Iberic Bibliography (English)
About five or six kilometers East of Alpera( Apiarum of the romans) we have seen the most important ruins, especially in their extension, that are in the area. At the top of the mountain of regular elevation, called Meca, merged with Mugron de Almansa, inaccessible from almost everywhere and which summit forms a mesa of about twenty to twenty-five thousand kilometers we find these interesting ruins that are spread throughout this place. Due southeast, being the only point accessible because of its connection with the rest of the other hills, we see the stone of granite etched by pickaxes as well as signs of big blocks, also worked on and with some openings, some still in place others not, that indicate a castle-like formation of about 100 meters above surface; and which foundations are still showing. A narrow entrance carved on this stone and easy to defend gives way to the city.
About some 150 meters due north of these fortress we see signs of the ruins,being the first thing we see a beautiful cistern of 30 meters in longitude and four meters in latitude. Eventhough unable to measure its depth, we can safety say its volume could be of 600 cubic meters or 600,000 liters in capacity, likewise another one smaller in size and at the end of the ruins, is believed were use for public service; they're different in size and shape and these are as much as 300 of these probably belonging to particular house holds.
There is one so big, that the peasants from nearby called it "trinquete" in the wrong belief that it was there were the arabs used to play ball. Towards the west and to the highest point ,you can see the ruins of a building that due to the extension and width of its foundation leads to the belief that it could have been a palace or temple. Towards the northeast, slightly accessible to the people we note the remains of a wall. But what gets the attention of the archeologist as well as the the lay person is the covered path. Street begins at the N.N.E side of the mountain and carved on the stone, different to see because it's obstructed ,it's calculated to be about 2 or 3 meters deep, it goes around until it reaches the top on the south side; still showing in many places the holes that were used to hold the crossbars, crossing the whole of the town where it would bifurcate; one would end up close to the so called "Cueva de Rey Moro "-"Cave of the Moor King", and not to the cave itself as so many people say. This cave has nothing in particular except for a small brook whose crystalline waters makes you think its purpose of being there is to refresh the thirst of the weary and tired tourist after a log and hard climb.
This cave is located towards the north and close to the middle of the mountain on the carved stone whose only entrance/exit could be protected by one man. Until not too long ago, there still remain the iron ring which alledgedly was used by the moor king to tether his horse and was not mentioned to be picked up by our enthusiastic archeologist, and to whom this science owe him its progress in our province: Don Jose Sabater.
The rest of the crockery that is spread around this ruins, are from different periods, so are the tales regarding findings, some ridiculous as the ones regarding moors arriving with treasure maps and digging. I do not think that formal excavations have been made, neither the ruins been visited by experts on the field.
In the light excavation made by us last year, we could only find, though broken, a very pretty roman chandelier made of clay.
In the plain and its surrounding area, our excavations brought to light different kind of crockery/vases made of very fine clay and painted, a kind of a wide knife, objects made of copper, four small amphoras, coins and a silver bracelet".
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JOSE SABATER
I am not going to describe to you in detail this site, neither the covered path nor the ruins of the fortress as Don Pascual Serrano; neither the dissertation of Canonigo Loza inserted in the Batistania, in the article of Almansa.
I spent two hours in the plain, with my friends, looking at the cisterns as well as the ruins of the arab city, these been so noticeable that the outline of its streets and houses look like a map in relief.
There we picked up (very easily) due to the abundance of their distribution, lots of fragments, (unfortunately prety small) but representing all periods: from the thick, black pewter colored, like those fom Libissosa, before Emperor August's time to those with fine, vibrant colors so typical of the arab domination. In 1878 I sent to Paris these wonderful examples to Sr. Don Jose Emilio Santos, Superintendent Delegate to that Universal Expo, in case they could be used in the discussions regarding the difference between spanish and french ceramic, but they were never returned to me.
But believe me dear friend, what is really exceptionable in Castellar de Meca, is not the roman or arab ruins, nor the covered patch or the Cavern of the Moor King; it is those huge and fantastic silos as well as the mangers/stables next to them. All of it done and carved on stone, raises the thought that it was all made by giants or is it a miracle or are the product of ancient superstitions or barbaric beliefs. Looking from the top, we discover the austere scenery that runs from the side of Alpera that wriggles throught the highs of the hill of Chisnar, the woods and Giravalencia from which its summit, we can see the waters of the Mediterranean like flashy slivers of silver, and I ask myself: What kind of race of people lived in this place during these times? Were they civilized? Or were they maybe a bunch of pilfering savages who would attack neighboring villages and bring their loot and hide inside these inexplicables silos? And if these buildings were used for their real purpose, why are there so many of them when just about 3 or 4 would have taken care of the necessities of the people for a long, long time?
