The archaeological structure excavated by the promoter group of Residencial Aqua (through the specialized company Alebus SL) in the new residential area known as Allonbay Village, on plot 13 of the PP27 Torres of the PGOU of Vila Joiosa, is a testimony of exceptional archaeological importance for the research on the terracing of agricultural soils in Ibero-Roman times in Hispania. The discovery took place a few months ago on a site near the funerary tower of Sant Josep, one of the most important Roman monuments in Hispania.
It is a large one-sided wall about 12 meters long and almost a meter and a half high, with three courses preserved, raised with large local limestone stones.
It is very similar to other margins of agricultural terraces found in Villajoyosa that date before the Era, such as those of La Cala (3rd century BC) and Puntes del Moro (2nd century BC), which, like this one, were done with very large stones. That makes them more impressive works than modern terraces.
We are facing some of the oldest terraces in Europe known to date, and this particular one is, by far, the best preserved of them. This antiquity and state of conservation give them a great interest not only scientific but above all cultural and tourist, and make it worth to be preserved for posterity, something that has not happened to date, as far as we know, with a rest of this type and size in Spain.
Since the nature of these remains allow, unlike others, move and install them elsewhere, it has been decided to do so in a place close to the original, probably in the new Plaza de Lesera.
This solution allows us preserve heritage and make it compatible with the urban development of the area, avoiding the affection to the works projected in the plot, and above all, it allows its public enjoyment and maintenance in a public space. The same solution was successfully adopted years ago for two Iberian funerary monuments found in Plaça de la Creueta, which were reconstructed by Vilamuseu in the gardens of the Barbera dels Aragonés Manor House, using the original stones and orientation.
The promoter group, through the archeology company Alebus S. L., has already made the photogrammetric 3D documentation of the huge stones, which will facilitate re-assembly; and will proceed to systematically disassemble each of the courses and the ancient gravel that fills the gaps, numbering them and transferring them orderly to the enclosure around the Roman Tower of Sant Josep.
There they will remain while Vilamuseu prepares a reconstruction project, in order to make it become a new and original attraction of Villajoyosa's heritage.
