Roman Period
The Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsular started with the Second Punic War (219-201 B.C.), thus beginning the “Romanisation,” a process of acculturation which transformed the native society into one ruled by the same rules as Rome; the same laws, fashions.
This period saw the building of many “villas” (as non-urban settlements were known) throughout the Jávea-Xàbia municipal area.Most of these villas were built in El Pla and Les Valls, in the fertile valley formed by the river Xaló or Gorgos, an area of great agricultural possibilities. Agricultural production is the main economic activity, possibly with an emphasis on grape-growing (as would seem to be indicated by the existence of workshops where amphorae were produced, to store wine for export).
Three further Roman sites are to be found near the sea: La Duana, La Punta del Arenal-Montañar and Portitxol Island. In these settlements, unlike the villas, commercial and manufacturing activities undoubtedly predominated over agriculture. The best-known of these sites is La Punta del Arenal, where the archaeological excavations carried out produced valuable information about the salting industry located there and which has left to this day large nursery pools dug in the rock, communicated with the sea via two channels. These pools are popularly known as “Els Banys de la Reina” (“The Queen’s Baths”). Next to these constructions were found thirteen quadrangular deposits, most of which had walls covered with waterproof mortar. These small pools were used to deposit the entrails and other parts of fish with large quantities of salt. This caused a fermentation catalysed by the sun, which produced the prized “garum” and/or other fish sauces which were then stored in amphorae and distributed throughout the Empire.
A few metres from La Punta del Arenal is the necropolis of Montañar-“Muntanyar”, a large cemetery area for the site, with the characteristic that all its graves were dug into the rock. The importance of this burial necropolis is such that it held 900 graves. The site is dated at the same time as La Punta del Arenal, i.e. from the last years B.C. to the VII Century A.D.
Another feature related to the salting industry is the “Sequia (Irrigation Channel) de la Noria,” a large channel dug out of the rock which crosses the second Montañar and connects the sea to the Saladar (Salt Marsh), an area where there were previously salt flats devoted to the production of the salt needed for the salting industry. |
Necrópolis Romana en el Montańar
Ánforas Romanas
Ánforas
| | |
|
