Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Archaeological excavations in modern-day Spain have revealed a Byzantine-era fort complete with a church that was once used as a monastery.
• Likely established during the Byzantine Empire, the structure continued to be used under Visigothic and Islamic rule.
• Liturgical artifacts and architectural features indicate the structure’s religious purposes.

About 75 miles from the Spanish port city of Cartagena, along a branch of the old Roman Via Augusta road, a low ridge near the Vinalopo River has quietly held onto a secret for more than 1,400 years. Now, archaeologists excavating the site of El Monastil, near Elda in Alicante, have finally pried it loose: a fortified Christian monastic settlement likely built by people from the eastern Roman Empire who had settled in the nearby city of La Alcudia.

The site has long been known as El Monastil—a name that traces back through Arabic (al-Munastir) to the Latin monasterium, reflecting the succession of religious communities that occupied the hilltop over the centuries. But in a study recently published in the journal Salduie, researchers argue that its roots reach back even further to the ancient Roman settlement of Elo, a small outpost with ties to the colony of Ilici Augusta. Over time, that modest foothold evolved into something far more complex. Artifact and architectural analyses reveal the site served multiple religious functions across a vast sweep of history. “The architectural remains and material furnishings found at the site provide compelling evidence for the existence of this enclave and its subsequent cultural evolution,” the authors wrote.

At the heart of the discovery is a 900-square-foot church that the researchers believe Roman soldiers and clergy built together in the second half of the sixth century C.E. The timing was no accident—it likely coincided with Emperor Justinian’s ambitious push to expand the Roman Empire westward. Small by modern standards, the church was typical of its era. It features a horseshoe-shaped apse and a baptismal pool carved directly into the bedrock, and its plaster walls still bear traces of paint. Only clergy would have ventured deep inside; Christian worshippers would have lined the walls or gathered outside.

Archaeologists found more than just architecture at the site. Artifacts ranged from a suit of armor (likely worn by a Byzantine cavalry soldier) to seven bronze weights used for tax collection (since the church at that time oversaw the process). Other discoveries included two iron plates, an iron knife, a pewter spoon, a bronze ring-key, a ceramic seal with initials representing the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a pottery dish designed with six crosses.

A cylindrical ivory storage container known as a pyx—which likely would have held consecrated wafers—featured artwork of Hercules capturing the Ceryneian Hind, connecting Greek mythology with the Emperor Justinian and Christian symbolism in religious settings. Archaeologists believe the ivory container was from the sixth or seventh centuries, and it shows links to Alexandrian workshops.

A Parian marble altar table (originally from Greece) was found in four pieces scattered throughout the church. An altar support pillar was still in the church, which once housed the table.

While the site initially functioned as a small settlement with ties to Ilici Augusta, the authors wrote that the liturgical artifacts show the church was occupied by Romans before control was seized by the Visigothic Germanic people. Historical writings mention Sanabilis, known as the Bishop of Elo, serving at the site—the only known German bishop tied to the location. After that, the church turned into a monastery, and later shifted to become an Islamic religious site when Arab settlers arrived at the location.

At the start, though, came the Roman history. “The place,” the authors wrote, “had every appearance of being a Byzantine castellum.”