El MARQ will start next Monday, August 3rd, the Excavation Plan for the financial year 2020 with the actions to be carried out in the site of the Pobla de Ifach, in Calp. The Alicante Provincial Council has earmarked this year a 122,000 budget for the development of the archaeological interventions in the different sites spread throughout the province which, for the first time, will be subject to a specific work plan in order to comply with the health legislation derived from COVID-19.
The Vice-President and Member of Parliament for Culture, Julia Parraexplained that "the proposal presents important novelties determined by the current situation in order to avoid contagion among the people who will participate in the campaign. Among them, the number of volunteers and graduate students who will participate has been reduced by half, from 105 in 2019 to 55 this year. This is a necessary measure to ensure interpersonal distance in the work area".
The excavation and documentation process has been organised in such a way as to avoid close proximity, contact and unintentional crossing of people. In addition, it is compulsory to use protective equipmentThe museum has been working on this issue since the beginning of the year, with masks, the use of disinfectant liquids and the washing of hands. From the museum, tools and other non-transferable digging equipment shall be assigned to each person.. The Excavation Plan has the advice and supervision of the Occupational Risk Prevention Service of the Provincial Council of Alicante.
Julia Parra said that "this year we plan to work on seven excavations, six with field activity and one underwater excavation in Las Marinas, but in the latter we will only be able to carry out documentation and preparation work in order to be able to move forward next year".
The interventions will be carried out in various regions of the province of Alicante, starting with the Marina Alta on 3 August, in the site located in the Peñón de Ifach Natural Park.. There, a archaeological study of Pobla Nova de Conquista that will run for four weeks and will involve the collaboration of 7 university volunteers under the leadership ofhe MARQ Archaeologist and Exhibitions Technician, the Dr. José Luis Menéndez FueyoThe excavations at this unique site have been under the responsibility of the Director of Excavations since 2005. The performance has the collaboration of the Calp Town Hall.
The coordinator and technical manager of the Excavations Plan and director of MARQ, Manuel OlcinaHe explained that "this is the sixteenth excavation campaign in Pobla de Ifach and the work, integrated in the 2018-2021 Research Plan, aims to support the tasks of the preventive consolidation programme that the MARQ, together with the Architecture Department, is developing in parallel with the research of the site". This year the focus will be on the documentation and consolidation of the tombs of the cimiterium or necropolis of Ifach, located next to the church of the medieval city. On the other hand, the work begun in 2018 will continue in Ifach Oeste, where the Puerta del Oeste, the second access system to the city, was discovered last year.
The MARQ Plan will continue on 17 August with the beginning of the work on the Randero Cavein Pedreguerdirected by Jorge Soler and Consuelo Roca de Togores. On 24 August, the three-week campaign will begin in the Cabezon del Molinoin Rojaleswith Juan Antonio López and Mª Teresa Ximénez de Embún at the front.
In September, the first day will be the start of the excavation of the access road to the ancient cities of the Tossal de Maniseswhich will be led by Olcina, Eva Tendero, Antonio Guilabert and the Director of Conservation and Consolidation, Rafael Pérez. Also on that day, the intervention in the Illeta dels Banyetsin El Campello, on the south-western quarter of the Punic settlement under the supervision of Olcina, Adoración Martínez and Rafael Pérez.
Finally, on 14 September, the MARQ will begin archaeological work on the enclave of Slopes of the Castle of Callosa de Segurawhere a project to study the historical process in the 2nd millennium in the Vega Baja del Segura and Baix Vinalopó will be developed, under the direction of Juan Antonio López Padilla.
The actions of the Archaeological Charter of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Marina Baixa and Marina Alta regionsdirected by Rafael Azuar, sThe focus will be on documentation work, given the difficulties in carrying out underwater prospection due to the complex protection and prevention measures.
