San Cristóbal de Mazaleón

San Cristóbal de Mazaleón is situated next to the hermitage of San Cristóbal. Access is via Calle San Cristóbal, crossing the Matarraña River and continuing uphill to the hermitage, which houses the Mazaleón Visitor Centre, on the right bank of the river.

The site was largely excavated by L. Pérez Temprado, the village secretary, in 1916 and 1917, although new trial trenches have recently been carried out by Luis Fatás. This settlement, belonging to the Early Iron Age, is fundamental for understanding the Iberianisation of the Ebro Valley.

Abundant material was found: ceramics with plastic decoration of interlaced and zigzag cordons, wheel-thrown pottery and some metal objects such as bronze bracelets. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery at this same site of fragments of a Phoenician ceramic vessel.

Also notable is a space specially protected by thick walls in the western part of the settlement, from which a wide stretch of territory overlooking the Matarraña River can be surveyed. Its occupation is dated to the mid-7th century BC through to the 6th century BC.

In Mazaleón you can visit the Centre of the origins of the Iberian world, housed in the former hermit's residence adjoining the Baroque hermitage of San Cristóbal. The centre explains the origins of the Iberian world and provides information about the local sites. Visitors can see scale models of two of these sites and reproductions of various ceramics from the early Iberian period found at the Mazaleón sites.