Since Thursday 29 September, Castellet Castle, headquarters of the abertis foundation, has housed an exhibition on the archaeological finds discovered following the recent remodelling of the AP-7 junctions in Vilafranca del Penedès. The roadworks revealed over two hundred structures dated between the Neolithic and first Iron Age (between 7500 and 2750 years ago) at three archaeological sites: Mas Pujó (South Vilafranca), La Serreta (Central Vilafranca) and Cinc Ponts (North Vilafranca).

The finds include remains of houses, food stores and burial tombs. Analysis of the remains – currently at the study phase – could change our knowledge of the Neolithic period in Catalonia, since research points towards a new hypothesis for the development of Neolithic society in Catalonia.

The remains include the tombs of remarkable people with impressive burial goods. This suggests that the increasingly hierarchal structure of society, a social change that characterised the Neolithic world (around 4000 BC), started in the Penedès. This phenomenon then spread to other areas of the Principality.

Other remains – pieces of a variscite necklace from the Gavà mines and an obsidian one from Sardinia; pieces of honey-coloured flint from Provence, as well as red coral, amongst others – suggest a densely populated area with a strategic location, as well as a network of commercial ties.

The preventive archaeology work on the toll road was authorised by the Catalan Directorate General for Cultural Heritage, organised by abertis autopistas and coordinated by the Catalan Institute for Classical Archaeology. The exhibits are on loan from the Catalan Ministry of Culture.

In parallel, the castle is also housing an exhibition on pieces of medieval Spanish ceramics from the Francisco Godia Foundation collection. Both exhibitions are on until after Easter 2012.