Author: Massu Sentí, cap de l'Àrea d'Arqueologia i Museus. MY Town Hall of Dénia
At the beginning of June we received surprising news. Joaquín Sánchez Navarro, geoleg dedicated to the study and investigation of the Balearic Islands of Pedreres for the extraction of windmills, mainly from the Islamic period, in communicating the location of a quarry of these characteristics to the municipal terme of Dénia, in the prices and preat paratge that they are more enllà de l'Aiguadolç. This jaciment, of great archaeological interest, but not being massa frequent in our area, will be included, in Breu, in l'Atlas des Meulieres Europeenne, from the mà del geòleg.
The extraction sites of these molí stones, quarries of pedra de molí, on the surface or underground, are found by thousands of people in Europe and constitute a notable class of heritage, in relation to the History of Material Culture and the Archeology of Production, interested in the characterization of everyday life, social relations and economics and the reconstruction of processes not only of production, but of trade and consumption, along with environmental impact (Giannicheda, 2001).
The profusion of features of these characteristics has led to the construction of a data base created by Center National de la Recherche Scientifique de França, CNRS, one of the main research institutions in the world, with a wide international recognition for the excellence of its investigations. the database meulieres.eu o millstonequarries.eu, compta amb 1.114 entries susceptible to be consulted without restrictions and our reference will be introduced, which will all continue to be reproduced in the format of the stated database and subscribed by the geoleg Joaquín Sánchez Navarro.
From the Àrea d'Arqueologia i Museus del MI Ajuntament de Dénia, we have taken the pertinent steps to introduce this "pedrera de pedra de molí" in the Catalog of Bens and Protected Spaces of the General Structural Plan, both the category ofEPA, Archaeological Protection Spaces, which supposes a INTEGRAL protection level per al jaciment Likewise, actions have been initiated to include the jaciment in the Valencia System of Inventaris of the Cultural Heritage of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat Valenciana.
- Alicante, Denia, Les Rotes
- Countries/countries: Spain ---- Spain --- Spain
- Region/Region: Valencian Community, Alicante
- Department/Department:
- Commune/County or Municipality: Denia
- Lieu-dit/Place name: Les Rotes
- Owner/Ownership: public
- Current owner/Present owner: Demarcation of Costs – Medi Ambient i Litoral
- Old owner/Former owner:
- Exploitation period attested/Certified date: Medieval times
- Description du site/Site description:
The jaciment is made of an eolianite of quaternary age, made up of calcaric bioclasts of gra mitjà-fi (0,5 - 2 mm in diameter) cemented, with calcic carbonate that fossilizes a paleorelleu of Terciari calcàries in the area of Les Rotes, to the east of Dénia. These eolianites, locally connected with “rough stone”, are found from the voltants of the restaurant Ca Nano fins to the carved cave, in four areas that have been exploited for the extraction of construction trucks. The tertiary materials of the base are limestone with interspersed clay, a circumstance for which it is to be assumed that the extreme masses may contain some remains of these components.The molera is of the tipus dispers, model MO-2A d'Anderson. Some 20 alvèols of extreme moles have been identified and some faults have been observed and the extraction has not been finished. The maximum observed thickness exploited is 40 cm and the extraction area is about 10 m long and about 3 m wide, an area in which there will be an attempt to extract carreus. Presumably, the other areas of carreus extraction, including the Cova Tallada, could have been initially milled to obtain manual windmills from the Islamic period, with success in villages of the Balearic Islands and others in North Africa (cova d'Africa). 'Hercules).
The obtained moles are between 45 and 55 cm in diameter and an exceptional one, 70 cm. Tot i that the high marine erosion has blurred the real diameter, the empresses of the tools of tall and alçat of the fish, presumably it is made between a sun of some 4-6 cm in V open to the outside and the alçament mitjançant corona de punts.
The materials are sandy stones with remains of fossils and calcaric bioclasts with little matriu and calcari cement, which donates white-groguenc colored materials, of graphite, rodat fortament and partially dissolved and recrystal·litzats.
