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LII. — Notes on Spanish Archeology — particularly its Prehis- 

 toric Remains. By Lord Talbot de Malahide, President, 

 E I. A. 



[Read April 26th, 1869.] 



Spain is a country full of interest, and has been very imperfectly ex- 

 plored. Its riches in an Agricultural, Metallurgical, and Geological 

 point of view, are tolerably well known. The great masters of the 

 painting schools of Seville, Badajoz, Granada, and Valencia have a world- 

 wide reputation. Its sacred edifices, especially the cathedrals of Burgos, 

 Toledo, Cordoba, and Seville, have been long studied by the architects 

 of all nations. It is not, however, so well known what a rich mine of 

 Archaeological wealth exists in the Peninsula. It is true that the ruins 

 of the Roman cities which once existed have long attracted observa- 

 tion ; the aqueducts of Alcantara, Segovia, and Tarragona, the amphi- 

 theatre of Italica, and the ancient city of Merida, have been the pride of 

 Spaniards. Their Museums also contain fine collections of ancient coins, 

 belonging to the Iberian, Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic, and Mussulman 

 periods. There are but few local Museums ; those of Seville, Gra- 

 nada, and Tarragona are the most remarkable that I have visited. I 

 must also mention that there is now being formed a National Museum of 

 Antiquities at Madrid. It is under the direction of one of the most 

 distinguished Archaeologists of Spain, El Senor Don Jose Amador de los 

 Rios, and contains a magnificent collection of Roman, Arab, Mediaeval, 

 and prehistoric remains. It has also a very large ethnographic col- 

 lection, as well as a collection of ancient Spanish coius, attached to it. 



The Academia de Historia, has a fine library, and some Mahometan 

 inscriptions, besides a magnificent silver lemx, called the Disco Teodosiano. 

 It was found at Merida, and is in a fine state of preservation. It is orna- 

 mented with figures in relief, representing the Emperor Theodosius and 

 his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, sitting on thrones, with other 

 allegorical figures, and an inscription proving that it had been pro- 

 duced in commemoration of the Quinquennales of the elder emperor. I 

 know of nothing like it in any Museum in Europe. It will doubtless 

 be ultimately deposited in the National Archaeological Museum. 



I shall not allude farther to the Moorish antiquities, which are very 

 remarkable, and have attracted much attention in Spain. This country 

 possesses several accomplished Arabic scholars, among whom El Senor 

 Pasqual de Gayangos is facile princeps. 



To come to the subject which I have principally in view, Pre- 

 historic Archaeology, I was agreeably disappointed in finding that, 

 although I believe out of Spain little is known of the most ancient 

 monuments contained in it, at the present moment nothing interests 

 the learned in that country so much as the late discoveries in the Swiss 

 Lakes and the caverns of the Dordogne. They are also giving great 

 attention to the study of Celtic remains in Ireland, Brittany, and other 

 parts of Europe; and, what is most important, there are many intelligent 

 antiquaries who are busy in researches through the different provinces 

 of their own country, and making excavations, &c. I may mention 



