Internet Archaeol. 14 Kaiser.Excavations at Empúries

4.2 Excavations at Empúries

The Junta de Museus de Barcelona, under the direction of the noted Catalan architect Joan Puig i Cadafalch, began excavations at the site in 1908 (Puig i Cadafalch 1908, 150-51). These excavations have continued on a nearly annual basis up to the present (Mar and Ruiz 1993, 58-60). During the 20th century excavators uncovered approximately 95% of the area within the walls of Neapolis and about 10% of the area within the walls of the Roman city and Palaiapolis. Most of the ruins visible today at the site are the remains of buildings that were in use during the 1st century CE (Fig. 5). Considering the nearly complete excavation of Neapolis, the standing architecture gives us an unusually complete glimpse of one portion of a first century CE Roman city. Thus Empúries is the perfect place to conduct an experiment in determining the viewshed of temples and domus in the urban environment.

Figure 5: View of a small portion of the excavated ruins at Empúries