The City of Totana has recently awarded the mercantile "Restauralia Cartago, SL" the emergency works for the conservation and rehabilitation of the archaeological site of La Bastida for an amount of 60,000 euros, fully funded by the General Directorate of Cultural Property the Autonomous Community;
and with a term of execution of three months.
On September 28, the Local Government Board requested this grant to the Autonomous Community to execute these actions, after technicians of the section of Historical Heritage of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment will visit the past September 14 the wall of the Barranco Salado, located in the complex of the archaeological site of La Bastida, in order to evaluate the current state of this infrastructure and to undertake emergency actions that avoid their progressive degradation by the inclemencies.
The Ministry issued an order last September 20 releasing an economic item for the totanero City Council to carry out the emergency works at the La Bastida site, property of the Consistory and that is responsible for its conservation, custody and protection, to ensure its integrity and prevent its destruction in accordance with the Cultural Heritage Law.
Emergency works have begun this week and are aimed at preventing the deterioration of the site.
In addition, prior to any new excavation work, it is necessary to prioritize and consolidate the parts of the site that have already been acted to preserve the archaeological remains.
The pretension of the works to act on the problems of foundations existing before the threat of collapse of the wall by the effect of the runoff as a consequence of the torrential rains, as well as those directed to the security, containment and protection of the good of the wall.
The works consist of the preparation and adaptation of the affected walls with removal and cleaning of disintegrated elements or risk of detachment in an estimated area of ββ150 square meters and performances in the walls by the application of lime consolidators, mortar and coatings to ensure your safety.
In addition, it will proceed to the relocation and reintegration of detached stone elements to ensure their safety and support, and construction of a network of rainwater channeling in the area of ββthe road and on lower terraces to avoid the entry of rainfall in the area of the wall.
It will also proceed to the stabilization and consolidation of a grave with risk of detachment;
conditioning and consolidation of structures excavated at the top;
and general stabilization of the entire village in terms of soils and drainage elements to ensure the correct evacuation of rainwater, among others.
Unique wall in Europe
The fortification of the Bronze Age, apparently unique in continental Europe, was discovered in the archaeological site of La Bastida, in Totana (Murcia), in 2012, in excavations led by Vicente Lull, professor of Prehistory of the UAB.
Built for about 4,200 years ago, the fortification has walls of three meters wide, solid square towers of up to seven meters of original height, a monumental entrance and a pointed archery, an architectural element preserved complete and unique in Europe.
The finding confirms, together with the other discoveries made in recent years, that the city was the most developed settlement in Europe, in political and military terms, of the Bronze Age, comparable only to the Minoan civilization of Crete.
The wall could protect a 4-hectare city located on a hill, and has architectural elements that involve the intervention of people with military knowledge from the East, similar to the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, as the second city of Troy.
The fortification was built with large stones set with mortar and reinforced by massive pyramidal towers distributed at close distance between them, and about 4 meters in the side.
