The Wine in Iberia

Description

The Wine in Iberia candidacy integrates a group of cultural assets that demonstrate and base the exchange of ideas between two different communities whose result is the emergence of the Iberian Culture, with Wine as one of its driving threads. The Phoenician maritime commercial networks in which the wine participates, the existence of very old settlements where the Phoenician and indigenous population coexist in which wine is already produced on a commercial scale and, finally, the acquisition, development and innovation by the Iberian populations of the techniques of wine production, which in turn generates a model of occupation, exploitation and opening of distribution channels, are the essential elements of the values ​​that this candidacy supports. All this process is embodied in the following assets:

1. The wrecks I and II of Mazarrón (Murcia) and the wreck 1 of Bajo de la Campana in San Javier (Murcia), which prove the existence of commercial networks of how the wine consumption was introduced in the Iberian Peninsula
2. The site of Castillo de Doña Blanca (Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz), a fundamental example of the coexistence of indigenous populations of Iberia and others from Phoenician where the transfer of customs and techniques related to wine
3. The Stone wine presses around the Cabriel River (Requena, Valencia), as a proof of the relevant role that wine acquires in the Iberian Culture thanks to the aforementioned influences and the development of a trade, techniques and means of production that they generate a particular mode of occupation and organization of the territory.

Wrecks I and II of Mazarrón (Mazarrón, Murcia) and wreck i of Bajo de la Campana in San Javier (Murcia)

The wrecks I and II are located south of the coastal strip of the town of Mazarrón, in a small bay located between two headlands used as an anchorage since ancient times. These are two ships that share the same naval typology, the Phoenician hippos. Its dimensions speak of small-tonnage ships used for cabotage trade and to transport cargo from the coast to other shipsof greater draft. The ceramic remains and the analytical ones on their content situate their chronology between the 6th and 7th centuries B.C

Mazarrón I: It conserves a section of 4 meters of length of the keel of the ship, corresponding to its southern section, with an average width of 12 cm and an average thickness of 10 cm. Attached to the keel, they document the existence of a planking composed of five boards (150 cm long and 70 cm wide). On the sides, and on the aforementioned tables, three pieces of wood appear with a cylindrical shape that seem to correspond to the frames of the nave; its thickness ranges between 7 and 8 cm respectively.

Mazarrón II: It is practically complete, with its original curvature. It has a length of 8.10 meters and 2.20 meters of beam. It was built with several types of woods. The anchor, the oldest of its kind, was located on the outside of the boat. It preserves the protective layer of the hull and the whole load, composed of a set of lead ingots, the base and the curl of a hand mill, an amphorae, a basket of esparto grass and remains of cable It is located on the seabed, protected by a metal frame and covered by sand in order to ensure its conservation.

Wreck 1 of Bajo la Campana: It is composed of an interesting set of materials located under the shelter of a rocky underwater ledge in the vicinity of La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia). This wreck transported a very heterogeneous cargo with raw materials for export: elephant defenses, metals (tin, copper, galena and lead) and elaborated articles, some of luxury, imported from diverse origins (eastern, central and western Mediterranean) highlighting an important number of wine and oleic amphorae. These products illustrate the distances and routes that this ship could travel. One of the scales suggested by researchers is the Phoenician enclave of La Fonteta (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante).

Archaeological site of the Castillo de Doña Blanca (Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz)

The archaeological site is located in the Sierra de San Cristóbal, which delimits the bay of Cádiz to the north and separates the maritime zone from the countryside. Its scarce 130 meters above sea level are sufficient to allow a wide view towards the interior and the coast. The archaeological zone includes several elements of diverse chronologies from the Copper  Age until  the 18^th Century. The highlight of all of them are the town of  Castillo de Doña Blanca and the town of Las Cumbres.

Castillo de Doña Blanca: Located on the southern slope of the Sierra de San Cristóbal, it is an artificial mound with a covered top (Call “ mota” in an old Castilla Spanish acceptation) with approximately 7 or 8 meters of overlapping archaeological levels and continuous occupation from the 8^th Century. B. C. until the end of 3^rd Century B.C.

