The work carried out in the Illeta dels Banyets site of El Campello this summer, on the occasion of the XIX MARQ excavation campaign, they unearthed an Iberian building, the remains of which are essential to know the constructions of the time.
It is a quadrangular house with an interior space divided into four apartments, one of which suffered a fire which, in this case, gives hope for a recovery inside a fossilized moment of life there is 2,300 years old. Given the results, next year we will continue the excavation to try to clarify the functionality of the ground floor of this building and thus be able to offer visitors to the site new museographic spaces that expand the information on the protohistoric occupation of the Illeta.
The Deputy of Culture, Juan de Dios Navarrovisited this morning the archaeological site, located in El Campello, to see first-hand the results of this campaign which lasted four weeks. Accompanied by the mayor of El Campello, Juanjo Berenguer, councilor Lourdes Llopis and the director of MARQ and coordinator of the campaign, Manuel Olcina, the provincial director visited the enclave where, for four weeks, a team of professionals worked under the direction of Adoración Martínez and Olcina himself.
Navarro thanked the municipal support for this “archaeological gem which, under the aegis of the Provincial Council, offers year after year new discoveries and scientific results relevant to understanding our history and our exceptional cultural heritage. Furthermore, the MP highlighted the musealization carried out by the MARQ and by the architecture sector of the provincial institution, “which continues to focus on the preservation, promotion and dissemination of our heritage”.
For his part, Olcina explained that “it is an extraordinary enclave, a place of reference in Spanish and European archeology where Mediterranean cultures from Prehistory to the Roman era with very important remains such as the productive spaces of the Ibero-Punic establishment or the thermal baths and nurseries from the Roman phase.
Based on the results of the excavations, it was determined that the height of this building could be greater than 3.8 meters. The walls still retain part of the adobe elevations and their coverings and inside the rooms, equipment and structures built in adobe are preserved, such as benches and platforms, which allows us to deepen our knowledge of “raw earth architecture” which prevailed during protohistory. .
Additionally, it was possible to study the measurement model used in the construction of the building. Each city in Antiquity used a motif of different measures and proportions and this research project also aims to establish whether the architectural modulation of the buildings responds to a classic Punic motif or if, on the contrary, it uses the Iberian foot or elbow . Punic documented in the central part of the site and in the area of Minorca. For their part, the ceramic materials found reveal the primacy of imported products, with the frequent presence of Attic materials, from Ibiza, from North Africa, notably from Carthage, and from the Strait area.
