The work carried out at Pobla d'Ifac this summer as part of the 19th MARQ Excavation Campaign has brought to light an early 14th century shed used for storage or different functions outside the walls of the medieval city.
The Culture councillor, Juan de Dios Navarro, visited the archaeological site this morning, located on the slopes of the Peñón de Ifach Natural Park, to see first-hand the details of this five-week campaign.
Accompanied by the Environment of Calpe Environment councilor, Juan Manuel del Pino, and by the director of the MARQ and coordinator of the Campaign, Manuel Olcina, the provincial official toured the enclave where a team of professionals has been working for four weeks under the direction of José Luis Menéndez, a specialist in medieval archaeology and exhibition technician at the Alicante museum.
‘For the Provincial Council it is a great satisfaction to support this campaign to recover and promote part of the rich cultural heritage that we treasure in the province, in this case through a project in which more than one million euros has already been invested over nearly two decades of collaboration with the Calpe town council,’ said the deputy. For his part, del Pino thanked the efforts made by the provincial institution through the MARQ, whose team is already working on the site's master plan.
As part of the MARQ's Archaeological Excavations and Research Plan, which has a total budget of 114,000 euros, the work being carried out in Calpe this year has received 23,000 euros. The work has focused on the area around the West Gate, a secondary access to the interior of the city, and has determined that Building XIV - uncovered in previous campaigns - was a shed used for storage or to carry out different functions outside the city walls.
As Olcina explained, ‘the shed is more than thirteen metres long, open on both sides and covered with a wooden roof and tiles’. It was built at the beginning of the 14th century and in the middle of the century the building was abandoned in order to erect a covered gateway to secure the passage to the West Gate.
The archaeological work has also focused on documenting the first phase of occupation of this space, as well as the interior of the city, once the threshold of the West Gate is crossed. The MARQ continues to research this important enclave, which has become a reference in Valencian medieval archaeology.
The MARQ has recently been awarded the Premi 9 d'Octubre Award by Calpe Town Council for its scientific contributions and for working on the conservation of the Pobla d'Ifac and the Roman vicus of Baños de la Reina.