A “hidden” archaeological site

In the note sent yesterday by the City Council, when the cleaning and consolidation phase of the deposit is over started a year ago, will begin expansion of excavations and museumization of the first sites. The note was accompanied by the captured images. when it was cleared a year ago and the ruins appeared in the open.

Again, The current situation of deposits is quite different.. Today the plot is completely hidden by vegetation growing and surface over the last few months turned into a big overgrown vacant lotso the tasks of clearing and clearing the area will need to be repeated before starting new work, which is scheduled for next September, in just two weeks. As this newspaper tried to contact Cultural Council Member Antonio Manresa, it is unknown whether the necessary clean-up work at the site will greatly delay the development of phase one of the project, but this was not possible.

According to data from the City Council, the new archaeological intervention will be carried out following the new agreement to be signed with the Municipality. University of Alicante, “It will take shape in September and will be the start of phase 1 of the project”.

“In September of last year, students from the University of Alicante began archaeological studies at the site under the direction of the University Research Institute of Archeology and Historical Heritage (INAPH). We have unearthed the structures of the Roman villa located in the fairy-urban area of ​​the ancient city of Lucentum.He points to the Ministry of Culture in nearby Tossal de Manises, where it intervened under the direction of the work coordination Culture and Environment, which formed the basis of the first response, called Campaign 0 diagnosis. Patrimony President José Manuel Pérez Burgos and University of Alicante professor Jaime Molina Vidal.

According to Pérez Burgos, “we had An exceptional site declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in the 1990s, and is one of the city’s major cultural landmarks. This is a magnificent Roman villa, and the results of this 0 or diagnostic campaign have been superior to what we initially assumed, because structures have been identified through georadar that will provide us with tremendous scientific knowledge in the future”.

The new phase will begin next autumn, with the expansion of the excavation area and the start of the museumization work. Some areas of focus in the previous phase of the project, such as industrial area devoted to wine or oil production -torcularium-or interference with the volumetric restoration of part of the layout of the perimeter wall through the use of wall-filled gabions. Structures already documented will continue to be consolidated, archaeological studies will be expanded, “if possible, both in the industrial zone and to some extent. leopard rusticaas in the residential housing area, city ​​parkin the immediate vicinity of the former industrial zone”, they state in their estimates.

The target set by the Ministry of Culture, make visible “as soon as possible” While excavations continue with the ultimate goal of transforming the archaeological site into an open knowledge class, as well as a new touristic and cultural attraction center, the first studies carried out are the city of Alicante.

Origins of the project

The beginning of archaeological activities in this area dates back to BC. 1980s, with work conducted by the former COPHIAM. Different surveys have brought to light an outstanding center from the Roman period, which occupies a large area within 15,000 m² of the entire site. The most important structures exhumed showed an area devoted to wine or oil production, thermal chambers, and a series of rooms arranged around a patio, among other structures that were not well identified. When the excavations ended in 1990, apart from a special archaeological intervention carried out between 2010 and 2011 in one of the settlement areas of the city, the structures that were excavated were unearthed and were exposed to years of neglect and neglect.