The Diputación de Alicante is planning to start in this legislature the musealisation of the site of the Medieval Town of Ifachwhere on 3 August the XVI Excavations Campaign promoted by MARQThis year's edition will focus on the consolidation and documentation of the archaeological remains found to date.
The president of the provincial institution, Carlos Mazón, visited this morning, accompanied by the mayoress of the municipality, Ana SalaHe added that "we want to convert this archaeological site, through its musealisation, into a place that is not only visible, but also visitable and profitable for Calp and its growth, becoming an essential complement to its sun and beach offer".
"Sooner rather than later, during this legislature, we will be able to enjoy it, not only from a historical point of view, but also from a tourist point of view", said the Alicante leader, who pointed out that this musealisation will have the full financial, technical and human support of the Alicante Provincial Council, through the Department of Architecture, which is directed by the deputy Juan Francisco Pérez Llorcaand the MARQ and the area of Culture headed by the vice-president and member of parliament Julia Parra.
In this sense, the mayoress thanked "the good harmony and collaboration" of the institution "which has always been committed to this site", while highlighting the importance of Pobla de Ifach, which she described as unique due to its location, "to diversify the tourist offer of the municipality".
In addition, during the visit, Pérez Llorca, who called for the involvement of the Generalitat in the museum project for this site, which is located on the slope of the Peñón de Ifach, has announced that the institution will hand over the Master Plan for the site of the Ifach Rock to the City Council at the end of this year. Banyets de la Reina of the municipality to enhance the value of this unique space. The provincial investment in this study, which plans the actions and strategies to be developed, has been 30,000 euros.
XVI Excavation Campaign
Under the direction of the MARQ archaeologist, José Luis Menéndez, 7 students from Alicante universities will participate from August, and for a period of four weeks, in the XVI Excavation Campaign of the Medieval Town, promoted by the museum in Alicante with the collaboration of the Calp Town Council and the Penyal d'Ifac Natural Park.
Given the situation resulting from the Covid crisis19, prevention measures have been stepped up to ensure the safety of the participants in this campaign. In this way, The number of volunteers has been reduced - in previous editions it has been around thirty -.Without reducing the scheduled area to ensure interpersonal distance, the start of the campaign has been delayed by one month and all personnel have been provided with protective equipment and tools for each person, which are not transferable to other members of the excavation team.
On this occasion, the work will focus on the documentation and consolidation of a number of tombs in the cimeterium or necropolislocated next to the church of the medieval town. In addition, it is will continue with the work started in 2018 in Ifach West.where the West Gate, the second access system to the city, was discovered last year. This year's work will focus on documenting its foundational phase.
As has been advanced, the results of this campaign will be used to update the complete topography of the siteThe new topographic base with contour lines, as well as the new structures that appear during the campaign, and a new aerial photographic report of the finished sectors of the site.
In addition, as complementary documentation relating to the study of the medieval settlement of the castral territory of Calp, the following will be carried out topography of the medieval site of Castellet de Calp. It is also planned to carry out, together with the Geodetic Sensing Unit of the University of Cádiz, a 3D georadar survey in different areas of the site (Ifach East and Ifach North, fundamentally) that were not previously prospected to detect the existence of possible habitat structures.
As a complement to this, the vectorisation and mounting of foils of the elevations of the structures of Building 6, Church, Street 1 and North Gate of the site, corresponding to the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 campaigns. It is also planned to carry out a radiocarbon dating on a carpological record from Building 6 of Pobla de Ifach.
Work is also continuing on the creation of the Centro de Interpretación de la Pobla medieval de Ifach, a permanent museum space that will be located in the facilities of the natural park.
Calp Tourism Strategic Plan
On the other hand, the president, who also visited the Town Hall, gave a very positive assessment of the Strategic Tourism Plan 2020-2030 that the municipality of Calpe has drawn up. In this regard, he pointed out that "it is a great technical document, courageous, ambitious and forward-looking" and has communicated the support of the Costa Blanca Tourist Board for it.