One could only ask if those three hundred plus openings were not in reality mines, like the ones at Montepichel, abandoned during the roman domination thereby this would explain its existence due to the greed of these regents.
But if that is the case, why the regularity of the walls and the labor executed on them? Therefore, my friend, there is no way of explaining the conjectures regarding this enigma. But we can only persuade ourselves that presently, the ruins of Meca whether they belonged to a civilized culture or were the hiding place of roaming bandits, is presently covered by the dense veil of times past, much to the chagrin of some archaeologists.
JULIAN SUAZO Y PALACIOS
Our work tells of the bibliography of MECA, its description and a note indicating of the findings. Here we will limit ourselves to a limited resume of the description of our findings and we promise that in our next edition, we will correct the mistakes of the old one and will include a detailed map that will be executed by an expert in that archaeological field.
"With the name of Castellar de Meca it is known in Monte Mugron o Muron (Mount Mugron or Muron) the ruins of a prehistoric city that can be called withuot any doubt: Iberica. Monte Mugron (Mount Mugron) is located in the municipalities of Alpera & Almansa (Albacete) and Ayora (Valencia). Castellar de Meca is set in Ayora. Its maximum height is, according to the Geographical Statistics Institute: 1,218.meters. The iberic ruins known around Castellar de Meca may be because of its importance , occupy first place of its existence in Spain. Meca was inaccesible except for one place, but enclosed as a potential fortress of which foundations are still standing.
The ruins of Meca show us that its people were mainly warrior and built that fortress as defense as well as protection to all people in the surrounding villages in case of a possible invasion which would, along with their belongings and livestock would seek refuge/sanctuary and once inside women, children and those unable to fight would be left behind, whereas the warrior would face the invaders and in case of defeat, would go back inside to rest, regroup themselves and launch a new attack.
The ceramic of Meca is genuine iberic as well as similar to those found in other ruins of same origins - Issues of the Iberian Ceramic, Pedro Bosh & Gimpera, Madrid 1915, page 17.- Thing is that among this ceramic, there are also roman fragments, but there is no place in Spain where this hasn't happened for the reason that when they conquered the sons of Iber soil, they implemented their own traditions and industries to the naturals in such a way, with the end results of a new Ibero-romano art, found throghtout the peninsula thus the roman ceramic found in Meca doesn't mean is not iberic but an indication of the influence during their presence. We strongly believe that Meca was destroyed before the first roman emperor took the throne; due to the fact that the currency found (with the exception of few) show some autonomies (all Consulars but no one is imperial).
These reafirm our thinking that if Meca would have survived with the roman empire, we would have found imperial coins minted in Rome, and the imperial autonomies minted in Spain in the cities that enjoyed the privilege of issuing them. We can see the streets that are still preserved in perfect condition in their curious labyrinth-like designs. And one each side, we can see the foundations of what once showed to be as big as palaces and others smaller as regular houses, but still owned by well to do families and the ones pretty reduced dwellings that belonged to the plebeians as well as the slaves.
The singularity of this place that raise the value of the ruins is the numerous cisterns, all cut in stone. There are two kinds: the big ones that would hold water close to the streets and some small ones but wide that would be closed to what would be considered either public buildings or palaces.
We believe that the ones close to the streets would be for the general public comsumption, whereas the ones close to the other buildings would be used by the rich families that requested them to be built that way.
As a curious fact, we give you the measurements of some of them, so you can have an idea:
Public cistern next to the Cave of the Moor King: length 15 meters width 3 metersBig cistern (the biggest of Meca) length 26.50 meters width 5 meters, this one, half filled, has a depth of 4 meters and if it were open, its depth would be around 7 meters. Some have steps that lead down. They are exceptional and among the rest of other ruins, none has as many as these ones as well as the way they 're built.
depth (even thought if half covered_ 4 meters.
Private cistern: length 3.10 meters width l.50 depth 2 meters (also half covered).
They're stone masonry masterpieces and one has to consider the enormous effort and work done, due to the rudimentary tools they work with as well as time taken in order to empty the rock to make it hollow. It is worthy of mention the road or path that would lead to the city: it begins at the base of the mount and it circumvalates it, until it reaches the top and once there, it goes thru it.
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