The primitive town occupied the slopes near the water extending to the rest of the surface with the step of the years. It had an architecturally complex defensive system of oriental influence. Located outside the city walls, it is documented from the 8^th Century, a Phoenician district of rectangular houses arranged in terraces whose inhabitants will leave an important mark on the indigenous culture, as revealed by the documented remains. The result of this interaction will be the development of the Iberian Turdetani tribe throughout the 5^th Century B.C., with new architectural and defensive structures, extending its activity until its abandonment, under Punic influence, in the 3^rd Century B.C. Later, the place was like a depopulated one that did not know more room that a sporadic establishment during the 12 or 13^th Century  A. C., when the watchtower that gives its name to the site was built. The analyzes of pollen and seeds indicate that the first moments, 8^th Century B.C., the environment of the town was occupied by a dense forest mass that is exploited and decimated along the. 7^th Century B.C. for an intense parceling and agricultural exploitation

Based on cereal, legumes and vineyard. The latter increasses its presence during the 6^th Century BC. The amphora´s and cups found in the site show the presence of wine from its first moments, at first as an exclusive element of the Phoenician population, and then generalized among the indigenous aristocracy. The presence of seeds of “Vitis Vinifera” is patent from 700-650 B.C., increasing its presence throughout the 6th and 7th  Centuries B.C. The wine production will remain in the town until its disappearance, with winepresses within the urban framework and abundant ceramic types related to the storage, transport and consumption of wine.

Las Cumbres: It is located in the highest part of the Sierra de San Cristóbal and is occupied between the 3^rd  and 5^th  Centuries B.C. It is a dependent settlement of the Castillo de  Doña Blanca, with a developed urbanism, streets and houses distributed in rectangular lots, as well as a series of industrial facilities in which the production and commercialization of wine is documented, in the Iron Age, when this production is already widespread.

Iberian Stone wine presses (Requena, Valencia)

The eastern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula is characterized by the confluence of the southern foothills of the Iberian System and the NE slopes of the southern sub-plateau. The Requena-Utiel region has a place in this contact zone, a plateau with a regular surface area and a certain altitude (700 meters over sea level.), the deep carving being excavated by the river Cabriel, a tributary of the Júcar River, which delimits its southern border. The slopes of the Cabriel have an abrupt,  broken and mountain morphology with numerous dry riverved and deep valleys. Around two of these channels, the one of Alcantarilla and the one of the Morenos, sheltered from the cold of the plateau, from 7^th B.C. This territory was organized around settlements dedicated to the production of wine. The characteristic common to all of them, together with the complex geography, is the adaptation and use of the environment for the creation of structures for the grape press and the collection of the resulting must. The slope and erosion allow the detachment of large blocks of limestone that precipitate and lie far from their original location. These blocks are used to carve the wineries. In general, the carved blocks retain an upper platform, rectangular in shape, surrounded by a rim with holes and grooves for the protection of the structure after use. A lower cuvette connected by a small channel collects the resulting must with capacities ranging from 240 to more than 2,000 liters. The first group of wineries, located on the dry riverbed of Los Morenos, is occupied by several sites, including La Solana de Las Pilillas, as a wine producing center, El Salto, Casa Berzosilla and Los Morenos.

La Solana de las Pilillas: Site occupied since the end of the 7^th Century B.C., in which since the beginning of  5^th to 6^th Centuries B.C. Its exclusive seasonal occupation for wine production is documented. The space was organized by means of terracing walls that made accessible platforms and facilitated access to the different areas. It consists of four Stone wine presses , a compartmentalized entrance structure that houses another possible wine press and a WINE PRESS, CELLAR AND TOWER The latter is associated with a open yard where the architecture combines its functionality as a winery cellar (storing and maintaining a constant temperature to avoid damaging the must in its fermentation), with the defensive nature of part of its structures and the reinforcement of the position of its owners, based on the solidity aspect of the building. The numerous paths that appear in the surroundings show the abundant traffic that generated the wine activity.

El Salto: Place close to La Solana de las Pilillas, which has a set of walls and another wine presses

La Casa Berzosilla: Site interpreted as a hamlet with a chronology that encompasses 5th or 3rd Century to 2nd or 1st Century BC 3rd or 5th Centuries  B.C. to the. 2nd or 1st  Centuries B.C.

Los Morenos: Village of stable occupation dedicated to the agricultural exploitation of the surrounding environment, with a chronology that encompasses the 4th to the 3rd Century B.C.

Rambla de Alcantarilla brings together the other set of Iberian wine presses, along with other associated settlements, whose development coincides with the decline of the Solana de Las Pilillas, marking the extension of a model of production and occupation of the wine territory. Deposits it houses:

Rambla de Alcantarilla. It is the most prominent site. It consists of a set of four Iberian wine presses, associated with a cellar with two phases of occupation between 5^th and 3^rd Century B.C. It was a non-permanent occupied rea dedicated to the seasonal shelter of the workers during the harvest and to the storage of the amphoraes where the first fermentation of the wine would take place.

Casa de la Alcantarilla Permanent settlement, village, dedicated to the agricultural exploitation of its surroundings with a chronology between the 4^th and 5^th Century B.C. to the 2^nd Century B.C.

