The work that the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ) is developing in the medieval town of Ifach in Calp from 1 July to 31 August 2018, in collaboration with the City Council of Calp and the Natural Park of Penyal d'Ifac, dependent on the Regional Ministry of Environment. Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change and Rural Development of the Generalitat Valenciana are yielding important new discoveries.
The archaeological team of Pobla de Ifach is under the direction of the MARQ archaeologist, Dr. José Luis Menéndez and consists of 30 archaeology students, coming from different Spanish and European universities, whose stay in Calp takes place thanks to a collaboration agreement established since 2008 between the Diputación de Alicante and the Town Council of Calp.
Although the MARQ team is in the final days of work before the campaign closes, the first conclusions of the research have reported important contributions to the study of this exceptional enclave from the medieval period (13th-14th centuries), promoted by the Crown of Aragon and intended to house the Christian colonists who were settling in this area after the Christian conquest of the territory, being carried out by the family of Admiral Roger de Llúria.
West Wall. Discovery of a new building
A new area of work has begun this season with the excavations in the west wall of Ifach, an area that last year led to the discovery of a large defensive bastion with a length of 6.50 metres and a width of over 5 metres, with load-bearing walls of 1.30 metres lined on the outside and inside with carved ashlars.
This tower had the function of defending the space closest to the entrance system to the medieval enclave and we have an image of its remains as it appears in the famous engraving of the Peñón de Ifach as seen from the ruins of the vicus Baños de la Reina, by the French traveller Alexandre de Laborde in 1809 for his book Itinéraire descriptif de l'Espagne, the original of which is kept in the Library of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA) in Paris (France).
The work of this 14th Campaign has focused on excavating in the vicinity of this defensive bastion with the surprise of discovering a large gateway 1.50 metres wide which forms part of a building 3.10 metres wide located outside the medieval city walls. The function of this building, which has been given the name of Building 13, is still unknown, as it is necessary to delimit it first so that, in future campaigns, it will be possible to excavate its interior and define its elements. A stabling area to house draught and pack animals could be one of the hypotheses that the MARQ team is currently evaluating.
Their discovery opens up the possibility of finding more inhabited spaces in this sector of the town wall, the main objective of the research that will be carried out in this sector over the next few years.
The Road to Ifach
Another of the sectors that has contributed interesting novelties to the knowledge of this medieval enclosure has been the excavations carried out outside the Domus Llúria, a two-storey building, intended to be the seat of power of the House of Llúria in the enclave. In this campaign we have proceeded to document the collapses and fills that clogged the west front, having the opportunity to document the remains of a paved area that has been identified as the medieval road that led to the first entrance gate to the town of Ifach. In future campaigns we will expand this area with the idea of documenting and recovering the medieval access path to the medieval town as one more of the heritage values of this exceptional site.
Sagrera de Ifach. Discovery of two new tombs
As part of the previous documentation work linked to the site's preventive conservation programme, work has once again been carried out on the sagrera of Ifach, the consecrated space destined to serve as a necropolis or burial place for the inhabitants of the town of Ifach and which is located in the vicinity of the medieval church of Ifach.built between 1325-1344 by Doña Margarita de Llñuria y Entença, Countess of Terranova and daughter of Admiral Roger de Llúria, one of the most emblematic buildings on the site.
Excavation work to prevent the accumulation of water in the sagrera spaces has made it possible to document two new tombs, T58 and T59, adding to the extensive list of burials of those who built and populated Ifach during a large part of the 14th century.
Preventive Conservation Programme
In addition, and in parallel to the archaeological research work, The Alicante Provincial Council, through the Department of Architecture, has continued with the preventive conservation work at the site, once again directed by the Head of the Department, the architect Rafael Pérez Jiménez, which has focused mainly on the consolidation and volumetric reintegration of a small section of the walled enclosure located between the Guard Tower and Tower 2, thus completing a consolidated linear perimeter of more than 25 metres in length. In addition, work has been carried out on the main street of the town, making the most of its old drains and preventing rainwater from stagnating inside the enclosure. All these works, as well as those carried out over the last four years at the site, make up the preliminary body of work that will allow the necessary Master Plan for the Pobla de Ifach to be drawn up in the near future, which will enable the remains of this exceptional medieval site to be enhanced and made into a museum in the near future.
Future Interpretation Centre of the Medieval town of Ifach
The forthcoming drafting of this plan for the recovery of the site may coincide with the creation of the Centro de Interpretación de la Pobla medieval de Ifach, a permanent museum space to be located in the facilities of the Natural Park and whose negotiations have been initiated by the Diputación de Alicante and the Fundación CV MARQ with the Junta Rectora del Parque Natural del Penyal d'Ifac de la Ifach and the Fundación CV MARQ. Consellería de Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change and Rural Development of the Generalitat Valenciana. Pending the approval by the Consell of the Collaboration Agreement agreed between the parties, which will allow, when it is approved, the beginning of the installation works of a careful selection of pieces of ashlar and carved stone, among which will be found arches, columns, cornices, lintels belonging to the different buildings found in the excavations, including the Gothic vault of one of the chapels of the Church of Ifach as the most outstanding piece, with which the history, remains and contents of this medieval enclave will be explained so that the almost 180,000 visitors to the Natural Park can get to know one of the most important medieval enclaves in our territory, which could become, together with the vicus of Baños de la Reina, in one of the most important most important cultural resources for the development and promotion of culture and tourism in the town of Calp.
