Analysis of the Western Late-Roman Cemetery of O Areal: Example of an Atlantic Coastal Funerary Site in the Harbour of Vigo (Spain)

Abstract

The modern city of Vigo (Galicia, Spain) was an important commercial harbour during the Roman and Late-Roman periods, especially as a link between Mediterranean and North Atlantic routes, acting as an entrepot for maritime trade. This not only brought foreign products and population to this Roman vicus, but also ideas, customs, and traditions which are reflected in its funerary spaces. The Western Cemetery of O Areal, one of Vigo’s major burial areas during the Late Antiquity, is clear evidence of this movement of foreign ideas, presenting much more variety in terms of tomb types and burial customs than other north-western coastal cemeteries, especially as it served the funerary needs of a secondary agglomeration and not a conventual capital of Gallaecia. The study of this area has also revealed some similarities with British funerary customs, a reflection of the connections between this Hispanic territory and the Northern provinces of the Empire.