A talk by Toni Torregrossa & Joaquim Marques Bolufer - Wednesday, 21 May 2014 at 20.00 in the Auditorium of the Museum of Xàbia
The talk will be in Castellano and English
All welcome

Toni is Torregrossa is a translator in Valenciano and a specialist in the study and spelling of place names – toponymy. He has studied toponymy and map corrections from the year 1985 and has published studies on the topic, the most recent on names on the coast of Javea.

Joaquim Marques Bolufer is the municipal archaeologist of Javea. He has conducted and published several works of archeology and ethnography and compilations of toponyms.

Together they will talk on the fascinating subject of the meaning of place names in Javea.

Toponymy is a discipline of linguistics that studies the origin of "place names" . Xàbia, a large municipality occupied intensely since prehistoric times, preserves a rich "toponímic" heritage. For example, the name of the "partida" Falandons or Forandons located at the western end of the area, derives from the name of an old farmstead owned by a mudejar of Gata called "Ando" (XIV -XV centuries) where there was - and still is - a water source. All this meant the "partida" was known, at least to the eighteenth century, as the Font d' Ando (Ando’s Source), a name that eventually became Forando.










Stay and enjoy a drink and an informal chat afterwards

The first Annual General Meeting of the association ‘Amics del Museu de Xàbia’ will take place on  Wednesday 12 February 2014 in the Sala de Conferencias of the said Museum.  The First call will be at 19.30h and the Second call at 20.00h.
The agenda will be as follows:
1. President’s address
2. Membership report
3. Treasurer’s report (and auditor’s comments)
4. Election of Secretary*
5. Formal election of co-opted committee members**
6. Motions put forward by members

The current Committee was formed in 2012 to create and establish the association.  Committee members agreed to stand for a period of three years, unless ill-health or other circumstances prevented this.  It comprises:

President :         Joaquim Bolufer Marqués
Vicepresidenta :     MºDesemparats Bolufer Castelló
Secretària :          Margaret Morgan
Tresorer:          Josep Salvador Castelló Marí
Vocal 1ra           Christine Betterton-Jones
Vocal 2na          Nina Davies
Vocal 3ra          Pepa Roig Sarrión
Vocal 4rt          Cesc Camprubí Martell

*  Margaret Morgan wishes to stand down as secretary for health reasons, but would like to stay on the committee as a vocal.

**Co-opted Members:  The committee wishes the meeting to confirm the election of the following people:

a.  Membership Secretary:  Irene Moekkote as Membership Secretary, responsible for maintaining the database of members in conjunction with the Treasurer.
b. Minutes Secretary:  Vicenta Cruañes Moragues as Minutes Secretary, responsible for agendas and minutes.
c. Vocal:  Anne Sefton as a vocal.
d. Deputy Treasurer:  nomination to be confirmed.
e. Secretary:  nominationl to be confirmed.

The Association’s Statutes (in Valencià and English) are available with the Secretary for inspection.

                                  MARGARET MORGAN – Secretary
   January 2014

To celebrate the day of Santa Lucía,
AMUX has planned two activities:
Thursday 12 December
Museum : 18:00 “Santa Lucía, archaeology and tradition”
Talk by Ximo Bolufer, muncipal archaeologist, with an introduction to the festival by Nina Davies. Power Point presentation with translation into English.

The objective is to impart the history of this chapel and the particular characteristics of its site. It is hoped that foreign members in the audience who celebrate the fiesta in their countries will tell us about their festivities.

And at the end, mulled wine with Christmas sweetmeats.

