San Lorenzo archaeological excavation value triples

The area with archaeological value in the castle of San Lorenzo El Real de Chagres, in Colón, has practically tripled, after the excavation phase of the scientific investigation that scrutinizes the origins of the castle and the ancient town of Chagres.

” Thanks to the new findings, we ended up tripling the known archaeological site; before it was just the castle and now we have been able to confirm that it is much bigger than just the fortress, extending through the town of old Chagres, which stretches from the castle to the mouth del río “, explains Dr. Tomás Mendizábal, archaeologist, staff researcher at the Center for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research (CIHAC AIP) and project leader.

Mendizábal says that one of the main discoveries is the ruins of what was the third castle of the fort.

The researcher explains: ” The castle that we see and know is the fourth version of the structure. The first version was near the cliff and, over time, the sea took it away; the second version was destroyed by Henry Morgan and the third version of the castle was the one built in 1672 by Antonio Fernández de Córdoba by order of the Spanish Crown, until between 1750 and 1760 the fortress that still stands was built, which ended up covering the previous one, the third, which is one that we just found. The remains could be seen with the naked eye but we had to dig and verify that, indeed, they were