La Vall de Gallinera
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La Vall d’Alcalà
El Xarpolar is an Iberian archaeological site located at the western end of La Foradada, at an altitude of 900 metres. It was discovered by Ferran Ponsell in 1928.
What can be observed there are the remains of a double enclosure of walls that surrounded and defended the settlement. The outlines of some rooms and other structures with uncertain interpretation can also be distinguished.
Based on the archaeological materials found at the site, experts date the settlement between the 6th and 1st centuries BCE. The pottery discovered during the excavations is of Iberian origin, with notable fragments featuring geometric decorations and figures in the style of the settlement of Sant Miquel de Llíria. Greek pottery with red-figure decoration and black glaze, Campanian pottery, and amphorae have also been found, indicating the settlement's existence in the 6th century BCE.
The found artefacts are deposited at the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia and the Camil Visedo Moltó Municipal Archaeological Museum in Alcoi. Among them, apart from the ceramics, the following items stand out: a complete falcata (a type of Iberian sword), a key, fibulae, spindle whorls, needles, weights, stone mills, iron agricultural tools, and Iberian and Roman Republic coins.