- Type of meules products/Millstone type: manual moles/molins d'aigua
- Production/Production: unite 30 moles
- Diffusion air of the production/Spread of the production: local
- Accuracy/Define :
- Protection du site, mise en valeur, conditions de visita/Measures of protection and valorisation, visiting conditions: Access from the Rotes viewpoint.
- Bibliography/Bibliography:
- Remarkable sources/Noteworthy sources:
- Author of the file/Author of the entry: Joaquin Sanchez Navarro
- File mis a day/Updated: 2023-04-03
The exploitation of quaternary eolianites in the Dénia area-Xàbia and other indrets of the coast of the Marina Alta, especially Benitatxell, has been associated with the llarg dels segles dimensions històriques. There has been a traditional activity since the Roman era, which brings to the highest point the llarg of the XVI-XVIII centuries. The importance of these quaternary or rough eolianite deposits derives from the great abundance on our coast and from its easy exploitation, traditionally used for obtaining stone for construction. Its use is intense in the region from Roman times to the end of the XNUMXth century, both in civil, military and religious urban architecture, as well as in the bastiment of rural structures such as hermitages, defensive and guaita towers, farmhouses, pous , ponts, séquies, sénies i riuraus, entre d'altres manifestacions. During the XNUMXth century, its us has declined to an overexploitation that has propitiated the protection generated by these types of lithological dipòsits. L'ús de la pedra toca fue substituted at the end of the XNUMXth century by a new fashion, l'ús de pedra calcària and, later, by modern construction materials. Currently, the recycling of old constructions is highly appreciated.
At the municipal terme of Dénia, the rough-hewn rock for the building bastiment is evidence of the high-imperial Roman era, and is a constant in the building of Dianium. Its use is present in the constructions of l'Hort de Morand, on the immediate plaza to the north of the Turó del Castell, on the site of the ancient Roman city and is found in a sector of a domus from the XNUMXnd century, more to the East. The rough stone is also present in a very important suburban complex constituted by horrea, of which s'han individualitzat almenys deu edificis d'estas característiques that make up the portus. The altoimperial building is characterized by the use of rough stone in three fundamental ways: with maçons in the construction of walls; with reinforcements in the angles of the buildings, in brancals and lindars; and in the form of great carreus, opus quadratum, for the bastiment of murs of contention and abancalament.
In the Islamic period, rough stone continued to be used as a construction material, considering that it is less common for large carreus apparellals to be used. It is considered that many of the materials used for the bastiment of urban and defensive structures of Daniya, the Islamic medina, come from the Roman city that, abandoned to it, would allow the quarry functions for the extraction of construction materials, circumstances well verified to the jaciment. It is noteworthy that in the Islamic era the stone was used above all in the bastiment of fonaments, while the alçats of the walls are made with the tàpia or tabiya, all included in the defensive systems have good characteristics in determinats trams, such as for them eastern and western llenços of the Raval Gran de la Medina, the Fortí. At the castle, the properly Islamic structures, such as the Torre del Mig or the portes de la Vila or l'Alcassaba, present carriages of rough stone that correspond to the characteristic Islamic modulation.
In the Christian medieval era, the city is transferred to the interior of the Islamic albacar, the castle, which is reinforced to house and protect the new town. Paradigm of this refortification are certain towers, such as that of the Consell i la Roja, among others, which is strong with carreus and rough elements with characteristic pedrapiquers marks. In the successive remodeling of the fortress in response to the different war episodes such as barbaric piracy or the War of Succession, the rough stone is also present.
L'ús de la tosca is also common in civil, urban and rural architecture, and in religious architecture, and is present in the new room of the Council, for the town hall, and in the arches of the façades of the renaissance city and modern, there with other manifestations of the rural world, late in the XNUMXth century in which the limestone stone of the most of the Xara stones was imposed. Esment especial mereix l'arquitectura gothic religious. They are the hermitages of Sant Joan, Santa Llúcia and Santa Paula, scattered in rural enclaves and built between the XIV and XV centuries. It is a tract of buildings with a single nau, rectangular in plan, with two water roofs, originally with a shaft, supported by arches pointed out by rough dovelles, also present in the arches of the accesses, in brancals and cantoners.
