkness, the legionary set off lightly, carrying only an iron dagger and a loculus, a knapsack with some unleavened bread. Marcus Flavius had barely advanced a league when he heard shouts of alarm from the camp. If he failed to escape, he faced the fustuarium, the brutal execution for deserters. The next day, it rained.
Nearly two millennia later, a group of archaeologists began to excavate the limestone soil of a hill near Almendralejo, a town in the Spanish region of Extremadura. They soon discovered the remains of a male skeleton with a pugio, the dagger of the legionaries. The body, dated between the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., was buried face down, perhaps a sign of dishonor, in a shallow grave suggesting a hasty burial.
How did he end up there? Was he an executed legionary? A deserter? We named him Marco Flavio, but his true story remains a mystery. This was yet another surprise from the Cortijo Lobato archaeological site. Together with ACCIONA technicians, the team of archaeologists was uncovering one of the greatest finds of recent decades.
Archaeology is the narrative built from tangible remains preserved over time. We still don't know what that body was doing in the middle of a much older site, but we do know that its remains likely would never have seen the light of day if not for the installation of ACCIONA Energía's Extremadura I, II, and III photovoltaic complex, located in the municipality of Almendralejo.
In this article, we explain how renewable energy and archaeological research are working hand in hand in a pioneering collaboration that respects the legacy of our ancestors while ensuring the future of our descendants.
The Iberian Peninsula is rich in archaeological sites. From the Atapuerca chasm to Arab fortifications, Neolithic dolmens, the necropolis of the enigmatic Tartessos, Iberian busts, and Roman amphitheaters, each civilization has left its mark.
However, few places have traces from such diverse periods as those found at Cortijo Lobato. Specifically, remains from settlers dating from 2800 B.C. to the 5th century A.D. have been discovered in the area. That means the Copper Age (or Chalcolithic), the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Low Roman Empire—all coexisting in the same space: the Extremadura I-II-III photovoltaic complex, which encompasses 11 sites.
On March 1, 2021, during preliminary surveys of Extremadura III, significant traces of prehistoric human activity began to emerge. This led to discussions with the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Regional Government of Extremadura. The goal was to locate, delimit, and safeguard the sites while finding ways to enable the construction of the photovoltaic installation.
Modern archaeology is costly in terms of economics, time, and human resources, so research must often be selected and postponed. One way to overcome this is through collaboration between companies and the public sector. This is the path we chose to follow.
“Preserving this heritage has been a priority from the start. We hired an archaeology company and worked closely with regional authorities to ensure the site’s margins were not compromised,” says Mikel Ortiz de Latierro, ACCIONA Energía’s Environment, Social, Health, Safety, and Quality Director.
According to Montserrat Girón, archaeologist at TERA S.L., coordinating the excavation work, this is a “very big commitment” from ACCIONA Energía, which includes the participation of a team of some fifteen archaeology specialists, in the commitment to research the archaeological site that it has acquired. The work has already begun and will continue for the coming years.
Archaeologists highlight the overlapping of different periods in one place as the most exciting aspect of the Cortijo Lobato site. Besides the abundance of loom plates, plates, flint arrowheads, chisels, stone axes, and ornamental and religious slate elements, the settlement’s structure is remarkable.
The site includes an enclosure with three concentric walls and four moats carved into the rock, corresponding to a Chalcolithic fortification known as a moat enclosure. It’s also where a Roman legionary, buried under unusual circumstances, was found—a Roman, “infiltrated” in the Copper Age.
At its peak, the fortress walls stretched 550 meters and featured 25 towers, with moats over two meters deep. What prompted such a defensive effort?
The peninsula had been gradually turning into a fertile granary, initially for Neolithic settlers and later fully consolidated by the Romans. However, it is believed that in the third millennium B.C., a severe drought severely limited agricultural production. It became necessary to erect large fortifications to protect crops of wheat and barley, legumes such as lentils, and possibly olive and grapevine plants. Those settlers also had to face their own climatic emergency.
The consolidation of agriculture and the advent of metallurgy, specifically copper tools, place the Chalcolithic in a crucial position for the development of modern societies. This is why the Cortijo Lobato site holds significant importance in the Spanish archaeological context, alongside other major Chalcolithic settlements such as the impressive village of Los Millares in Almería.
These five-thousand-year-old settlements speak to us of some of the earliest complex social organizations. Moreover, Cortijo Lobato takes us by the hand and leads us from that foundational moment to a society as evolved as the Roman one. The current excavations within ACCIONA's photovoltaic park have only just begun, but they will surely help us unravel some of the mysteries of those prehistoric ancestors and their place in time.
To grasp the magnitude of the solar plant where the Cortijo Lobato site is located, consider that its three sites supply 125 MW of renewable energy, equivalent to the annual consumption of over sixty-five thousand families. As construction progressed, the areas needing archaeological protection within the plant expanded to 35 hectares.
This is where reconciling renewable energy supply with archaeological preservation comes into play. “We had to modify the project like a ‘tetris’ to adapt the panel configuration to the different areas of the site,” explains Jenifer Andreu, responsible for ACCIONA Energía’s Environment. “In the end, we managed to preserve the electricity generation capacity and protect all the areas of archaeological interest.”
It’s still too early to predict the full course of the archaeological excavations. What more remains will appear in the coming years? One thing is certain: we have a historic opportunity to learn more about our origins and discover the fate of our ancestors through their historical and climatic transitions.
At ACCIONA, we support this project as part of our commitment to protecting cultural heritage within the framework of a more sustainable economy. Reflecting on the initial find, Jenifer Andreu concludes, "The idea of finding that ancient Roman iron dagger in a museum someday, and knowing it was discovered thanks to the work of ACCIONA Energía, seems deeply humbling to me.".
