Iberian burial site reveals old tombs

EXCAVATIONS between La Illeta and the tower in Campello revealed Iberian remains that go back 2,500 years.

Two tombs emerged while digging a channel for electricity cables, and archaeologists have now located five more where they also found fragments of bronze, silver – including a hooped earring – and ceramics.

The area has “tremendous” potential, they said, as they have excavated only 286.4 square metres of the 4,900-square metre site on the landward section of La Illeta.

The most promising area, however, lies beneath the Guardia Civil headquarters near the tower and the parking area. It is here, the experts believe that they would find a cremation area and the “richest and most complex tombs.”

Excavations have also uncovered a huge trench from the Iberian era that the archaeologists believe could have been a clay pit, two stone ovens and shards of Bronze Age ceramic.

Manuel Olcina, technical director of the Alicante Archaeological Museum said of the finds: “We’ve been asking ourselves for years where the La Illeta necropolis could be as these were usually outside the settlement. We expected it to be on the landward side, and we were right.”