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The Museum of Prehistory’s first
treasures
The Valencia Museum of Prehistory,
run by the Provincial Council, houses
numerous traces of the societies
that occupied the area of Valencia in
past times. Its creation dates back
to 1927, with the purchase of the
collection of objects recovered from
the archaeological excavations carried out in 1925 by Fernando Ponsell
Cortés at the Bronze Age settlement
of Mas de Menente in Alcoi. Some
years later, in 1937, the museum
acquired the collection belonging to
Ernesto Botella Candela, the result of
the excavations carried out between
1925 and 1928 at the Mola Alta de
Serelles, also in Alcoi.
The present exhibition introduces
visitors to some of the earliest treasures discovered by the Prehistoric
Research Service (in Spanish, the
Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica, or SIP), outlines the key stages
in its foundation, and underlines the
contribution of these two sites to
Bronze Age research in Valencia and
its surroundings.

A mosaic of cultures
Some 4,200 years ago, at the beginning of the Bronze Age, a series of major social and political
transformations occurred in the
peasant communities that inhabited a large part of the Iberian
Peninsula. The main consequence
of these changes was the emergence of different cultural groups.
Thus, in contrast to the El Argar
culture to the southeast, a culture known as the Valencian Bronze
Culture developed in a large part of
the area around modern-day Valencia. Because of the distinctive
features of the Mas de Menente and
Mola Alta de Serelles sites, scholars have proposed that these lands
made up a specific cultural area.

The Bronze Age in Valencia
The finds made at the Mas de Menente and the Mola Alta de Serelles,
together with other sites in the region of Valencia such as the Mun-

tanyeta de Cabrera in Torrent, laid
the foundations for the recognition
and characterisation of the Valencian
Bronze Culture. This term was coined in the 1950s and 1960s by Miquel
Tarradell Mateu, professor of Archaeology at the University of Valencia, with the aid of SIP researchers
such as Domingo Fletcher and Enrique Pla. The Valencian Bronze Age
culture covered a large part of the
region, although influenced by the
Argaric culture located in the south-east of the peninsula. The defining characteristics of the Valencian
Bronze Culture were the high density
of small settlements at altitude, the
diversity of the burial sites located
mainly in caves and crevices close
to the settlements and containing
practically no grave goods, and the
presence of simple ceramic vessels
and the absence of the cups typical
of the Argaric culture, in addition to
a limited variety of copper objects.
Today, after 60 years of research, the
validity of the term Valencian Bronze
Culture is being questioned, due to
the coexistence of different societies in the region from the period
bteween 2150 BC and approximately
1500 BC.

The first archaeological
excavations
The first archaeological excavation
at a prehistoric site in the region was
carried out in June 1869, at the instigation of the University of Valencia,
and with the express authorisation
of the civil governor. For four days
that month, digs were carried out at
the Bronze Age site of Molló de les
Mentires, in Aielo de Malferit, under
the guidance of Rafael Cisternas,
professor of Zoology at the University of Valencia, and a pupil of his
at the time named Eduardo Boscà.
The purpose of the dig was to settle
the ongoing debate between Cisternas and Juan Vilanova y Piera,
professor of Geology and Palaeontology at the Central University of
Madrid, regarding a group of sites
located in mountainous areas and,
specifically, whether they should
be interpreted as burial mounds.
Cisternas did not subscribe to the
theory, but the results of the excavation did not put an end to the dispute; it was only in the first decades

MUSEU DE PREHISTÒRIA DE VALÈNCIA
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museuprehistoriavalencia.es -

of the twentieth century that these
sites were recognised as prehistoric
settlements, with the publication of
the studies of the SIP’s first director,
Isidro Ballester Tormo.

La Mola Alta de Serelles
Chronology: Bronze Age. The absolute dating and the typology of
the objects found place its occupation between 1850 and 1550 BC.
Geographical location: The site is
located in the municipality of Alcoi,
occupying a high rocky spur in the
northeastern foothills of the Mariola mountain range, from where the upper and middle valley of
the River Serpis can be seen.
Research: The site was discovered
in 1924 and excavated by Ernesto
Botella, Luis Gisbert and Santiago Reig between 1925 and 1928.
The field work revealed the existence of a large building, defined
by a perimeter wall of some 32 m
in length, whose interior was divided by partitions that created a
set of adjoining rooms. Particularly
interesting finds include the large
number of mills, sickle teeth made
of flint, and ceramic vessels together with archer’s bracers, loom
weights, slag and foundry moulds.
Points of interest: The site contains
an exceptional set of foundry moulds
used to make axes. Their presence
indicates a notable level of metallurgical activity in the settlement.

Ernesto Botella Candela
(Alcoi, 1888-1968)
Ernesto Botella qualified as an industrial expert in mechanics and electricity, and worked in these areas
in his hometown. In 1940 he began
to teach electricity at the Industrial
School of Alcoi. As an archaeologist,
he began his activities with Camilo
Visedo Moltó, taking part in the excavations of the Iron Age site of La
Serreta, where he demonstrated his
skills in technical drawing and photography. Between 1925 and 1928, he
carried out excavations at the Mola
Alta de Serelles, the results of which
appeared in separate reports published by the Council of Excavations
and Antiquities in 1926 and 1928.

