Blast from the Roman past

INVESTIGATORS at San Vicente Martir University (Valencia) believe that the Romans dredged the Albufereta.

Now a neighbourhood and beach on the outskirts of Alicante, the Albufereta was a fresh water lagoon around 4,000 years ago, according to researchers Ana María Blazquez and Carlos Ferrer.

The results of their investigations, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Coastal Research, went on to explain that after an interval of approximately 1,000 years, the lagoon became open to the sea owing to changes in the sea level.

This in turned formed an inlet which was eventually used as a mooring by the Iberian inhabitants of Lucentum – later Alicante – sited on what is now El Tossal de Manises in Albufereta.

At an even later date, believe Blazquez and Ferrer, it was dredged by the Romans for use as a port that was able to accommodate larger vessels.