2024

YECLA DE YELTES

Archaeological site

Start your visit by the Archaeology Museum (+34 923 500 702) which is located on the central square of the village. You will see, around a large model reproducing the site, all traces of the past of Yecla la Vieja, revealed by excavations: ceramics, funéraires, engravings. An expo on beliefs and daily life helps to illuminate the historical parts, you will then be more able to visit the archaeological site and find the few engravings that centuries have left there.

The Gisement Gisement deposit is located at the exit of Yecla de Yeltes (free access, parking at the entrance), in a territory of about five hectares. It is a pre-Roman settlement, occupied then under the Roman Empire and then the visigoth kingdom. It was completely abandoned in 1174. It is discovered through two interpretive paths. The shortest (850 metres) makes a quick turn through the interior while the longest (1 200 metres) makes the complete tour of the walls. In the centre, dominating the ancient ramparts, a hermitage was built at the entrance of what was the village and which remains a few foundations of walls. A village of Celtic huts was reconstituted away from the main street and hosts life scenes in the Bronze Age every year in April. About metres away, on the right, you can see at the western door a deer engraved on one of the blocks of stone supporting the outer wall. From there, a path leads to the cemetery where, in 2012, two tombs and skeletons were discovered, all in the same position. By returning to the village and pursuing the south-west door, you will have the opportunity to see further well-preserved engravings, especially one of the riders hunting a wild boar.

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