The heritage of the past

Attention is drawn to the collection of amphoras from Roman times and the Punic Phoenician period, a tombstone and many other tools. On this floor a copy of the Iberian treasure of Jávea/Xŕbia is displayed, found by chance by a farmer, in 1904, inside a clay pot (the original is to be found in the National Archaeological Museum). It includes various gold objects and others of silver which date from the end of the third century or the beginning of the second century B.C. In the cellar a traditional Smithy is displayed.

On the second floor the museum has a varied display of pottery from the Christian era dating from the 1 3th to the 18th centuries, as well as remains from the Capsades site and an Arabian tombstone from the 1 2th century. Also displayed are important graphic and written documents of great significance to the history of Jávea/Xŕbia On the last floor, ethnographical material is displayed.

The Greeks founded a colony here, with Montgó which according to classical sources was named "Hemeroskopeion" as a clear landmark from the sea. The majority of remains found belong to the Roman era. Several Roman settlements of an agricultural nature have been discovered in the valley formed by the rivers Gorges and Xaló Also on the coast, as in the Port, Portixol island and the Punta de l’Arenal, which had clear commercial or fishing interests.

The excavations of the Punta de l'Arenal allowed the discovery of a series of pools, commonly known as Banys do Ia Reina or the Queens haths, made in the rocks and joined hy canals, which were used in the salting of fish. Another example of this activity is the "s'equia de Ia nňria" a canalisation made in the rock to transport water from the sea to the saltworks inland.

Very close to the Punta do l'Arenal is the Muntanyar necropolis, which dates from the beginning of our era to the 7th century and which consists of approximately 900 graves dug into the rock. As with the Iberian period, remains have also heen found of Islamic settlements but these are rarer. Later cultures, from medieval times to the present day, are represented in the old town, where clear evidence of their importance exists.