Rincon de Herreros: Extensive archaeological zone dating from the 3^rd-4^th Century B.C. where three wine presses are located to which two fragments displaced from their original location are added.

El Saltadero: Composed by remains of the wine press for the treading and extraction of the must.

Solana de las Carbonerillas: Place where an Stone wine press All this framework of wine production, concentrated in 5’10 km2, is completed by evidence of roads that, by their configuration and route, articulated and communicated the territory, so they are related to the wine trade. The remains of narrow axle and the evidence of old roads and paths allow reconstructing the road network.

The properties that make up the proposal The Wine in Iberia are in good condition. In the case of wrecks, the Phoenician ship Mazarrón I was excavated, consolidated and is currently on display in the National Museum of Underwater Archeology. The rest of the submerged ships remain in the place of the wreck, conveniently consolidated and protected to preserve their integrity, as well as in constant vigilance for its correct conservation.

The declaration of Archaeological Zone and the museum tasks of the archaeological remains of the Doña Blanca Village guarantee the state of conservation of the properties, in which constant maintenance work is carried out to ensure its preservation, as well as the correct enjoyment of the same by the visiting public.

The location of the stone wine presses of the Valencian Community away from urban areas has contributed to the pressure urban planning, one of the main threats to the archaeological heritage, is totally absent. Other factors of aggression or deterioration due to human causes, related to agricultural activity, have not caused significant damage to the properties, nor do they represent a source of danger in the future.

Thus, in the case of the wine presses of The Wine in Iberia, they are almost exclusively the environmental factors, derived from the excavation and exposure to the open air of the archaeological remains, the main agents of deterioration of the structures.

In addition, the structures have not undergone modifications, except those derived from the processes of abandonment or burial since they were no longer used, 2,500 years ago, until the archaeological excavations carried out in recent dates, which have been carried out in compliance with all the methodological and scientific protocols inherent in this type of intervention. The correct recovery, preservation in adequate means of the underwater assets and consolidation of the structures of the terrestrial properties is complemented with periodic surveillance actions of the state of conservation. These interventions were carried out with the criteria and methodology of the archaeological restoration, according to the protocols of minimum intervention, reversibility, clear differentiation of the elements intervened and little visual impact on the whole.

The delimitations of the nuclear zone and the buffering of the properties of the proposal are several, all circumscribed to the characteristics of each property and the existing protection environments.

Wreck I and II of Mazarrón (Mazarrón, Murcia)

The place known as Playa de la Isla is located in a small bay in the district of Puerto de Mazarrón. The nuclear zone is circumscribed to an irregular polygon, with a rectangular shape, whose northern and western limits conform to the current coastline, while the rest runs along the sea without recognizable markers. The buffer area is adapted to the nuclear perimeter, following the coastline plus a 50 m strip. sea ​​inside The perimeter of the property is 754 m. and covers an area of ​​24,532 m2. The central coordinates of the polygon are as follows (UTM format ETRS89): X: 652.924; Y: 4,158,346; Z: 0.

Wreck 1 of Bajo de La Campana (San Javier, Murcia)

In front of the Manga del Mar Menor, there is the so-called Isla Grosa. Bajo de La Campana is an underwater spot located somewhat north of El Farallón Island. The nuclear zone is located offshore, without sticking to terrestrial references, and forms a circle of 250 m. radio around the wreck. The buffer area constitutes a strip of 500 m. around it, almost coming to border the island El Farallón. The perimeter of the property covers an area of ​​196,349 m2. The central coordinates are as follows (UTM format ETRS89): X: 703.396; Y: 4,179,065; Z: 0

Castillo de Doña Blanca (Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz)

The archaeological site of the Castillo de Doña Blanca is located on the top and slopes of the Sierra de San Cristóbal, which separates the northern maritime zone of the Bay of Cádiz as a backbone of the countryside. The perimeter of the property is 6,061 m. and covers an area of ​​1,987,275 m2. The central coordinates of the polygon are as follows (UTM format ETRS89): X: 753.958; Y: 4,057,307; Z: 31.

Iberian stone wine presses (Requena, Valencia)

The final stretch of the Cabriel river, tributary of the Júcar, occupies part of the western fringe of the province of Valencia. In the valleys that form two of its tributary ravines, Los Morenos and La Alcantarilla, the main sets of Iberian cave wolves are located.

Rambla de Los Morenos: The perimeter of the property is 9,797m. and covers an area of ​​2,367,227 m2. The central coordinates of the polygon are as follows (UTM format ETRS89): X: 653.855; Y: 4,361,555; Z: 512.

Rambla de la Alcantarilla: The perimeter of the property is 14.002m. and covers an area of ​​2,727,436 m2. The central coordinates of the polygon (UTM format ETRS89): X: 652.119, Y: 4.360.979, Z: 512.

