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Date Published: 04/10/2022

ARCHIVED - First archaeological excavation campaign begins on Portitxol island, Alicante

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Experts will focus on four sites on Portitxol de Xàbia (Javea) in the Marina Alta region of Alicante which has been occupied since prehistoric times

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - First archaeological excavation campaign begins on Portitxol island, Alicante

The Museum of Xàbia and Alicante University's Institute for Research in Archaeology and Historical Heritage will begin the first ever archaeological excavations on the island of Portitxol in the Marina Alta this month.

The campaign is part of a General Research Plan, approved by the Regional Ministry of Culture, which will last four years following financial backing from Javea Town Council and support from the CIRNE Foundation and Pons family, owners of the island.

Portitxol Island is a rich archaeological site with documented occupations from the end of prehistoric times to the 19th and 20th centuries. Even so, it was in the Late Antique period, between the 4th and 5th centuries, when the island was most intensely inhabited, coinciding with a surge in commercial activity, as evidenced by the numerous anchors found on the seabed of Portitxol.

And then there's the exceptional discovery of a trove of gold coins made last summer.

Back in 1980 the process of protecting the island began, and it was finally declared BIC (of cultural interest) in 2018, four decades later.

The excavation campaign will take place between October and November and will consist of intensive archaeological excavation of the entire surface of the island. Four archaeological probes will also be located in places where there appear to be ancient structures, situated in the highest and flattest areas of the island.

Some underwater exploration will also be carried out to recover archaeological materials identified in previous underwater studies.

Also of interest: Nine people rescued from ill-equipped boat taking on water adrift off coast of Alicante

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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