La Olmeda Roman Villa

The palatial Late Antique Roman villa at La Olmeda is situated in Pedrosa de la Vega in the province of Palencia, near the banks of the Carrión [1]. The agrarian villa was developed in several stages, from the first to the third century AD, with major reconstruction in the fourth century and extending in use at least to the end of the fifth [1]. The villa complex centers on the elite quarters of rigorously symmetrical disposition, wherein twenty-seven rooms, twelve with mosaic floors, are disposed around a central patio crossed with mosaic paths in geometric patterns and linked round its perimeter by a wide peristyle [1]. The main body of the villa communicated with a baths by a grand passageway [1]. The complex also included working and living quarters of more rustic aspect, kilns for baking roof tiles on the site, three burial grounds, and a section of paved roadway [1].