The founder of Pintia was the Vaccaei, a pre-Roman Celtic people who inhabited the northern region of Spain and its surroundings. Pintia eventually came under Roman control, and the site was later occupied by the Visigoths, an ancient Germanic people. All of these civilizations left traces of their occupation in Pintia. This settlement was eventually abandoned in the early Middle Ages, possibly due to the invasion of Arab armies. Among the remains destroyed by the newly dug irrigation channels in Pintia are houses, walls, roads, and household ceramics.

According to the Center for Vaccine Studies Federico Wattenberg (CEVFW) at the University of Valladolid, which has studied the site for several decades, the ditch has caused significant "damage" to the Pintia Archaeological Zone. The ditch, which was dug by farmers on their land, is about one and a half feet wide and four and a half feet deep—equivalent to about 42,000 cubic feet of excavated soil. The amount of material excavated exceeds the amount removed by archaeologists at the site during years of research, said CEVFW.