All the properties of The Wine in Iberia have a constant level of control and intervention and enjoy the maximum legal consideration and protection, both in the Spanish State and in its autonomous communities, for being Cultural Interest Properties (hereinafter BIC) , within the epigraph “archaeological zone”, which are cataloged as archaeological sites in the respective regions.

The wrecks Mazarrón I and Mazarrón II are included within the protection zone of the BIC “Playa de la Isla”. Exp. DBC 000012/2013 of the Region of Murcia.

The Castillo de Doña Blanva archaeological site is included in the zone of protection of the same name with codes 01110270059 and 01110270091 of the Junta de Andalucía.

The group of Iberian stone wine presses includes a complete network of archaeological sites, among which, for their degree of protection, stands out the BIC of La Solana de Las Pilillas (registry 46.17.213-076 of the Generalitat Valenciana). The rest of the deposits are considered to be of Local Relevance (hereinafter BRL) with a specific protection regime. Likewise, the location of a large part of the stone wine presses in the Natural Park of Hoces del Cabriel (hereinafter PNHC) includes them in the Plan for the Regulation of Natural Resources and their development in the Master Plan for Use and Management of the protected area.

The agents in charge of the management and direct monitoring of each of the properties vary. Thus, the wrecks of the Region of Murcia are subject to intense surveillance, divulgation and diffusion by the National Center for Underwater Archaeological Research (CNIAS) and the National Museum of Underwater Archeology (ARQVA). The Interpretation Center of the Phoenician Ship and a room of the permanent exhibition of ARQVA, make direct contact with society through its awareness and diffusion activities.

The archaeological site of Castillo de Doña Blanca is included in the Network of Cultural setting of Andalucia (RECA) and is managed directly by the Junta de Andalucía and by the Public Company of Cultural Programs, which gives technical and human content to the interpretation center located there and to the activities of maintenance, diffusion and study of the site.

The management of Iberian stone wine presses includes several agents. The PNHC management body has decision-making and action capacity over the elements located therein, mainly for maintenance and divulgation. The Municipal Museum of Requena is responsible, in coordination with the PNHC, for maintenance, divulgation and diffusion; tasks for which he has counted with the timely collaboration of the University of Valencia and the IVC + R. Likewise, the center of interpretation of the set is in the project phase to be housed within a space already prepared for this purpose located in the urban area of ​​Requena (Valencia).

The sulveillance of compliance with the law and the functions of supervision and monitoring of the quality requirements related to the actions that are carried out in the assets that make up The Wine in Iberia correspond to the different autonomous councils to which the Culture subjects. However, as it is a series property, mechanisms will be available to guarantee the coordinated management of the different components, which are being outlined by the three communities involved. From the social point of view all the serial properties of The Wine in Iberia have an active presence within the social and cultural ideology of their respective communities. This manifests itself, for example, in its incorporation into the tourist products of each region.

In the specific case of the Iberian stone wine presses, in the Requena-Utiel region, the population knows the project and values it as the roots of its winemaking tradition. This acceptance and feeling of identity led to the confluence of social groups, public institutions and private entities in the creation of an association, Territorio Bobal, (Bobal Territory), whose objective is the defense of the culture of wine in all its manifestations and the impulse of the present candidacy.

Wine in Iberia fills a gap not covered in the World Heritage List and indicative at thematic, chronological and typological level. It represents the recognition of the role played by wine, its consumption, its ritual, its production and its trade in the cultural exchange of peoples situated at one end of the Mediterranean and how this transfer, which goes beyond technology, influenced in the consolidation of the Iberian Culture.

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

The Property of The Wine in Iberia are an example of outstanding universal value because they represent the origin of the culture of wine in the most western part of the Mediterranean, as a result of the exchange of products, technological processes and ideas among peoples during antiquity and how these contacts are capable of transforming a society and a territory.

The Wine in Iberia collects the vestiges of the arrival of wine to the Iberian Peninsula from the other end of the Mediterranean, illustrates the implementation of vine cultivation in Iberia and testifies to the production of wine on a larger scale than self-consumption, centuries before the arrival of the Romans. This production, driven by the Phoenician settlers, is developed by the Iberian peoples, some societies that are not currently represented in the UNESCO Heritage Lists.

The Iberian Culture is the one that closes the circle of the great civilizations that are formed in the Mediterranean Sea, arisen by evolution of the Bronze Age. While it is true that it is the least known of all, its level of cultural development is comparable to that of the Etruscan culture. The relantionship with the people of the East part of the Mediterranean made it a civilization with a high level technical, socio-economic and cultural development, to the extent of developing its own writing and, in the last moments, assimilating a monetary economy, surpassing with certain speed the barter economy.

