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The archaeological excavation programme that the MARQ This year, the annual programme includes eight sites in the province in which work will be carried out on research for the enhancement of the heritage of the Costa Blanca. The plan is one of the most complete and rigorous in the Valencian Community, both in terms of the historical periods it covers and the territorial scope in which it acts.
The Alicante museum is undertaking yet another edition of this project with the aim of documenting and conducting extensive scientific research of the findings that are recovered, as well as advancing our knowledge of the ancient civilisations that populated different enclaves in the province of Alicante. The team of archaeologists will be working at the sites of the Illeta dels Banyets in El Campello,la Acequia de los Enamorados in L'Alacantí,the Slopes of the Castle of Callosa de Segura,the Tossal de Manises in Alicante,the Penyal d'Ifac in Calp,la Randero Cave of Pedreguer, as well as in the Cabezo de Pardo and the Baix Segura coast, both in the Vega Baja.
The provincial institution will allocate a total of 100,000 euros to carry out this work, which will begin next year. month of April in the Illeta dels Banyets. The preservation of the excavations carried out in 2016 in the sector of the Southwest Quarter has been threatened by the recent storms, and it is therefore necessary to protect and consolidate this surfacewhich will be fitted out in the future as a new museum space. Likewise, the intervention in Cabezo Pardo will focus this year on carrying out various studies and analyses, as well as the drafting of the final excavation reportAfter eleven years of archaeological campaigns, the project has come to an end.
The archaeological prospection and surveys in the Acequia de los Enamorados - in stretches of Alicante, Mutxamel and Xixona- and in the ravine of the Montnegre river is another of the actions that MARQ will undertake this summer to try to locate remains from the Roman period. In addition, on the slopes of the castle of Callosa de Segura, the excavations of the last campaign will be resumed, as well as the research and updating of data in the area.
The thirteenth intervention to be carried out in the Penyal d'Ifac will focus on the tasks of emergency consolidation and in excavation and documentation of areas of the site centred on I Street, Gate, Church, Necropolis and West Wall. Meanwhile, in the Tossal de Manisesone of the flagships of Alicante's archaeology, the work of technicians and volunteers will be linked to that of previous campaigns with the aim of to delve into one of the main axes of the site.
Another site is the Randero Cave in Pedreguer, where the work will continue in theleft gallery of the Inner Hall, area where the best evidence of the funerary use of the cavity has been determined. In addition, the Palaeolithic survey started in 2014 in the Entrance Hall to better understand the type of occupation of the cave.
From May onwards, the visual prospection and soundings of the first phase for the lifting of theunderwater archaeological map of Baix Segura. In particular, on the coast of Torrevieja, Orihuela and Pilar de la Horadada the Embarcadero Romano de La Mata, Torrelamata, Playa de los Locos, Playa del Acequión, Punta Prima, Cap Cervera, Cap Roig and the Mojón anchorage will be studied.
