In 2009, in the part of Alicante known as La Marina Alta, the construction of a dual carriageway road was proposed to link the towns of Sanet i Negrals and Sagra. This section passed through the municipal districts of Benimeli, Ràfol d´Almunia, Sagra and Sanet i Negrals. The line runs North and parallel to La Bolata Ravine, crossing a plain occupied by citrus farming. The landscape in this area consists of irrigated fields terraced along the plain where irrigation channels and farm tracks are dominant in the vicinity of La Bolata Ravine.

To detect and locate archaeological materials, a systematic and thorough visual prospection was made in the affected area. Also, thorough photographic documentation was made of the different landscapes in the prospected area as well as of the detected archaeological remains.

During these works, in the area surrounding Pou de Baix (Benimeli) a Roman Early-Imperial site with pottery scattered on the surface was identified on the flat part of the terraced field of citrus trees. Among these sherds we can highlight a rim of Terra Sigillata Hispanica (Dargendorff 24/25), a sherd painted in the Iberian tradition, a piece of amphora rim (Dressel 1) and a rim of a Roman coarsewar mortarium. The sherds are rather fragmented and worn. Nonetheless, no building materials or visible structures were detected on the surface.

This rural settlement could be of the villa type, dating to the Early-Imperial Age, taking into account the recovered material and features of the place: fertile soil on a plain and a good water supply. However, the site’s functionality, entity, extension, etc. can only be assessed by archaeological excavation of the area.