Within this great economic, social and cultural development, wine is a fundamental element whose production is introduced by external influences, first for the consumption of the elites and later generalized among the population. This omnipresence of wine in the daily life of the Iberian culture has bequeathed infinity of archaeological remains that denote its consumption and it’s pre-eminence in these societies.

In this sense, the properties represented by the Phoenician wrecks of the Region of Murcia, dated at the end of the 7th century BC. and considered the oldest of this type found in the Mediterranean, are of great importance to understand the scope of Phoenician trade and the arrival of The Wine in Iberia. But also, they exemplify the sophisticated and complex Phoenician thalassic trade system. A consolidated trade that moved an endless number of products distributed throughout the Mediterranean. There is evidence, through the containers, that one of these products was wine, because within the same Phoenician people had a great importance, religious, cultural, social and commercial.

The archaeological aproperties of the Doña Blanca Castle, which disputes with Cádiz and the Cerro del Castillo de Chiclana (Cádiz), being the oldest Phoenician city found on the Iberian Peninsula, are a clear example of the permeability between the local culture and the Phoenician One of the evidences is how the consumption of wine, initially restricted to the Phoenician settlers, quickly passes to the local elites, according to the remains of tableware storage and consumption. They initiate and control vine crops as early as the seventh century, and especially in the sixth century BC, as shown by the abundant Vitis Vinifera pips recovered in the field, and reaffirm the findings of fields in Huelva. The production of indigenous wine is reflected in the Comunidad Valencianan the old moments of the Iberian Culture. Phoenician settlers from the Alicante coast, in La Fonteta and Peña Negra, undoubtedly influenced the implementation by indigenous elites of urban wineries of the Alt de Benimaquia. But the process of winemaking on a large scale is reflected in a unique way in the wine presses of the inner part of Valencia, with ample agricultural possibilities and, specifically, in the site of the Solana de las Pilillas, where its elaboration is verified since the end of the 7^th Century or beginnings of the 6^th B.C. The cultivation of the vine is also attested in this area since the seventh century BC. in the city of Kelin (Caudete de las Fuentes, Valencia). The expansion of the rock presses from the producer center of the Solana de las Pilillas to the neighboring Rambla de la Alcantarilla, it is a consequence of the generalization of the production and consumption of the wine elaborated in the Mediterranean during the 5th century BC. and, therefore, in the Iberian society. Thus, related to the production of wine from the Stone presses presses appear pottery workshops specialized in amphoraes, such as Las Casillas del Cura (Venta del Moro, Valencia).

Likewise, in the Castillo de Doña Blanca and in Las Cumbres in  Sierra de San Cristóbal wineries of the 4th century BC are documented, as well as in Puente Tablas (Jaén) and El Molón (Camporrobles, Valencia). In the specific case of Castillo de Doña Blanca, the wineries are in a city of considerable commercial relevance at the time. The viticulture of this period will lay the foundations for the high levels of development that will be reached in the Roman South and North East part of the Peninsula.

The wineries of Rambla de los  Morenos and the Alcantarilla as wine production structures have in themselves an exceptional value. The presence of wineries outside the habitat areas, next to the vineyards, is a documented practice in the Eastern Mediterranean since at least the third millennium BC. The archaeological sites of these two channels are the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula and among the oldest in the Western Mediterranean. The structures next to the wineries would work like authentic cellars as shown by amphoraes and amphora caps found in these deposits, with a production capacity superior to that of other wineries in the Iberian territory, which indicates that a part would be destined for commercialization.

In addition to its relevance in the field of Wine Archeology, the Property of The Wine in Iberia represent the Iberian Culture. In the case of the Region of Murcia and the Comunnidad Autonoma de Andalucía these assets reflect how the arrival of Phoenician settlers and their products influence indigenous societies, contributing to their transformation into a sophisticated and evolved civilization, extending from the south of the peninsula to the French Midi, with a component of territorial organization accused, and fully integrated into the Mediterranean context of the moment, from which it receives influences and in which, in turn, it influences. On the other hand, the wine presses in the inland of the Comunidad Valenciana are an exceptional example of the capacity of these societies to organize themselves collectively and build infrastructures in areas that are not always easy (slopes with constant danger of landslides) and technically well executed. (Excavation of the wineries, robust retaining walls and terraces, well-conditioned buildings for cellars. These infrastructures require a great investment of time and effort not only in their construction, but also in their maintenance, that it should be constant and expensive, given the seasonality of the occupations. In addition, they are integrated into the territory and are related to other Iberian sites through a wide network of roads, which have paved and lanes to facilitate the circulation of carriages and, therefore, the distribution of the product. Thus, thepropertiesintegrated into The Wine in Iberia constitute a fundamental element of the archaeological heritage related to wine growing culture in Spain. They bear witness to the origin of this wine culture, which has its roots for more than 2,700 years and, therefore, can be considered representative of a unique and at the same time universal heritage.