Friday, 13 December
Romeria (pilgrimage) to Santa Lucía - Start of the climb to the Chapel at 10.30am
Empar Bolufer, councillor for culture, will guide us up to the chapel.
At the chapel, the Brotherhood of Santa Lucía will offer hot chocolate, “bambes” and mistela.
The path is rough and quite steep in places. Walking shoes or trainers recommended.
Meet at the tosca cross opposite the Instituto Antoní Llidó (Avda Angel Domenènech)

Luis Pablo Martinez, an international expert on cultural heritage, will explain, in Castellano and English, the work to include riches like the Palm Grove of Elche in the UNESCO lists of World Heritage sites. Come to the Xàbia Museum at 19.00 on 15 March to find out more and enjoy a drink and an informal chat afterwards

The “Christmas traditions of Xabia  - Family, cakes and songs!” is the title of a talk to be given by Javea councillor Empar Bolufer next Wednesday 19 December at 7 pm in the Museum of Xabia in the Old Town.  It is being organised by the new association “Amics del Museu de Xabia” or Friends of the Museum of Xabia, of which locally born Empar is vice-president.  It open to anyone interested in the history and cultural heritage of Xàbia,

After the meeting mulled wine and traditional pastries both local and from other countries will be offered.  The Friends association hope that members will come and bring their friends who wish to learn what the association has to offer.

The programme of events envisaged for 2013 includes lectures and talks, excursions to other museums, archaeological and historical sites and workshops on specific areas of interest.

More information from amuxabia@gmail.com

Nearly 70 years and five decades of history separates the youngest and oldest members of AMUX, 87-year old Claire Emery and 18-year old Edu Bisquert Buigues They are pictured here in Xàbia’s old cemetery after last week’s visit to the Ermita of San Juan.


The event was attended by around 35 people of all ages and a wide range of nationalities too – British, German, French, Dutch as well as Spanish and Xabiencs. A summary of the presentation by municipal archaeologist Ximo Bolufer has been posted on the Blog for those who could not attend.

Main points of a talk presented by Ximo Bolufer (Municipal Archaeologist) at the San Joan Ermita - Oct 31st 2012

Prehistory
1. The earliest dated human remains were found in the Cova Foradada (perforated cave - this is located on the Denia side of the Cap de San Antoni). Among fragments of foodstuffs were found bones of two people, one adult and one immature. They date from around 30,000 year ago.

Several other caves contain burials from the end of the Stone Age (Neolithic).
Cova del Barranc de la Rabosa - skull of a young man - probably copper (Chalcolithic) or bronze age (2000BC)

Caves on the sunny side of the Montgó:
a) Montgó cave (the Eye)  - badly excavated in the 1930's - multiple burials probably from the copper age and the remains of a minimum of nine individuals.
An ivory pot - possibly a funeral reliquary, was also found. (dated around 2000-1000 BC)

b) Cova del Barrance del Migdía - recently excavated. Multiple, and successive burials i.e the bodies were first buried elsewhere, then some of their bones combined with the bones of others with grave goods and buried in the cave in "packets"
For details see:
http://xabia-museum-project.wikidot.com/wiki:9-the-barranc-del-migdia-cave-packages-of-individuals-a

2. Iberian (Iron Age) culture.  
The Iberians cremated their dead. Fragments of a ceramic urn - possibly for holding ashes were found among Iberian remains on the Plana Justa (Montgó) 7th-5th Centuries BC
For details of the Plana Justa settlement see:
http://xabia-museum-project.wikidot.com/wiki:case-no-5-the-iberian-treasure-of-xabia
Details of the Plana Justa excavations (in Castellano) can be found on.
http://ojs.uv.es/index.php/saguntum/article/view/1915/1424

3. Roman Period
a) A sarcophagus : on the canal de la Fontana point (Arenal) - in the Minister's House near the Parador
b) Tombstone inscriptions
c) The Muntanyar Necropolis - 900 tombs in 6000m2 (now underneath buildings near the Sol y Mar hotel) In use during the 1st-7th Centuries AD.
For details see: http://xabia-museum-project.wikidot.com/wiki:case-no-8-the-necropolis-of-muntayar

