The intense construction activity in the Alicante neighborhood of Benalúa Sur continues to offer surprises. Relative, because if it was not strange that a small air-raid shelter appeared in an area that was heavily bombed during the war due to the presence of industries and its proximity to the port, the presence of archaeological remains dating between the centuries does not surprise experts either. VI and VII of our era, since there is extensive documentation of previous findings.
Since yesterday, the Alicante City Council has been supervising the discovery, as announced by the Councilor for Culture, Nayma Beldjilali. The Comprehensive Heritage department carries out periodic controls of the work carried out by a specialized company hired by Metrovacesa, the construction company that had begun the works to erect a building.
The head of Integral Heritage, José Manuel Pérez Burgos, believes that “the scientific results are very interesting, we are looking at construction remains from the 6th-7th centuries of the late Roman period, transitional between the Roman and medieval times. These are residential and, above all, amphoric remains.”
The abundance of amphorae seems to indicate the existence of “an industrial establishment, which we knew existed in Benalúa, and we also found ourselves before the remains of a necropolis with two tombs detected, one very interesting in a cist with semi-tumular coverage, very typical of Roman times.” “late of the centuries between V and VII AD”.
The company in charge of the excavations, once the field work on the site has been completed, will carry out a complete photogametry – measurement with images – and with all the documentation will prepare a complete scientific report that will be sent to the Department of Culture and the Alicante City Council. Next, all the materials found, after being studied, will be deposited in the municipal archeology warehouse of the City Museum (MUSA), located in the Santa Bárbara Castle.
In a work published by the MARQ of Alicante in 2007, various experts confirmed the “new evidence of the occupation of Benalúa (Alicante) during the 6th-7th centuries AD.” The site then analyzed, at a time prior to the outbreak of the crisis that paralyzed the then frenetic construction activity, “has been known since the 17th century as Els Antigons,” the authors explained.
“The first news mentions numismatic finds, collected by Bendicho. In the 18th century, the Alicante scholars Maltés and López refer to the existence of Roman and Goth antiquities in the Alicante area of ??Els Antigons, referring to remains of buildings, archaeological materials and coins,” the document states.
From that moment on, “the place maintained a strong connection with the Lucentum mentioned in classical sources, mainly from the discovery of an inscription in 1877, approximately towards the confluence of the current Catedrático Soler and Oscar Esplá Avenues, about 200 meters from the mouth, and on the right bank of an artificial channeling that was made in the 19th century of the San Blas Ravine.”
There were even works that identified Lucentum with Els Antigons, but subsequent archaeological studies allowed it to be placed on the site occupied by the Tossal de Manises site, in Albufereta.
Then, the experts considered that “the large number of amphora fragments, which constitute the largest group of materials, evidences the commercial orientation and maritime connection of the area, located very close to Baver beach, an anchorage used in the light of these and other evidence from Antiquity to the 16th century. These containers show the timely arrival to our coasts of shipments from various points in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa and are accompanied by other products, such as ceramics for the service of table and kitchen”.
