Work carried out in La Pobla d'Ifac this summer as part of the 20th Excavation Campaign of the Archaeological Museum of Alicante has identified the remains of two large buildings, which are the first evidence of the existence of dwellings of the inhabitants of Ifach during the 14th century.
The Deputy for Culture, Juan de Dios Navarro, visited the archaeological site this morning, located on the slopes of the Peñón de Ifach Natural Park, to see the discovery first-hand. ‘This is a major discovery that reaffirms the status of this archaeological site as a benchmark in medieval research, and the Provincial Council is delighted to support this campaign, in this case through a project in which more than one million euros has already been invested over two decades of collaboration with the city council,’ said the councillor.
Over the last twenty years, with the support of more than 350 volunteers from Valencian, Spanish and European universities, the team has uncovered an important walled enclosure with two monumental gates and the domus domini, where the House of Llúria, the feudal family that controlled the castle territory of Calpe in the 14th century, exercised its power. The Beata Santa María de Ifach church has also been located, a building promoted by Margarita de Llúria y Entenza, daughter of Admiral Roger de Llúria and Saurina de Entenza.
Accompanied by the regional secretary for the Environment and Territory, Raúl Mérida, the first deputy mayor of Calpe, Juan Manuel del Pino, the provincial deputy Arturo Poquet and the director of MARQ and coordinator of the campaign, Manuel Olcina, Navarro visited the site where a team of professionals and volunteers 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.
‘The preservation and enhancement of this site is one of the priorities of this institution, which is working to turn it into a museum in the future and thus complete the environmental and cultural offerings of the Peñón de Ifach,’ said the councillor, who, like del Pino, thanked the volunteers for their work.
In addition to the important discovery of the dwellings, which are rectangular in shape and built of rammed earth with masonry chained at the corners, the MARQ team has continued with the excavation of the shed located outside the city walls, which continues to grow in size, now measuring more than 18 metres in length. Furthermore, as part of the preventive conservation programme being carried out at the site, a large part of the rubble generated during the demolition of the Hotel Palace Ifach has been removed.