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The foundation of the SIP and its
museum
On 20 October, 1927, the purchase
of the Ponsell collection comprising
objects from the archaeological sites
of Xarpolar and Mas de Menente
was approved by the Commission
of the Provincial Council of Valencia.
The same document also mentions
the creation of a Provincial Museum
of Prehistory, which was to form part
of an Prehistoric Research Service
(SIP). Isidro Ballester Tormo was
proposed as its director. Since then,
for almost a century, the SIP and its
museum have carried out a programme of research that has created one
of the most important public archaeological collections in Spain. The
SIP has established itself as a key
institution in the region of Valencia,
dedicated to preserving, researching
and disseminating its archaeological
heritage.

Isidro Ballester Tormo (Nerpio,
Albacete, 1876- València, 1950)
After graduating in law at the
University of Valencia in 1901, Isidro
Ballester practised as a lawyer both
in the capital and in Albaida, the town
where he lived. A skilled politician,
he became a provincial deputy
representing the Conservative Party
in the district of Xàtiva-Albaida and
was appointed vice-president of
the Provincial Council of Valencia.
In 1927, his interest in archaeology
led him to create the SIP and the
Museum of Prehistory under the
aegis of the Provincial Council.
Ballester was to hold the position of
technical director of the museum
until his death.

The beginnings of
archaeology in Alcoi
The findings made at the Iron Age
site of La Serreta de Alcoi between
1919 and 1923 aroused the interest of
several local scholars. As a result of
the field work carried out by Fernando Ponsell Cortés, the Mas de
Menente settlement was discovered
on 4 December 1924. During the first
months of 1925 Ponsell began his ex-

cavation after obtaining the necessary authorisation. For its part, the
Mola Alta de Serelles was excavated
between 1925 and 1928 by Ernesto Botella Candela together with
his cousins ​​Luis Gisbert Botella and
Santiago Reig Candela. The objects
uncovered were displayed in the homes of their excavators in Alcoi until
both collections were purchased, in
1927 and 1937 respectively, by the
Provincial Council of Valencia SIP.

El Mas de Menente
Chronology: Bronze Age. Carbon-14 dated samples indicate that the site was occupied
between 2050 and 1900 BC.
Geographical location: The site
is located in the municipality of
Alcoi, and occupies the top of a
small rocky ridge in the southern
foothills of the Mariola mountain range, near the River Polop.
Research: The excavations carried
out in 1925 by Fernando Ponsell
identified eight small rooms, connected to a street or passageway.
More recent studies have suggested
that the set of rooms correspond to
three buildings, built with stone walls
joined together with mud; inside,
benches and fireplaces have been
identified, along with a large number of items such as mills, ceramic
vessels, sickle teeth made of flint, a
wooden sickle, remains of carbonised beans and cereals, perforated
seashells, loom weights and copper
utensils comprising an axe, knives,
punches and a saw. The presence
of a “layer of blackish, ashen earth”
on the floor of the rooms suggests
that they were destroyed by fire.
Points of interest: The most notable find is the exceptionally
well preserved wooden handle of a sickle, in which the serrated pieces of flint were inserted.

Fernando Ponsell Cortés (Alcalà
de la Jovada, La Vall d’Alcalà, 1898 Alcoi, 1975)
A self-taught archaeologist, Fernando
Ponsell combined his archaeological
activities with his position as the owner of a small textile factory in Alcoi.
In early 1920 he was appointed corresponding director of the Valencian
Cultural Centre in Alcoi. In his youth
he explored sites in his native region,

MUSEU DE PREHISTÒRIA DE VALÈNCIA
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museuprehistoriavalencia.es -

carrying out excavations in the Iron
Age settlement of Xarpolar in Planes-la Vall d’Alcalà in 1923, at Mas de
Menente in 1925 and at the Neolithic
site of Cova de la Sarsa in Bocairent
from 1926 onwards. The results of
the excavations at Mas de Menente
were published in the annual report
of the Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigüedades (the Council for
Excavations and Antiquities), in 1926,
and in volume I of the journal Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina, in 1929.

Lifestyle and the peasantry
The peasant communities that lived
in the region of Valencia in the Bronze Age were organised into small
family groups. Over several generations, each group lived on farms or
in small villages near their farmlands.
The Mas de Menente and the Mola
Alta de Serelles are good examples
of these practices, as the communities grew wheat, barley, beans and
pulses and created other products
derived from the breeding of goats,
sheep, cows and pigs; hunting and
gathering were other sources of
food. The inhabitants built their homes and made a large part of their
work tools using the resources of
their immediate surroundings. However, they depended on other groups
in times of difficulty and to maintain
or increase their numbers, and also
to obtain other necessary goods
such as metal instruments or ornaments made of seashells or ivory.
Although in their daily tasks they
were governed by the principles of
the peasant economy, in social and
economic terms they were linked
togehter to other villages with which
they formed a larger political entity.

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