History of Santo Tomé
The oldest archaeological remains found in the municipal area which reveal the earliest human presence in the area include various lithic tools such as arrowheads, sickle teeth and crushers, etc.
Between the end of the IV millennium BC and the first centuries of the III millennium, there was a small settlement in the vicinity of Santo Tomé. The inhabitants were looking for new land for cultivation and grazing, better soils for horticultural and cereal use, using the technique of burning the forest using the ash as a fertiliser and exploiting the land until it was exhausted. The settlement was made up of a group of small circular-shaped huts, without foundations, built with small stones at the base, and the rest with reeds and branches covered with mud.
From the Copper Age there are remains near the Agrupación de Santo Tomé (also known as Montiel). In 1983, a team of archaeologists from the then, University College of Jaén, carried out two excavations to determine its stratigraphy, confirming a settlement with several circular huts belonging to this period, with superimposition of successive cultures.
After Carthaginian rule, during the Second Punic War, the so-called Battle of Baecula was fought in Santo Tomé, then perhaps known as Baecula. The Andalusian Center for Iberian Archeology of the University of Jaén has carried out several archaeological surveys since 2002 that have concluded that this battle took place in the Cerro de las Albahacas, near Santo Tomé, although the matter still remains in a state of discussion.
During the Roman rule of the peninsula, the area was occupied by numerous rustic villas, such as Las Graveras. Several tombstones and other objects from this period are preserved in the Provincial Museum. A tombstone from the Visigothic period is preserved which states: “Avilia Marcela, thirty-five years old, is buried here. May the earth be light to her, her companions dedicated this memory to her”.
In Muslim times it was one of the farmhouses that grew in the area and had a tower for its protection. The tower, mentioned in the Christian chronicles immediately after the conquest, was later transformed into a bell tower for the parish church. Santo Tomé became part of the Adelantamiento de Cazorla, patrimony of the Archbishop of Toledo, together with other towns in the region. In 1438 the Archbishop authorised the foundation of this population to Pero Díaz de Toledo, who reported that when he arrived at the place there was only a farmhouse and an old tower.
In the year 1543, Día Sánchez de Quesada, sixth Lord of Garcíez and the Tower of Santo Tomé, married Leonor de Acuña, mistress of the castle and estate of Nínchez y Chozas in Baeza. Subsequently, the Viscounty of Santo Tomé was created in 1627 by Felipe IV in favour of Hernando de Quesada Mendoza y Toledo.
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