Discover an Iberian building in El Campello key to understanding the constructions of the time

Work carried out at the site of La Illeta dels Banyets in El Campello this summer as part of the XIX MARQ Excavation Campaign has brought to light an Iberian building, whose remains are key to understanding the constructions of the time.

It is a quadrangular house with an internal space divided into four departments, one of which suffered a fire that, in this case, raises expectations of recovering a fossilized moment of life 2,300 years ago.

In view of the results, next year the excavation will continue to try to clarify the functionality of the ground floor of this building and thus be able to offer visitors to the site new museum spaces that expand information about the protohistoric occupation of La Illeta.

The Deputy for Culture, Juan de Dios Navarro, visited the archaeological site this morning, located in El Campello, to see firsthand the results of this campaign which lasted four weeks. Accompanied by the mayor of El Campello, Juanjo Berenguer, councilor Lourdes Llopis, and by MARQ director and campaign coordinator Manuel Olcina, the provincial official toured the site where a team of professionals worked for four weeks under the direction of Adoración Martínez and Olcina himself.

Navarro thanked municipal support for this "archaeological jewel that, under the umbrella of the Diputación, offers new discoveries and relevant scientific results year after year to understand our history and our outstanding cultural heritage." In addition, he highlighted the musealization carried out by MARQ and by the Architecture Area of ​​the provincial institution, "which continues to bet on preserving, promoting and disseminating our legacy."

For his part, Olcina explained that "it is an extraordinary site, a reference place in Spanish and European archaeology where Mediterranean cultures are synthesized from Prehistory to Roman times with very important vestiges such as productive spaces from the Iberian-Punic establishment or baths and nurseries from the Roman phase."

Based on excavation results, it has been determined that the height of this building could exceed 3.8 meters. The walls still retain part of their adobe elevations and coatings and inside the rooms there are equipment and structures built with adobe, such as benches and platforms, which allows us to deepen our knowledge of "raw earth architecture" that prevailed during protohistory.

In addition, it has been possible to study the measurement pattern used in constructing the building. Each ancient people used a different pattern of measures and proportions and this research project also aims to establish whether the architectural modulation of buildings responds to a classic Punic pattern or if, on the contrary, it uses Iberian foot or Punic cubit documented in the central part of the site and in Menorca. The ceramic materials found reveal the primacy of imported products, with frequent presence of Attic materials from Ibiza, North Africa especially Carthage, and from the Strait area.