Among the local population, the Roman remains have long been known, but only at the beginning of the last century did it become clear that what lay buried in the Aramanha Valley was a Roman city.
Built from the ground up in the 1st century AD, it reached its splendor in the following decades. From the 9th century, references to the city as an inhabited urban center disappear. Its stones were reused to construct other places and monuments.
From the ancient city, only a myth remained, until the early 20th century when strong indications emerged suggesting the existence of a city of great size in that area. In the mid-century the first excavations took place, and in the last decade the work intensified, also employing new technologies.
Archaeologists today know Ammaia’s layout and architecture, thanks to a technology that allowed radiographs of the entire area. The exploration work, managed by a private foundation, promises to bring further revelations about this city, which chronicles the story of Roman power and its decline on the Iberian Peninsula.
The archaeological excavations carried out to date were conducted in places where the ruins indicated the presence of structures dating to the Roman period (or possibly later periods).
These structures are mainly parts of the walls of this ancient Roman city, with their towers and a southern gate, which show signs of residential areas. Another area heavily explored is a monumental square that was paved, and an important road, called Cardo Maximus, which ran directly to the central area of the city, the Forum.
There are also ruins of a residential area in the site where the old Quinta do Deão residence stands, which now houses a museum where visitors can see some of the relics found to date at Ammaia.
Apart from these sites, there are also remains of public baths and of the forum, the latter with the podium of a temple still partially preserved; one can also see the walls of a portico that surrounded the temple in its heyday.
In its era, Ammaia, located in the Roman province of Lusitania, possessed an administrative territory that included much of what is now the Portalegre district and extended into areas that today belong to Spain.
During the fourth century, Ammaia was systematically rebuilt and its spaces restored. However, from the fifth to the ninth centuries, Ammaia declined, becoming depopulated.
