Iruña-Veleia

The town was founded in the 8th century BC, in the Late Bronze Age. The houses from this period, rectangular and round with adobe walls and thatched roofs, are similar to those found at the nearby site of Atxa (Vitoria).

In the first half of the 1st century some of these houses were replaced by others of Roman style (domus). This architectural romanization continued as the century advanced.

The late Roman city (3rd and 4th centuries) is better known. It shows signs of decay and the construction of a wall that encloses an eleven hectare area. The town survived into the 5th century after Roman power had disappeared from the region, but by the end of the century only burial plots in abandoned buildings are found.

There was an abbey at the site at least since the 16th century whose buildings remained visible until the mid 19th century.

The Iruña-Veleia site had been granted 3.72 million euros funding by the Basque regional government. In 2006, a series of sensational findings at Iruña-Veleia were announced to the press by the director of the archaeological mission. These included what would have been the oldest non-onomastical texts in Basque, which were hailed as the first evidence of written Basque. Also, it was announced the discovery of a series of inscriptions and drawings on pottery fragments, some of which refer to Egyptian history and even some written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Finally, it was announced the finding of the earliest representation of the Calvary (crucifixion of Jesus) found anywhere to date.[6]

Eventually, a committee of experts, the "Comisión Científica Asesora" ("Scientific Advisory Committee") was constituted by the provincial government of Álava to study the findings.[7] The committee was originally made up of nine academics, all professors of the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria, along with three members of the provincial government of Álava, the director of the Provincial Museum of Archaeology, and the director of the excavation (Eliseo Gil), and was presided over by one of the members of the provincial government of Álava. Later others were added from Madrid, Italy and Britain.[8] Alicia Canto, professor of classical archaeology and epigraphy at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, cast doubts over the capacity of such committee to elucidate the veracity of the sherd inscriptions based on linguistic grounds, as well as highlighting the contradictory positions shown by some of its members while noting that some claimed texts were "beyond salvation".[8]

At its fifth meeting on November 19, 2008, every report except that by Gil found problems with the so-called "exceptionals".[8] The culture deputy of Álava, Lorena Lopez de la Callecase, dubbed the case the "biggest archaeological fraud in the history of the Iberian Peninsula", and demoted the chief technical official of the Archaeological Museum of Álava for her support to the authenticity of the findings.[9] Basque journalist Alberto Barandiaran called it "the product of an elaborate hoax."[10] Ultimately, one of the members of the committee, Julio Núñez, became the new director of the Iruña-Veleia archaeological excavations.[11]

The provincial government of Alava pursued legal actions against the alleged perpetrators of the supposed fraud.[1][12] The sponsors of the project (Euskotren) also brought charges against the archaeological team, but the case was dismissed, and only the lawsuit filed by the provincial government of Alava remained in force.

In June 2020 the perpetrators were found guilty of fraud and the production of false records.[5] The court ruling stated that the artefacts had been modified "with contemporary incisions that were intended to suggest they contained inscriptions or markings of the same age as the objects themselves, and that they possessed a historical and cultural value of which they were devoid.” Gil plans to appeal.[13]