By David Jackson
A fourth century BCE Roman Villa outside Vera is understood to have been destroyed by a farmer planting lettuces.
The alarm was raised by local archaeologist and Vera museum director Domingo Ortiz after concerned neighbours contacted him last month to warn about tractors working in the area. Sr Ortiz, currently on sick leave, alerted the authorities last month. The local police recognised the relics were at risk and cordoned off the area.
But according to local newspaper La Voz de Almería, the cordon has since been broken and the rest of the field has been razed by industrial machines.
