The company Baula Recerca Arqueològica SL has begun the work of clearing, documenting and consolidating the archaeological remains of the Ca la Madrona site in Mataró (Maresme). These works are preparatory to the dismantling and storage of the findings for their future transfer to the Bon Recés area with the aim of relocating them to an interpretation center that will allow them to be disseminated.
The intervention has the authorization of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat, which is processing the permit for the transfer of the findings to this nearby green area where they will be adapted for public visits. This will allow progress in the works of the first phase of the Parc Circular Mataró-Maresme, a unique public infrastructure project in Europe of high environmental, economic and social value that aims to change the current production and consumption model. in the circular economy model.
At the end of 2020, and during the work to remove the industrial preconstructions and initial archaeological survey of the area where the first phase of the Parc Circular will be located, some archaeological remains were found that, with the data available so far, can be framed in three different periods.
The 14th century: a good number of ditches have been documented for planting vineyards arranged in rows and which are limited by a wall that acts as a terrace. Built in the first half of the 5th century and amortized between the end of the same century or the beginning of the 6th – late Roman period – a street has been found delimited by a large building that preserves an entrance door and a parallel wall. On both sides of the street there is a documented necropolis from which 88 tombs have been excavated. The studies indicate that the building would be an open-air construction, without a roof. In Catalonia, very similar buildings have been found in the Monastery of Santa Caterina and the Monastery of Sant Cugat with necropolis around; That is why current hypotheses lead us to think that this building is a funerary classroom.
1st to 4th centuries – Roman period – From this moment a building built around 70 AD has been documented. C., extensively renovated at the end of the 3rd century or beginning of the 4th century, in which it is configured as a building with five different areas that would correspond to rooms in the rustic part of a villa or to an isolated establishment for agricultural or industrial purposes, lasting until the first half of the 5th century. From this period, two torcularium have also been found, that is, two cellars for making wine.
The state of conservation of the remains is quite bad, since it is a site very devastated by the industrial past of the plot. In this way, given that the interest of the remains is not in the relevance of the preserved structures, but in the knowledge they provide and to make their conservation compatible with the construction of the Mataró-Maresme Circular Park, the findings will be transferred for future use. dissemination in an interpretation center.
The objective is that the museumized remains explain the diachrony of the site and the various agricultural, religious and funerary uses that it had. The following structures will be relocated: the alleged funerary classroom, part of the late ancient tombs and the remains of the building that would correspond to rooms of the rustic part of a Roman villa.
The proposal of the Mataró City Council is to locate this equipment in the Bon Recés area, that is, 250 meters from the original location of the finds. There, a new urban park will be planned for the city that will house the interpretation center and welcome its visitors. With this proposal, Mataró maintains the circular economy park project, while gaining a new center to house the findings and highlight a green area with a new cultural reference for the city.
The Mataró-Maresme Circular Park is a project focused on the circular economy and aims to promote the repair and reuse of materials and products to reduce waste production. Its construction, which occupies a two-hectare plot, is promoted by the Maresme Waste Consortium, an entity made up of 28 town councils in the region under the presidency of Mataró, and also with the participation of the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Maresme Regional Council. . The estimated investment is 11 million from the Generalitat and the Next Generation funds, 18 million from the Maresme Consortium City Councils and 12 million from private investment.
Activities of a different nature will be carried out in the Park, but all of them integrated into an overall vision and under the principles of the Circular Economy. The first phase of the project foresees the Espai Refer, which will include a set of free services for citizens aimed at reducing waste: advisory service for self-repair in different areas (computer science and electronic devices, carpentry and furniture, bicycles, textiles, domestic DIY, etc.), a library of things, a Scrap Store, a reusable tableware loan service, a large second-hand store, a kitchen where workshops will be held to prevent food waste, among other actions that will include the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups.
The execution of the first phase also includes improving the management and selection of bulky waste to maximize recovery potential. The following phases of the Park will focus on activities of a more technological and industrial nature, of private initiative.
What makes the project disruptive is unifying in the same ecosystem initiatives aimed at citizens with private initiatives aimed at implementing business activities in the field of the circular economy.
The Mataró-Maresme Circular Park will generate synergies with the urban improvement and development policies of the adjoining neighborhoods and will energize the Mata-Rocafonda industrial estate as a pole of attraction for circular industries and initiatives. It will also generate new and better employment, economic and social resilience, territorial impact and tractor effect, with scalable and replicable experiences. The project will have a very positive socioeconomic impact for Mataró and Maresme. It is estimated that 381 jobs will be created during the construction phase and another 211 during the exploitation phase.
It is a project aligned with the European Green Deal and the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy and represents the innovative transition towards a new model of production and consumption that acts as a lever for industrial modernization, the generation of knowledge and the development of new urban models. The Mataró-Maresme Circular Park is committed to industry 4.0, the knowledge economy and digitalization.
