Research (2004-2010) From 2004, different actions have been implemented with the objective of gathering as much information as possible about excavations carried out by Nordström in 1960. 2007 and 2008 campaigns were devoted to cleaning, documentation and scrutiny of the building classified as “temple”, in the Terrace B sector. This allowed verification of architectural and construction data that Nordström had already observed and published in their 1967 report. Data which had gone unnoticed in the past were obtained through the application of modern archaeological recording systems. Two of them deserve highlighting: confirming the location of the building next to the gate in the city wall and its identification as a possible entrance to a temple/sanctuary; it was also confirmed that it is a unitary structure built on the natural rock, which proves urban expansion of the Iberian city down the mountain slopes towards the marshland during the 3rd century BC. The uniqueness of the building materials used is also worth highlighting (ashlars to build the central walls) and some constructive elements (sections of shafts, two solid square bases, which perhaps supported a tower-like structure or a possible stepped podium in front of the columns). These data open up new and interesting research perspectives. Structures which appeared in the high sector of the site (Terrace A) were cleaned and documented during the 2010 campaign. During excavation, these structures were identified as part of a stretch of wall and tower of the settlement fortification, due to their magnitude and design, forming right angles. It was finally established that they form part of the city wall, and the possibility that this structure was part of a complex entrance in a possible second gate is being weighed. The possibility of digging a trench outside the city walls, running perpendicular to them was also considered, so as to ascertain or dismiss the existence of a _proteichisma_ along the E stretch of wall. It was impossible due to lack of time. This documentation work alternated with geophysical surveying performed in 2004, 2006 and 2009, which confirmed the existence of a dense urban fabric. On both sides of the temple in the lower terrace, both quadrangular structures as well as open spaces such as squares and streets have been documented, thus confirming urban expansion towards lower elevations down the hillside, together with the temple building. Some apparently solid structures, related to the fortification, were also documented in the SE and SW sectors of the site. Surveying of a large quadrangular space, elevated in relation to the rest of the terraces and adjacent to the NE margin of the lower terrace, revealed the existence of thick walls, apparently made of ashlars, at a depth of approximately 3-4 m. (translation by Laura González Fernández)

The lower terrace (Terrace B) was chosen in order to determine the urban street layout around the temple. This is also the ideal sector for consolidation and musealization of the structures revealed by the excavations. According to new findings in the field of religious architecture under Punic and Mediterranean influence, it seems to correspond to an entrance sanctuary within the city walls. In 2011 work was carried out in the still unexcavated area between the western edge of the temple and the sections excavated by L. Abad in 1984, where the street starting at the city wall entrance emerges (Abad and Sala, 2001). Our aim is to link the construction of both areas, where the western main wall is probably the façade facing the street. The work involved excavating a small trial pit right to the west of the NW corner of the temple area. One of the sections excavated in 1984 (H) was also cleaned with a double aim: identifying the precise topographical location of this archaeological document as regards the layout of the temple, and uncovering remains of splendid visual impact looking ahead to the future musealization of the excavated space located next to the main entrance of the settlement. A remarkable ceramic collection was recovered: fragments of local and Punic amphorae (from Ibiza and Cadiz), painted and common plates, cooking pots, black glazed pottery and lead and iron shapeless fragments.