A huge discovery under what is to be the emergency entrance to a new hospital has pitted archaeologists against engineers

The discovery of archaeological findings in Son Espasa Vell in Palma dating back some two thousand years and occupying several thousand square meters, are slowing the progress of the construction of the new hospital there.

The relevance of this archaeological site, made up of the scattered ruins of stone walls, sections of foundation slabs and at least two complete living annexes, is that it is the first time archaeologists have discovered the remains of farm buildings and walls there. Until now they had only unearthed pieces of pottery and fragments of various objects.

Despite the finds being made in early October the government has only just revealed the extent of the discoveries and has requested that the Consell de Mallorca, which is the body responsible for the protection of heritage, to immediately authorise the dismantling and relocation of the historic structures. The government claims the preservation of the structures on their original site is incompatible with the continuation of building a hospital there.

The reason put forward is that the ruins of these buildings are located right in front of the future access to the emergency department for children and adults.

Archaeologists from the company working on the site immediately reported the findings to architects, who advised the Ministry of Health in writing on 6 Oct that the appearance of the old foundations “is critically slowing the pace of construction”.

The engineer reporting to the council of Ib-Salut, Josep Maria Pomar, warned of a number of levels present at the site on which the foundation for plant -2 is to be built and concluded: “If it is imperative to preserve these remains in situ it will lead to the impossibility of road access to the emergency services and would require changing the location of emergencies within the hospital as well as a change in the location of radiology services, intensive care and the surgical unit.”

Moreover, according to the architects, it is “absolutely impossible” to internally reposition the area of emergency elsewhere in the building, which is virtually completed already. “It is urgent that [these ruins] disappear”, they said.

As a result, the engineers insist that “it is operationally impossible to maintain the hospital plan” if the archaeological remains are preserved in their original location.
“We must expedite any system that allows the urgent disappearance of the site as it stands now. If it is not removed quickly there will be serious delays and the deadline will not be met,” asserted the engineers.

The proposal to relocate the millennia-old foundations has been put forward by a team of archaeologists. They argue that possible solutions has been found “elsewhere with similar problems,” in order to “avoid the definitive loss” of the remains.

The director general urged the authorisation to move the site to one side of the hospital complex, where an area of ‘conservation and exhibition’ will be created. (jh)