Introduction
The basin’s function is to dissipate and slow down large volumes of water flowing through the vall de les Canals during extreme rainfall events. It is over eight metres deep and can store up to 160,000 cubic metres of water. It is usually dry and only holds water in the hours following rainfall, while it gradually drains.
In 2007, during construction works, a Paleolithic archaeological site was discovered. Excavations recovered more than four hundred remains of animal species from that period, many belonging to mammoths, rhinoceroses and horses.
One of the most remarkable finds can be seen at the Museu de Viladecans: a tusk from a young mammoth, between 40,000 and 50,000 years old. Viladecans has adopted the MAMMOTH as a symbol of the city, visible in many festivities, and even inspiring the creation of special cookies.
The Viladecans Paleolithic site is one of the most important in the Iberian Peninsula and southern Europe.