Date Published: 15/04/2021
ARCHIVED - New Interpretation Centre planned for Los Saladares archaeological site in Orihuela
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The Los Saladares settlement was occupied until the 3rd century B.C. and the site was first discovered in the 70’s
Plans have been announced for the Los Saladares archaeological site, which dates back to the Iron Age and is located in the municipality of Orihuela, to construct an Archaeological Interpretation Centre on the site.
The historic site is located on a 10,000-square-foot plot of land owned by the Orihuela council, which is located at the place known as “Los Cabecicos Verdes”, three and a half kilometres from Orihuela town and close to the Murcian border on a small rocky outcrop above the flat, fertile plains extending out from the River Segura. Los Saladares is classified as an Item of Cultural Interest and is an important archaeological asset in Orihuela whch the council plans to develop into a tourist attraction in the long-term.
This site is of special interest as Los Saladares was occupied from the 9th century B.C. until the 3rd century B.C., unlike other settlements in the area which were abandoned towards the 4th century B.C. such as the Peña Negra in Crevillente.
Excavation in this location dates back to the 70’s, when a local resident from Desambarados discovered the site, but the area was soon abandoned and there are no written records remaining relating to the first excavations, although there is ample material recovered from the site during these first excavations, which clearly shows the influence of imported trade goods on the native population.
Sadly, damage has occurred as the edge of the site was quarried for rock.
However, archaeologists have managed to deduce the sequence of events in the area, starting with the construction of a large building in the Iron Age and followed by two re-occupations in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. The settlement is thought to have been definitively abandoned during the Punic wars (264-146 B.C.) but offers an interesting insight into what was one of the earliest settlements in the Orihuela municipality (see
very brief history of Orihuela), with influences going back to the Argaric Culture, which extended from Almeria in Andalucia, through the modern-day Murcia region and into Alicante province and was supplanted by the Iberian tribes which settled throughout the area, but were themselves much influenced by the activities of the Phoenician traders who traded goods along the Mediterranean basin and brought the potters' wheel to Spain as well as Greek trade ceramic pieces.
The Segura river runs just 2.5 kilometres from this site, which is in turn just 28 kilometres from the Phoenician settlement of la Fonteta (Guardamar), built at the disgorgement point of the Segura into the Mediterranean sea, which would have been navigated by the Phoenician traders during their period of peak activity in this area during the 7th and 8th centuries B.C.
This location is one of the first archaeological sites where it has been possible to study the Iberianization process, as well as the assimilation of Greek and Phoenician influences on the indigenous population.
Once the first excavation campaign has finished, the material will be transported to the University of Alicante for study, while the professionals in charge of the restoration plan how to avoid the building collapsing and carry out further surveys on the plot.