064: Dig the Spanish Civil War & the medieval town of Belchite, Spain

General Information

The Sanisera Archaeology Institute for International Field Schools, which has been running archaeology courses since 2008, takes part in 2027 as a partner institution in the archaeological research project that the Spanish Association of Military Archaeology has been carrying out for years in Belchite, in the province of Zaragoza, with the support of Belchite Town Council. The project is directed by Dr. Alfonso Fanjul Peraza, president of the association, director of the Cuetu Civil War Museum (Lugones, Asturias) and leader of numerous excavations related to the Spanish Civil War. Thanks to this partnership, Sanisera students can join the project’s excavation teams.

Belchite is one of the best-known scenes of the Spanish Civil War. In August and September 1937 the town was destroyed during one of the hardest battles on the Aragon front, in which the International Brigades also took part, and it was never rebuilt: the old town was left in ruins as a testimony to the conflict, while the inhabitants moved to a new town built next to it. Beneath those ruins the layout of the medieval town is still preserved. The excavations begun in 2021, the first ever authorized in the ruins, showed that Belchite has been inhabited since Roman times, and in 2024 they led to an extraordinary discovery: the medieval synagogue, one of the best-preserved in Spain. Since then the project has focused on the excavation of the synagogue and of the Jewish quarter in which it was built, while continuing to study the remains of the 1937 battle.

The 2027 research has two goals: to continue the excavation of the medieval synagogue and the Jewish quarter, with test pits in the medieval quarters to study the origins of Belchite, and to record on a map all the materials from the 1937 battle found in the old town. The course therefore offers an unusual experience, combining the archaeology of a modern conflict and the archaeology of a medieval town at the same site.

Medieval capital found in situ during the excavation of the Jewish quarter of Belchite

XI International Brigade in combat at Belchite, 1937

Students walking through the ruins of the old town of Belchite at dawn

Excavation next to the gate of the old town of Belchite

Medieval glazed pottery sherd recovered during the excavation

Excavation of the Jewish quarter at sunrise, with the church of San Martín de Tours behind

Church of San Martín de Tours with its Mudéjar tower, Belchite old town

Interior of the church of San Martín de Tours

Excavation of the medieval synagogue of Belchite