4. Islamic (Moorish) period:
Four cemeteries known: Rebaldi, Atzúbia, Cap Marti and Cansalades.
Bodies oriented north/south, but lying on their sides facing east.
Two of the 45 funeral arabic inscriptions known in the Comunidad Valenciana are from Xàbia (10th or early 11th Centuries AD)
For details see: http://xabia-museum-project.wikidot.com/wiki:first-floor-andalusian-cemeteries-in-xabia

5. The Feudal (Christian) conquest
Heralded a change in rituals. In the villages and near churches burials were oriented east/west, with the head to the west. Bodies were in a supine position with arms across the abdomen.
Cemeteries: (The town square and hospital); Churches: (Sant Bartomeu and Loreto) and convents.
Town square: near and under Tourism office: 29 graves, in a space delimited by a wall. Parts still visible under glass in the Tourism office. Dated: 14th-15th Century

6. Cemetery of San Joan
Established after 1776 when Valencia prohibited burials within Town walls.

(English version of text from:
http://www.elperiodic.com/xabia/noticias/92832_excavaciones-ermita-sant-joan-sacan-tumbas-siglo.html
28/10/10 - Las excavaciones en la ermita de Sant Joan sacan a la luz 30 tumbas del siglo XIX )

Excavations at the hermitage of Sant Joan bring to light 30  nineteenth century graves

The Municipal Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography (Soler Blasco) of Xàbia  has conducted an archaeological dig inside the hermitage of Sant Joan, adjacent to the old cemetery. The construction of the nearby cemetery in 1817, converted the chapel into a funeral chapel, a function which it held until the 1980's

The excavation aimed to study the possible structures preserved in the subsurface of the chapel and to try to determine its date, in addition to recovering this interesting municipally owned building so that it could be known and visited in the future. The archaeological works documented an important set of 30 more or less rectangular tombs, carved into the natural "gleba"soil. Twenty-seven kept an east-west orientation (with head pointing east, except for two, which were located west), and only three were oriented north-south.

Most burials were performed in coffins, with bodies in a supine position, and arms folded over the chest or abdomen, except for some of the children, whose arms were bent with the hands beneath the face, in a sleeping position.

Of the thirty graves found, nineteen belonged to adults, and the remaining eleven burials were children. Six were empty, while the rest belonged to four adult males aged between 40 and 70, six women between 20 and 65, and three individuals for whom it was not possible to determine the sex because of the poor state of preservation. The children buried have been identified as being between 1 and 2 months and 5 or 6 years old. Most were buried between 1817 and 1849, when the cemetery was expanded becoming about the current size.

Archaeological intervention has affected virtually the entire inner surface of the rectangular building which is 14 meters long and 7.30 meters wide, with a single nave divided into three regular sections about 4.25 meters long.

The hermitage of Sant Joan was originally a building for religious use on the outskirts of  Javea, at the junction of the roads leading out of the village towards Pedreguer, Denia, Gata and Poblenou. This building is a clear and interesting example of those known as "chapels of conquest", buildings with a single nave supported by diaphragm arches. In this case, there are two arches (one covered and re-converted into an arch in the middle of the nineteenth century) that divide the rectangular space of the chapel into three regular sections.

There is not much documentation about Sant Joan and the oldest known story is from the  mid-seventeenth century, when it seems that it was used as an auction room, or "Almudí" of the town.

Thanks to the Book of Sacristan of Xàbia Parish, written in 1769, we know it was used for religious purposes at least on the day of Saint John the Evangelist (December 27), "... ..Finished high Mass the Clergy will sing a Mass at the Hermitage of San Juan ... ", and the day of Saint John the Baptist (June 24)" ... John the Baptist Day, this day Clergy to sing a Mass at his hermitage ...... "

This excavation has been possible thanks to the participation of the EMCORP program which enabled the hiring of an archaeologist. Also participating were the municipal works and the local topogrpahica department. The anthropological study was conducted by Dr. Francisco Gómez Bellard.

From 2010 Press Release.