CATALOGUE

  TREASURE OF THE MARINA ALTA
Pic de l'Àguila (Denia).

Gold
Torques:
h: 13 cm; h: 10'2 cm
h: 13'1cm; a: 10'6 cm
h: 12.2 cm; a: 10.5 cm
Pendant:
h:1'6 cm; w:1'8 cm
Iberian
5th-2nd century BC 
 

This is a golden set of three torques or chokers and a pendant. The first are sticks with a circular cross-section whose thickness decreases towards the ends, forming a thread that twists at the ends to make the two strands hook together. At the bottom they form a loop with two spherical beads (flattened on one of them) strung on each side on two of the twists. The third loop is decorated with latticework and triangles of incised lines, and from it hangs a pendant that was made from gold leaf cut symmetrically in the form of two circles joined by a strip with fluted decoration that was folded into the loop, joining the circles on which was impressed a decoration of rosettes.
The single pendant is in the form of a schematic lotus flower. Each of the two sides is decorated with filigree decoration and circles of gold thread. The jewellery would have been suspended by the double ring connected by a ribbon thread that crowns the piece.
Two rings are soldered under each scroll, from which hang other small pendants in the shape of a pomegranate, and from another ring at the lower apex hangs another element that is no longer extant.
Recently, the four pieces that make up the find have been analysed by a team from the University of Valencia, which has determined an alloy composed of a high percentage of gold, more than 90 %, silver and copper.
The set of jewellery was inside a masonry wall of the site, which indicates that it was concealed. Recent research considers that the Pic de l'Àguila was a fortress erected for the control and defence of Dianium and its territory during the Sertorian Wars (80-73 BC), since several classical authors (Cicero, Sallust, Strabo) mention that this city was Sertorius' naval base and one of his last peninsular enclaves. Perhaps, therefore, some event related to the civil conflict forced the hiding of this treasure, which was not recovered until more than 2,000 years later.
The jewellery may be older, as indicated by A. Perea and C. Aranegui. Aranegui, although one of the parallels for these pieces can be found in the set of necklaces from Santana da Carnota, in Portugal, which have a similar decoration to the one that adorns one of the torques, and which were also hidden at the same historical moment.
C.S.: 12255, 12256, 12257, 12258
PEREA, A. and ARANEGUI, C., 2000.
FERRERO, J.L. et alii., 2001.
SOLER, J. and OLCINA, M., 2002.