Decoración parietal de un edificio paleocristiano en el Conjunto Arqueológico de Cástulo

Abstract

Last october 2014, a glass paten decorated with the Traditio Legis was discovered in the Archaeological Site of Castulo. At the same time, and in the same building, some wall coverings dated to the middle of the fourth century were discovered too; they are the object of study of the present work. Two fragments of mural painting of considerable dimensions have been preserved. These fragments would decorate the wall of a bench; the objective of this work has been the study of its decoration as well as the characterization of its constituent materials and its execution technique. The wall coverings present a continuos decoraction scheme, more common in ceiling decorations than walls, bases on geometric elements, like diagonal lines of various colors, and vegetable motifs, specifically flowers inscribed in double diamonds and single squares . The paintings have been executed in fresco on a single layer of lime mortar. Pigments typical of the roman palette have been used like hematite or green earth.