Criterion (ii): Wine, beyond a drink, is a product around which they develope, and have developed, social relationships, rituals, customs, etc. It is one of the most widespread drinks around the world, both in terms of consumption and production. The culture of the wine in the Iberian Peninsula is developed by the influence of the contacts with the Mediterranean peolple, particularly Phoenicians, as they reflect the wrecks of Murcia and the Castillo de Doña Blanca of Andalusia. Through these contacts not only the cultivation and production techniques were transmitted, but also a whole set of cultural elements (consumption,vessels how to prepare and consume it, events in which the wine takes part ...) that the Iberian people assimilates and adapts to its own idiosyncrasy.

The properties included in Wine in Iberia are a clear example of the exchange of values ​​and ideas between the indigenous populations and the Phoenicians, during a period that goes from the 8th to the 3rd  Century BC, in the south and east of the Iberian Peninsula, in the fields of production, elaboration, trade and consumption of wine, influencing social relations, rites and customs, as well as the dynamics of occupation of the territory, which end up defining the landscape.

Criterion (iii): The importance acquired by wine in the Iberian society is more than contrasted. Therefore, the properties of the Wine in Iberia are an exceptional and unique testimony left by this disappeared civilization:

• the contacts of the indigenous populations with other people of the Mediterranean.
• the transformation processes of these societies as a result of these contacts.
• the full development of the Iberian Culture, a highly hierarchical, organized, sophisticated society, rooted in its land, fully integrated into commercial networks and, in general, in the Mediterranean context of the moment.

This hierarchy and dominance at the territorial level of Iberian society is evident in the Valencian wine presses, since they are made up of sets raised for a specific activity, such as the production of wine, outside permanent settlements. In addition, the association of these stone wine presses to structures and materials of Iberian chronology makes them a unique and exceptional element, since other known rock presses do not have a chronology so clearly established.

Criterion (iv): The properties proposed in The Wine in Iberia are a representative example of different techniques and ancient constructions. The Phoenician wrecks of Murcia are representative of the ships used by these peoples in their journeys through the Mediterranean, as well as navigation techniques, with use of short and long-range ships, since there are very few examples of preserved Phoenician ships.

The archaeological remains recovered in the assets of Andalucia demonstrate the early incorporation of the vine to large-scale cultivation and the subsequent development of winemaking processes. The finding of Iberian cultivation fields related to viticulture in Huelva confirms this. The complicated process of vine cultivation and wine production, which requires a significant investment of time and labor, necessarily involves complex organizational structures, absent in domestic production modes. The aristocratic and religious elites had the necessary capacity to effectively control these resources.

On the other hand, the Valencian eine presses are exceptional examples of a type of construction and technology for wine making that has lasted over time. These are the oldest wine production structures in the western Mediterranean, where their number is much higher than in the eastern part. In the Western Mediterranean, the use of rock wineries has wide diffusion and lasting over time (until the 18th and 19th centuries). The oldest and characteristic of this Iberian period are the wine presses included in The Wine in Iberia, since the rest has Roman or medieval chronologies. Therefore, it is a characteristic type of construction with a long chronological durability.

In this sense, the realization of the wine presses carving blocks suitable for it, with dimensions and a structure adjusted to this type of wine production, are an example of the technological development achieved by the Iberian people, long before the arrival of the Romans to the Peninsula, the great “artífex”. The presence of holes in the vertical wall of some of these structures, for the insertion of wooden beams, indicates, according to the researchers, that these are the oldest examples of grape presses using the counterweights system, which is an important innovation and it allows a greater profitability in the treading and crushing of the grape.

Statements of authenticity and/or integrity

The data exposed for the group of properties of The Wine in Iberia come from documentation obtained and generated from the authorized field work and laboratory research carried out by professionals and entities of renown in the field of archeology. Interdisciplinary teams with the participation of nationally recognized universities, town halls, museums and research centers have demonstrated and highlighted the authenticity and scope of the archaeological remains presented.

In relation to wrecks, since 1993 the National Museum of Underwater Archeology (ARQVA), under the direction of Iván Negueruela, is developing underwater archaeological activities aimed at recovering the Mazarrón I and II wrecks, within the “Phoenician Ship Project”. For its part, wreck 1 Bajo de la Campana, has been explored and excavated by the Institute of Nautical Archeology (INA-USA) and the National Museum of Underwater Archeology-ARQVA between 2007 and 2011, in interventions directed by Juan Pinedo and Max Polzer. Thus, they have been able to know, investigate and preserve all its content and all its characteristics, providing information of great relevance for the knowledge not only of the techniques of naval construction and navigation of the Phoenician peoples, but also on their routes and products.

