La Vila Joiosa, 2,700 years of history to discover
Until recently, the city was known as the world of the dead through the great cemeteries associated with tapes from the second half of the 7th century BC and Poblenou a century later. Both sites opened windows onto numerous graves, some large and richly documented, with artifacts carried from Egypt, Canaan and other parts of the Mediterranean. According to the Vila Joiosa Municipal Archaeological Service, all signs pointed to the city having been located in this area. The owners of those graves were believed to sit at the top of the old town.
The surprise came during an archaeological observation and rehabilitation of a home at 32 Fray Posidonio Mayor street. The work, led by Ana Martínez for Sollolli SL in late 2022, unearthed a modest yet extremely significant discovery. A simple preserved layer became a pivotal find for the region’s archaeology.
And what makes it special is that it simply contains amphorae, red slipped plates and Phoenician-Punic grey sherds from the 6th century BC, identical to those seen in the Casetes tombs. For the first time, the living world appears in material form. La Vila Joiosa City Hall notes that those burials reveal who inhabited these spaces.
If remains of the Phoenician city do surface anywhere, they lie beneath a building attached to the Renaissance wall, mirroring past discoveries. The explanation is straightforward.
La Vila Joiosa was founded in 1301 and grew in the Christian conquest style with a grid-based urban plan. Residents referred to the level ground as the base and arranged streets parallel and perpendicular to it, descending toward the sea. It was not influenced by Islamic urban design, which suited hills with winding, steep streets like those in nearby towns. Vilajoiosa emerged as a “vila nova” created from scratch, not occupying an earlier Islamic population since none existed. Only the ruins of Allon, abandoned seven centuries ago, remain as silent witnesses.
To create a broad, flat surface, the middle of the hill was leveled and the ground used to form the embankments of the city wall surrounding the new Vilajoiosa. In essence, a mound became a large walkway. In doing so, overlapping remnants of ancient cities—Phoenician, Iberian, and Roman—were destroyed along the hill’s middle. These layers had been built upon for 1,300 years, from the 7th century BC to the 6th century AD.
On the fringes of Vilajoiosa, right next to the wall, those old layers were not destroyed but covered and preserved.
Strategic position
The Phoenician layer was cut to build the river wall, yet part of it remains intact behind the barrier. This provides the first material testimony of a Phoenician colony farther north on the Iberian Peninsula. Based on the Casetes tombs, the city is dated to the 7th century BC.
The location of the settlement was strategic, marking a day’s voyage from Phoenician cities at La Fonteta (Guardamar) to the south and Ibiza to the east. It served as a stopover on the navigation route between Gadir (Cadiz) and Canaan, a route the Phoenicians themselves described as their homeland’s road.
The finds illustrate wealth and exotic tastes. Items recovered in Vila Joiosa include the famous Phoenician-Punic gold necklaces, talc stones, ornate ostrich egg amulets, and an Egyptian New Year’s flask, among other treasures.