Preserving the province's past
Digs set to start in the coming weeks and months
THE ANNUAL programme of summer excavations by the Alicante archaeology museum (MARQ) will involve 95 volunteers working at seven sites around the province.
Provincial deputy for culture César Augusto Asencio said the campaign has a budget of €106,000 and ‘will help to increase and preserve the rich historical and cultural heritage of the province’.
The plan is to document and carry out scientific research on any discoveries made, in order to increase knowledge about the ancient civilisations which inhabited different parts of the province from the Palaeolithic era to the Middle Ages.
Museum director Manuel Olcina explained the sites chosen by MARQ technicians are Tossal de Manises in Alicante city, Laderas del Castillo in Callosa de Segura, Cova del Randero in Pedreguer, Pobla d’Ifac in Calp, Cabezo del Molino in Rojales, Borratxina in Mutxamel and underwater sites in the Vega Baja.
Tossal de Manises is the site of one of the most relevant Roman cities in Spain (Lucentum), where throughout July a dozen volunteers will dig deeper around the three phases of walls at the main gate and the roads that lead to it.
At the Randero cave in Pedreguer from mid-august about 20 volunteers will continue excavations of the inner chamber’s gallery, where last year’s discovery of an entire skull was evidence of its funerary use, and of the entrance chamber. Up to 15 volunteers will work on the mountainside in Callosa de Segura in two phases: first in the summer to remove sediment from the strata, and then in the autumn to document lower levels in specific places, as well as con- tinuing to update information and survey the surrounding area.
It will be the first excavation campaign at the Cabezo del Molino in Rojales, where four volunteers in September will focus on archaeological soundings, as well as some planimetric mapping in the field.
In Calpe up to 36 volunteers will be divided between July and August for the 14th campaign there, which includes emergency consolidation of the site, excavation and documentation focused on the area of the western wall.
Over four weeks from September, eight volunteers will continue to establish a map of the province’s underwater archaeology, with this phase centring on the coasts of Guardamar del Segura, Torrevieja, Orihuela and Pilar de la Horadada. Places of special interest are Torrelamata, Punta Prima, Cabo Roig, Mil Palmeras and El Mojón.
Finally at Borratxina in Mutxamel, near the Juncaret ravine, in September there will be soundings in the upper and middle parts where Roman ceramics were detected dating from the first half of the Roman Empire.