Santiponce Itálica

Heritage

An immense legacy waiting to be discovered

Francisco Sousa Archaeology and Palaeontology Museum

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Francisco Sousa began to collect objects for this museum in 1982. The exhibition was named after him when he passed away. Francisco Sousa was a religious teacher at Miguel de Mañara High School whom, with the help of some students, created a group dedicated to studying the nearby Cerro Macareno site and the fossil remains that appeared in the La Jarilla gravel pits. The first exhibition was set up at the High School in 1986.

The ownership of the collection was transferred to La Rinconada City Council in 1997, who relocated the objects to its definitive venue, the town’s Cultural Centre, built expressly for this collection. It was then that, coinciding with Sousa’s death, the Town Hall decided to name the museum after him.

In terms of archaeology, the exhibition offers the visitor a comprehensive collection of pottery from Cerro Macareno, which dates from the 8th to 1st centuries BC, with Tartessian, Phoenician, Greek, Iberian and Roman objects.

These are mostly everyday objects such as loom weights, slingshot bullets, terracotta votive offerings, fragments of amphorae and chandeliers.

A large earthenware container for storing grain is particularly noteworthy for its size and state of preservation, as are several stone mills and Roman architectural elements, such as the bases and part of the shaft of a large marble column.

In terms of Palaeontology, a great variety of fossils from all geological eras has been discovered (corals, trilobites, ammonites, vegetables, fish, etc.). However, without a doubt, the most remarkable object in the exhibition is the large remains of the Elephas Antiquus. This prehistoric elephant lived in La Rinconada 100,000 years ago, alongside large bulls and hippopotamuses. The molars and tusks are of impressive size (one of them is about four metres long).

Category
Opening times

Wednesday 10:00-13:00
Thursday and Friday: 17:00-20:00
Saturday: 10:00-14:00 and 17:00-20:00
Sunday: 10:00-14:00

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