Remains of ancient Oiasso ongoing at the Oiasso Roman Museum in Irun, Spain

Remains of ancient Oiasso ongoing at the Oiasso Roman Museum in Irun, Spain.
This museum's archaeological collections include objects worked in leather and wood that reflect an urban settlement developed during the first centuries of the common era as a result of its busy port, located on the Atlantic sea route and mines in the vicinity. The collections are organized in three rooms. The Impact Room presents the Vascon indigenous world and objects from the first contacts between it and the Roman colonizers. During the Sertorian War of 80-72 BCE Pompey established his headquarters in the territory of the Vascones and it is claimed that he founded Pompaelo, modern day Pamplona, but later studies show it was already the chief town of the Vascones. The Puerto room of the museum, displays ancient artifacts from commerce and fishing. Finally, the Oiasso room focuses on the daily aspects of a Roman city of the high imperial period - diet, clothing, writing, leisure and religion. Visitors can also board a tram that will take them to the Santa Elena necropolis and the Irugurutzeta mines. Although the mining operations of Aiako Harria and its surroundings began in Roman times, the structures that can be visited in Irugurutzeta have to do with the mining iron ore in the 20th century.


Image: A Bronze attachment depicting the Roman goddess Minerva. Image courtesy of the Oiasso Roman Museum.

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