Early Calpe residents

AS they have for the last 16 summers, archaeologists have explored the Pobla d’Ifac site.
A team of six volunteer students worked throughout August, taking part in the ongoing programme to consolidate and protect the site.
This year’s excavations concentrated on the mediaeval settlement’s burial place, locating 11 new tombs, bringing the total to 67.
The new finds included the remains of children, no older than seven, as well as adults. All had been carefully laid to rest in linen winding-sheets with crossed arms, and one still wore a bronze ring decorated with a crenelated tower.
All would have been Ifac settlers, the earliest of whom arrived there at the end of the 13th century, on the orders of Jaime II.
Many came from Aragon, repopulating the area that had been reclaimed from the Moors and laying the foundations for eventually became the Valencian Community.
Calpe mayor Ana Sala visited the site recently, accompanied by local councillors to see first-hand the advances that have been made during this latest campaign.
“Each year the Pobla d’Ifac excavations give us more valuable information about our forebears and origins,” Sala said.  “It is a treasure that belongs to our municipal heritage that we must protect and make known.”