The archaeological importance of the Castillo Doña Blanca has been known for a long time. In the nineteenth century some local scholars recorded this in their writings and later, in the decade of the 1940s, the German researcher A. Schulten published a map with the visible archaeological remains of the area. The archaeological excavations began in 1979, developing since then different campaigns in 1981-83, 1986-87, 1989, 1991 and 1995, from the University of Cádiz and the Junta de Andalucía and under the direction of Diego Ruiz Mata. The geographic wide sequence, perfectly delimited and interpreted by the archaeological teams, it confirms the antiquity, commercial importance and evolution of wine consumption and production between Phoenician settlers and Iberian societies.

The archaeological interventions have been complemented by the Ministry of Culture, aware of the exceptional interest of the whole, has undertaken in recent years various initiatives for its conservation and enhancement. Among these actions is the layout of a comfortable tour that, supported by various information panels, facilitates the interpretation of archaeological remains.

In the Comunidad Valenciana, the first prospects in the ravines of Los Morenos y La Alcantarilla were made by Asunción and Rafael Martínez Valle with the support of the Generalitat Valenciana. The research team of the University of Valencia, headed by Consuelo Mata Parreño, has carried out several archaeological prospecting campaigns in the Utiel-Requena region since 1993, in addition to the excavation campaigns in Kelin (Caudete de la Fuentes), the Rambla de Alcantarilla (2005), Solana de los Cantos 2 (2006), El Zoquete (2007-2008) and Casa de la Cabeza (2010-2012).

The City Council of Requena, through the Municipal Museum and the Valencian Institute of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, IVC + R, has also carried out prospecting campaigns and several archaeological excavation campaigns, led by Asunción Martínez Valle, at the site of La Solana de Las Pilillas (2008, 2009-2010 and 2012). In all these archaeological works have been made the mandatory conservation and consolidation measures and in the case of the Solana de las Pilillas, in addition, musealization of  the remains discovered.

These interventions have confirmed that the rock presses and the environments in which they are kept their authenticity from the date they were abandoned by the Iberians, 2,500 years ago, since there is an almost total absence of remains of later times that could have distorted the good. In addition, its location within the limits and the area of protection and surveillance of the Natural Park of  Hoces del Cabriel has contributed to this maintenance.

In addition to its authenticity, the universal value of The wine in Iberia  is also confirmed by the integrity of each and every one of its components. For example, stone wine presses express in themselves, due to their location, design and characteristics, the technical capacity of Iberian society, its roots in the earth and its capacity to modify the landscape or its elements and adapt them to their needs. The skills demonstrated by its builders are a clear example of its capacity to absorb and take advantage of the knowledge acquired by contact with other Mediterranean peoples. The ex-professed construction outside the permanent habitat zones, its distribution by the territory and the effort deployed for its realization and maintenance, clearly illustrate the high degree of development and territorial hierarchy of the Iberian society and the importance that came to have the wine in its culture.

Comparison with other similar properties

The comparative analysis with other properties similar to those included The Wine in Iberia has served to verify that this proposal covers different gaps observed in the lists of Universal Heritage and the indicative lists of the member countries of UNESCO. But it has also made it possible to verify the intrinsic value of The Wine properties in Iberia at the international level, within the specific framework of the Wine Archeology, in which they are framed.

This analysis has focused on the comparison with the sets and archaeological sites of the Mediterranean area, of chronological and / or cultural fork similar to that of the property of the proposal. Secondly, with agricultural cultural landscapes, especially wine-growing, or that have to do with the exploitation and transformation of natural resources, especially to contrast chronologies, confirm the antiquity of the properties integrated in the lists (thematically, those properties framed in category IV of those established by UNESCO). And finally, with the properties that refer to the movement of products and people, the means of communication or means of transport.

Most of the archaeological sites that are World Heritage Sites are settlements, cities, and their value is related to the monumental groups that they possess, especially of classical times (Greek, Hellenistic, Roman). The site of Tauric Chersonese ,which also has farms and wineries as a whole, also has as its main value the remains of buildings and monuments of the Hellenistic city, Century 3^rd  B.C. Only its wineries, as well as the amphorae with remnants of fermented grapes juice from the Neolithic site of Çatal Höyuk, or the imported wine anphorae found in Cartago, are related to the production and commercialization of wine in Antiquity. No complex, except some of the Ukrainian “chora”, can be put in relation to the production of wine.

