The objective of this project is deepening our knowledge of rural cults in the provincial sphere, seeing them as a part of a broader process of cultural change. Its particular aim is to evaluate how some of these manifestations took shape at cult sites and how they had an impact upon a territory. It aims to approach the function of the sanctuaries both as spaces of social communication and interaction and as mechanisms capable of maintaining local identities. Both factors allow an urban community to construct forms of integration for certain social groups, and to interact with other cities, the Roman administration, and the emperor. To do so, the sanctuary of Can Modolell is an excellent case-study. Characterized by its monumental architecture and the elaborate ornamental program, it was occupied until Late Antiquity. The inscriptions recovered provide information on the cults performed and some aspects of the sanctuary’s functioning. Among them those inscriptions documenting magistrates from the nearby cities and members of the familia Caesaris are particularly important. At the same time, the archaeology of this site (as with other cult centers) raises important problems of analysis and interpretation. In particular, the absence of data makes it difficult to know if Can Modolell was an autonomous cultic space or if it was integrated in a complex of larger dimensions. Whatever the case, the votive objects recovered prove the power of attraction that this space had for the population of the neighboring territory.

As it can be seen, the interpretation of Can Modolell still raises numerous questions that can only be solved with a complete excavation and an in-depth analysis of the material culture recovered. Two questions seem especially important: first, it is necessary to establish if Can Modolell is an autonomous and exclusively religious complex open to all the territory or if instead it is part of a larger rural complex (i.e.: a fundus) which included a religious space. If this last hypothesis can be demonstrated, it would be necessary to establish if this religious space was also used by the nearby populations. Secondly, we must identify the specific spaces dedicated to the cultic practices inside the complex in order to attempt to reconstruct the relations among the divinities and the organization of the ritual practices. Establishing the nature of Can Modolell and its impact on the local community depends on solving both questions.