There are abundant and diverse studies on the quaternary eolianite dips of our coast and that of the Balearic Islands, the volcano of les pedreres has not capped local or regional studies that take care of the location and typology , and of the techniques of extraction, elaboration and uses. However, there have been records of a series of historical rock formations, from the majority of which it is not possible to infer the chronological scope of exploitation. One of these is located in the area called the Faroleta, to contain the Faroleta Antiga, which will be located between 1861 and 1914 in which the Faroleta Nova will be built, more prop of l'espill del port. The archaeological intervention in the vicinity of the Faroleta Antiga, in the Raval Gran de Daniya, the Fortí, will expose a large expanse of quaternary eolianites on which is basti the Islamic habitat. This relict dune formation is present in the subsoil of a good part of the city, a circumstance that has been verified through multiple boreholes and archaeological excavations. In this sector of La Faroleta, delimited by the train track and the current Carrer de Pintor Llorens, the Islamic structures cover the dune surface with empresses of carving, with grooves and cavitats for the placement of cunyes for the extraction of carreus, here with other circular-shaped companies resulting from the extraction of stones from the mill or, potser, column drums. The Islamic strata supply the XI-XIII centuries, a moment that marks the ante quem end for the quarry. Així mateix, on this surface are carved a series of tombs, the aixovars of the quals, circumscriuen the chronology to the VI-VII centuries, that is, the Visigothic or late imperial era.
From the XNUMXth century there are news of the quarry of the village, which was located between carrer de la Mar and camí dels Pontarrons, currently carrer de Càndida Carbonell, next to the church and convent of Sant Antoni. From this quarry, most of the roughness was removed for building, face that a lot came from the Cova Tallada. The quarry of the village was exploited in 1796 for a dry quarry, to obtain materials for the construction of the temple of Sant Telm. At Roc Chabàs, the area is occupied by a Moorish cemetery with open graves in the aforementioned rough stone and, according to Marc Antoni Palau, found the tomb of a Dénia bishop (Chabas, 1985: 39).
L'any 2005, in the course of an archaeological intervention in the plaça del Convent is documented outcroppings of quaternary eolianites, the quarry of the village, with clear signs d'haver state carvings. Neither the extension, nor the clarity of the printouts, allow for more precision. Foren also documented the graves carved in these outcrops, the aixovar of one of them allowed us to specify the chronology proposed by Chabàs and place it at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, in harmony with the one proposed by the historian Palau.
A the Arenetes, a les Rotes, there have been empremtes d'haver-se developed the subaquatic extraction of coarse. It is disconnected, however, the period of use of this area of exploitation. But it's the carved cave the most eloquent case and the quarry for excellence lència of coarse extraction. Located at the foot of the penya-segats of the massís of Cap de Sant Antoni, close to the sea, it will provide the carts and blocks for the construction of the church of Sant Bertomeu de Xàbia, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, molts dels quals present you mark them from the pedrapiquers. However, the beginning of the extraction dating back to the XNUMXth century attests to some trobales of this chronology realized in the cave. An inscription on the wall of the carved rock reveals the visit of King Philip III: Philipus III HISP REX CAVERNAM HANC PENETRAVIT AN MDXCIX (Felip III, king of Spain, will enter this cova l'any 1599). Since 1972, the quarry is protected and is not allowed to be extracted.
The most important rough stone diposits on the Valencian coast are, but, els Muntanyars from Xàbia. This great quarry has been exploited since Roman times until in 1972, the same as the Cova Tallada, the municipality is going to prohibit its extraction. The first Muntanyar presents the companies of the continuous extraction of coarse and at the southernmost vessant the great bassa of the factory of salts and fish salaons. According to Muntanyar, all of which have an extractive area that will destroy some graves, it is a large necropolis that comprises some 900 pits that are located along a large area of more than 6.000 square meters. The burials were excavated in the dune surface between the I and VII centuries and provide very few but significant funerary aixovars among those that stand out from the low imperial and late antiquity times.
