The sixteenth season of excavations at the site of the Pobla de Ifach of Calp, ends tomorrow after a month of August in which six university volunteers have developed an intensive support for the tasks of the consolidation programme preventive action in the area. This year the action has focused on the documentation and securing of a number of tombs of the cimiterium or necropolis of Ifachlocated next to the church of the medieval city. The technical team has discovered up to 11 new tombs in the cemetery areaThis brings to 67 the number of burials already documented out of the hundred or so burials located.
In these tombs lie the remains of the settlers of Ifach, who built and occupied this city from late 13th century by order of King James II and under the rule of the Calabrian nobleman Ruggero di LauriaAdmiral of the Crown of Aragon and lord of the Calp castral territory for a good part of the 14th century. Many of them had moved from the north of the Crown of Aragon to populate the newly conquered lands and forge the pillars of the Kingdom of Valencia, the seed of what is today the Comunitat Valenciana.
The First Vice-President and Member of Parliament for Culture, Júlia ParraHe congratulated the "magnificent work carried out by the team led by the MARQ archaeologist and medieval specialist, José Luis Menéndez, whom he encouraged to continue with the research undertaken at one of the key sites of our land to bring us closer to a better understanding of our history".
The works promoted in this edition are part of the 'MARQ Research Plan 2018-2021', together with the Architecture Area of the institution, in parallel to the research of the site, and they have been carried out following the strict planned protocol to prevent COVID-19 infections. As in previous years, since 2008, the participation of students has been possible thanks to the collaboration agreement established between the Diputación de Alicante and the Calp Town Council.
The MARQ team has found in the tombs, along with some adults, a large number of infant remainsof ages not exceeding 7 years. The bodies were found in the supine position, with their arms intertwined, wrapped in a linen shroud and without any grave goods or accessory that accompanied his journey to the afterlife. In only one case has a bronze ring been found, decorated with a crenellated tower, set on one of the fingers of the buried person.
It has also been documented that a multiple grave consisting of three bodies showing their messy leftovers. These tombs are very common in the cemetery area of Ifach, as a result of its necessary and continuous reorganisation in order to free up space to continue burying.
Likewise, the tasks of the preventive conservation programme carried out by the Architecture Department of the Alicante Provincial Council have been successfully completed in the following years. consolidation work on a dozen or so existing tombs in the Ifach cemetery area, excavated in previous campaigns. The objectives are aimed at preserving burial pitspreserving the eternal resting place of the ancient settlers of La Pobla, whom we consider to be the authentic and anonymous founders of Ifach.
Finally, Parra concluded that "all the findings open a door to curiosity and knowledge that we must follow and deepen in order to better understand our past".
