Yacimiento arqueológico "El Monastil"

Monuments

The archaeological site El Monastil (Property of Cultural Interest), of municipal ownership, is one of the most representative and rich elements of Elda's historical heritage. It is located in the rural part of the same name, in the eastern foothills of the Sierra de la Torreta. Surrounded by the Vinalopó River, it occupies an approximate area of ​​3.5 hectares. The main access is made by the southern slope, connected to the north entrance (Elda-Hospital) from the A-31 highway (Madrid-Alicante). The occupation of this settlement dates from the end of the third millennium BC (Chalcolithic) and the Almohad period (13th century), with a special development between the Iberian culture and the Roman period. Throughout its history, El Monastil has maintained a constant central position in the Vinalopó River corridor, constituting, within the Elda Valley, a landmark on the traditional border between Alto and Medio Vinalopó. It has also been a strategic place to control the main historical communication routes between the coastal regions of Alicante and the interior of the peninsula. Settlement of the Bronze Age and enclave of the orientalizing period, it becomes an important Ibero-Roman oppidum, ranking the territory of the Middle and High Vinalopó during the second half of the first millennium BC. C. Most of the construction remains are located on the highest elongated spur of the site, the upper area of ​​the town, where remains of an Iberian, Roman and late Roman urbanism that shows houses of rectangular trend adapted to the irregularities of the place are preserved. , reused throughout these periods, and articulated around a central street that is divided into two roads to the western part of the settlement. On the southern slope of the town are the remains of a Iberian-Roman defensive system that fortified access to the oppidum, and that was possibly reused in the low-imperial and late-antiquarian periods. The remains of a singular warehouse of cereals are conserved outside the walls, located in the main southern terrace, which, in turn, houses a set of domestic and artisanal structures attached mainly to the Iberian and Roman periods. During this last period, El Monastil is traditionally associated with the Ad Ello mansion of Antonino's Itinerary. The vestiges of three kilns belonging to a pottery dating back to the late Roman period and the beginning of the imperial period stand out, as well as a small metallurgical furnace attached to the same stage. In the terraces closest to the river, south of the CV-8352 road, ceramic remains and vestiges of Iberian funerary monuments have been located. The upper part of the town is abandoned throughout the High Empire. After a broad chronological hiatus, during the low-imperial period the area is concerned, continuing the habitat until the Byzantine-Visigoth period, and beginning its decline and definitive abandonment during the Islamic era emiral. In the late antiquity period, the hypothesis linking El Monastil with the debated episcopal seat of Elo of the conciliar texts of Toledo stands out. Precisely in the western end of the high part of the deposit the vestiges of a Christian church of this stage are conserved. This church, which shows signs of abandonment and possible reuse in the early Islamic era, could be used as al-munastir. This denomination has remained substantially in the current name of the game and the archaeological site. Altogether, the archaeological site shows a relevant set of material constructions and vestiges of the following periods: Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Orientalizing, Iberian-old, full and final-, Roman-republican, altaimperial, bajoimperial-, Late-Byzantine-Byzantine and Visigothic, Islamic emiral and, to a lesser extent, the Caliphate and Almohad eras.