it happened Diodoruswho left the country in the 1st century BC First known written testimony of Accra Leuka as the name of a city founded by Amílcar Barca, who died in the region between now Elche and Alicante. He also writes that the name of the place corresponds to the place where it is located. meaning of Accra castle or cloak And Leuka, white.
It has been determined that Manuel Olcina (MARQ), director of the Archaeological Museum of Alicante, is in Tossal de Manises, Accra Leuka. This acknowledgment in his work More than 800 pages of doctoral thesis“Turns 360 degrees” in the history of the Alicante site de Lucentum in Albufereta, because this is pacheco It was defended at the beginning of the 20th century, but has changed over the years, and today the circle closes and returns to almost the same point.
“Figueras Pacheco and the German archaeologists of the time identified Accra Leuka with Tossal. on a more enthusiastic basis than the evidence». However, “Figueras did not say things because it was so, but difficult excavations and we are back to the same place but with an infinitely stronger argument.
When Olcina came to the site in the 90s The idea of identifying that city with Accra Leuka was cast aside over forty years ago, and this idea was conceived. like an Iberian town. “When the Carthaginian elements emerged, we went to the hypothesis of an Iberian town with Punic influence, then to the hypothesis of an Iberian town with Punic involvement, and now we are convinced that it was a Carthaginian-based city.”
whitish stones
Archaeologist involved in his work In addition to more than 1,500 bibliographic references, nearly 300 documents, plans and photographs from various archives and a significant number of archaeological paintings, Imagine that the translation is “white cloak”, Sea refers to the coastal region. « Eighteenth-Century Marines Alicante beach like white stones And until they come here from the south of the peninsula, modern-day sailors who haven’t read Diodoro speak of no other place like it.”
The fact is that no “in-depth” study has been done. This city, the predecessor of Accra Leuka, lucentum. And Olcina did this in her doctoral theses, qualified be rewarded with praisecollects the history of investigations From the Renaissance to the present; a toponymic review of the site and its surroundings, as well as its Latin name and Archaeological analysis of the pre-Roman period. “We had the archaeological guarantee because obviously we were in front of a Carthaginian city, but we needed to see if we could say it was that city.”
archaeologist made direct analysis of sources, translation from original Latin and Greek documentsTo find the historical reasons that would cause Hamilcar Barca to establish that city here “within the strategic plan of the Carthaginians”.
In this sense, MARQ director Akra Leuka “basic” for the Carthaginians mastering the means of communication and having their own settlements instead of doing it in existing cities. «El Tossal is a strategic area because from here you can reach the mountain area and You control the coast at 50 kilometersAlso, Albufereta is a place with fresh water ». He assures that when they tried to dominate the south of the Iberian Peninsula after their initial defeat against the Romans, they “know the strategic places because they already knew that area, so they founded cities aware that there would be a new war”. Rome”.
Manuel Olcina, who will publish this research in MARQ,It is very risky to go back to something that official historiography has cast aside». So he knows he can “start an intense historical discussion, and that’s fine”.
Solveig Nordstrom case
One of the many investigations made against him. The history of Tossal de Manises The information in these three volumes focuses on the case of Swedish archaeologist Solveig Nordstrom. Iberian culture researcher. According to the information obtained, Lucentum managed to save the construction site from the bulldozers. lying in front of machines. a version It contradicts the facts for Olcina documented accreditation.
in 1955 Diputacion tried to get the deposit that it is in private hands, but that they sold it to another private owner “because he offered more money”. the point is Didn’t intend to build there until 1967. “The owners’ urban interests hastened the issuance of the building permit that year. Declared a Historical-Art Monument». But a year later, in 1968, the Alicante City Council declared it. green areaAfter years of trying to be protected by Provincial Monuments Commission and although Enrique Llobregat himself remained in private hands until it was expropriated by the State in 1973 and the deposit was recovered».
The person in charge of MARQ doubts that the salvation took place due to the fact that the Swedish archaeologist told. “There a series of contradictions in his story; I’m not saying I didn’t argue with someone at one point on the site itself, but it was saved and construction blocked for other, more complex reasons. While I was here in Alicante, there was no imminent danger; Came here at the late 55’s and since then, until 1961The period when Nordström’s story could be confined, no entry machine document “With a destructive zeal towards what is known about the Roman city of Lucentum,” the researcher underlines.