A pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, known as the Queen's Route, crosses the place, a name due to the pilgrimage made by Isabel of Portugal in the 14th century and followed in later centuries by numerous walkers. Such route coincides with the aforementioned Roman road Vía Nova in its initial section to Bande and is being vindicated as "Camino Xacobeo" by various associations in the region.
In the place is the modern Interpretation Center Aquae Querquennae-Via Nova, that lodges a museum and several explanatory rooms of the archaeological complex.
The first surveys were carried out by Florentino López Cuevillas in the 1920s, after visiting the site on June 5, 1921 with Otero Pedrayo, Vicente Risco and Bande's lawyer Farruco Pena. In 1949 it was flooded by the dam of As Conchas, in Fenosa. This company authorized the excavations from 1975, under the direction of Antonio Rodríguez Colmenero for almost twenty years, focusing especially on the northwest quadrant to be, later, under the hand of Santiago Ferrer Sierra.
The camp, which occupied an area of ??2.5 hectares was surrounded by a rectangular wall and rounded corners. In it protruded quadrangular defensive towers between the gates and at the corners. The wall was raised with small granite bricks, attached to bear (embedded without cement); it was 3.20 m wide and a height close to 5 m. and was topped by semi-cylindrical battlements. The defensive system also had a V-shaped outer moat, 5 meters wide and 3 meters deep. It had four monumental gates, from which the two Principalis, Dextra and Sinistra (main gates) and the Decumana (on the west side) were excavated. The Principalis Sinistra had two openings, one at the entrance and one at the exit. The Decumana was similar, but with a single opening. The defensive system is completed with the interval of 11 meters wide, a security space without constructions between the wall and the first line of buildings.
Five barracks were dug for the troop or strigia, consisting of facing alignments around a central courtyard with a cistern to collect rainwater. The rooms or conspiracy were made of clay, they were divided into two parts: the sleeping space and the fireplaces. Eight soldiers could live in each. At the entrance to the barracks are circular bases, which would be the bottom of community ovens. There are also in the camp two rectangular barns or barns, which would rise on lines of stone pillars and were bounded by thick walls with external buttresses. An almost square building was also found, which would be the hospital or valetudinarium, consisting of several square rooms around a central courtyard (compluvium). It is possible that this courtyard had a peristyle of wooden columns perched on a low stone wall. A canal also appeared that would lead the waters of the compluvium to the outside of the building.
The central building, which would be the headquarters or principia, has a rectangular floor plan. In it is a lobby flanked by covered ambulances and open to the facade. Below are two small rooms on either side, which are the possible armamentary, where they would store the weapons of non-everyday use. Then there is a large rectangular courtyard with peristyles on three sides, known as the forum. Then there is a basilica which is accessed by a large central entrance and two narrower sides. In the background would be the sacro-administrative area, with an official temple or aedes surrounded by five rooms, two on the north and three on the south, which could have been the tabularium or archive.
The latrines, a rectangular building attached to the wall, were also excavated. In them is a drainage channel, a central sewer and a space in which wooden benches or toilets would be located, which are not preserved.
Outside the wall, in the southernmost area were two circular bases paved with tiles, probably bases of ceramic kilns. Remains of a house also appeared. In this place a vicus or cannaba would be based, that would be a small town contemporary to the camping.
It is believed that the military unit occupied by Aquis Querquennis was the III cohort, which depended on Legio VII Gemina (whose base was in León) because ceramic marks appeared on tiles that confirm this. It would be a unit with 600 infantry and cavalry soldiers.
A few meters from the camp is the mansion-road. It would be the third from Braga. In it there are several rooms, which would be used to accommodate travelers who traveled the Roman road and as stables for the cavalry. A bread oven and a circular well were also found. A paved lobby is also preserved to access it.
Very close to the inn is an area of ??thermal waters, known as O Baño. In it there are several swimming pools and stone baths, which are vestiges of a spa that functioned until the construction of the aforementioned As Conchas reservoir. The Roman bath would be in place, but no excavations have yet been carried out.
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