ORIGINAL PAPER Melting, bathing and melting again. Urban transformation processes of the Roman city of Munigua: the public thermae Mario Gutiérrez-Rodríguez 1 & Paul Goldberg 2,3,4 & Francisco José Martín Peinado 5 & Thomas Schattner 6 & Wolfram Martini 7 & Margarita Orfila 1 & Charles Bashore Acero 1 Received: 18 July 2016 /Accepted: 5 July 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract Although microarchaeological techniques are be- ing increasingly applied to European urban contexts, its inte- gration in classical archaeology projects is far from systemat- ic. In this sense, the archaeological record of Roman cities— because of their vitality, diversity and continuity of occupa- tion—are excellent arenas to develop the direction of these techniques. Here, we show the results of a geoarchaeological study of the chronostratigraphic sequence of the public thermae of the Roman city of Munigua (Sevilla, Spain). Soil micromorphology, along with physico-chemical and geo- chemical analyses, have revealed dynamics of urban change marked by an initial use of space dedicated to metallurgical production and a later course of urban planning, construction of a thermae complex and the life cycle of this public building. The integrity of the archaeological record has allowed for the use of new descriptive criteria for observing metallurgical by- products of lead and iron melting in thin section and for offer- ing new contextual information about production, technology and site formation processes. X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) en- abled the characterization of geochemical anthropogenic inputs related to metallurgical processes. Physico-chemical and chem- ical analysis have provided significant data about diachronic use of the space that has permitted us to assess abandonment and a later reuse of this public building for metal recycling activities during Late Antiquity. This study reaffirms that the combined use of micromorphology, physico-chemical analyses and geochemistry in Classical Archaeology, are powerful tools in order to decipher urban transformation processes, most of Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12520-017-0527-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Mario Gutiérrez-Rodríguez mgrodriguez@ugr.es Paul Goldberg paulberg@bu.edu Francisco José Martín Peinado fjmartin@ugr.es Thomas Schattner thomas.schattner@dainst.de Wolfram Martini wolfram.martini@archaeologie.uni-giessen.de Margarita Orfila orfila@ugr.es Charles Bashore Acero charlesbashoreacero@gmail.com 1 Prehistory and Archaeology Department, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja C.P, 18011 Granada, Spain 2 Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA 3 School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 4 Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany 5 Soil Science Department, University of Granada, Avenida de la Fuente Nueva 2 C.P, 18001 Granada, Spain 6 German Archaeological Institute, Abteilung Madrid, Calle Serrano 159, 28002 Madrid, Spain 7 Institut für Altertumswissenschaften der Justus-Liebig-Universität, Klassische Archäologie, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10D, 35394 Giessen, Germany Archaeol Anthropol Sci DOI 10.1007/s12520-017-0527-0