The same panorama appears in the indicative lists of the different member countries of UNESCO. Dominate urban settlements and historic cities, with their monumental and buildings as a oustanding value, the most abundant properties, for the chronological range of elements of the present proposal. The cities of Lixus, in Morocco, and Kaunos, in Turkey, present as an oustanding value a salting complex, already from Roman times, and port facilities respectively.

On the other hand, the property represented by the Villae of  Narbone (France) includes elements of the landscape and villae related to the agricultural exploitation of the territory, as well as communication routes, but in none of their wine production facilities have been documented, in spite of the fame that the wines from his area had in Antiquity. In the rest of the properties collected in the indicative lists there are also no indications of elements related to wine archeology.

As for the goods related to the production and exploitation of natural resources, nine are cultural landscapes in wine regions, all in Europe (Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, Champagne, Burgundy, Landscape of vineyards of the Piedemonte: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato; Amalfitana Coast, Alto Douro wine region, Vineyard landscape of the Pico Island, Historical cultural landscape of the wine region of Tokay, Vineyards on the terrace of Lavaux), and in three other landscapes the vineyard is a relevant element (Valley of the Loire between Sully-south-Loire and Chalonnes, Cultural landscape of the Wachau, Palestine: land of olive groves and vineyards). Most of these places have wine production since the Middle Ages, although in some (Alto Duero, Lavaux, Saint-Emilion, Piedemonte) this production could have occurred, as the written sources claim, already in Roman times. Archeology, however, has not been able to confirm these chronologies.

Of the rest of the agricultural landscapes that are part of UNESCO’s heritage, only the rice fields of the Philippines and the fields of Kuk, in Papua New Guinea, are more than 2,000 years old, although they do not present, beyond the crops, elements and buildings related to farms, trade and contact between peoples, such as The Wine in Iberia.

In the indicative lists there are five cultural landscapes related to viticulture and three others in which the vine is an outstanding value, three of them in Spain (Priorat-Montsant-Siurana, La Rioja and Rioja Alavesa, and the cultural Itinerary of the vineyard and wine through the Mediterranean cities), another two in Slovakia (Tokaj and Sustainable Landscapes) and the vineyards of Primosten, in Croatia. In them, the current elements of the landscape are the most outstanding values, more than antiquity, since they go back to the Middle Ages. Outside Europe, the vineyards of the Cape (South Africa) and those of the Calchaquí Valley (Argentina) are collected, among other elements, in which the vine was taken by the colonizers in the Modern Age.

In relation to the properties that refer to the movement of products and people, the means of communication or means of transport, the oldest are the land routes, such as incense, in Israel. There are no references in the lists of heritage to the sea routes, so important in Antiquity, even though the coastal cities of the Mediterranean had ports that have demanded important engineering works and that submerged in the sea there is a recognized amount of wrecks that would provide very relevant information about this traffic.

In this sense, the wrecks of Murcia come to fill an important gap in the list, as well as the assets of the Castillo de Doña Blanca and the Stone Wine Presses. They demonstrate the existence of exchanges between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean in early times and the full integration of Iberian societies in the rest of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations.

According to the comparative analysis with remains related to the archeology of wine, the construction of wineries and wineries outside the habitat areas, next to the fields, is documented in the written sources for the Eastern Mediterranean since the 3^rd millennium BC, without archeology having been able to confirm the data referred to in these documents.

Also the stone wine presses are distributed by other countries in southern Europe, but most are not contextualized archaeologically, without stratigraphic levels or associated remains (Guarda, Oporto, Viseu, Vila Real). Some are ascribed to Roman times, although these dates are not exempt from controversy (Alta Extremadura, Soboes da Mina, Vale do Merinha, Regina, Tolmo de Minateda), or late dates or Visigoths (Mayoralguillo de Vargas, Cáceres) and others directly to the Middle Ages (Sonsierra and Labastida, in La Rioja, or Lleida). On the contrary, the wine presses of The Wine in Iberia are associated without any doubt with archaeological materials and clearly Iberian structures.

These structures, outside urban centers or permanent settlements, offer an example of the great technological, cultural and economic development of the Iberian peoples. One of the most outstanding civilizations of the shores of the Mediterranean in ancient times, which has no presence in the UNESCO Heritage lists.

Thus, there have not been found sets or elements of characteristics similar to those that make up The Wine in Iberia, so their inclusion fills a gap in the world heritage, since there is no representation of wrecks or rock wine production centers. The properties that are presented as part of this proposal do not have parallelism among other properties included in the lists for chronological and cultural purposes, even though all of them present sufficient demonstrative elements of their universal value. All of them reflect, within their typology, a chrono-cultural reference frame to be the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula (case of the stone wine presses), or Mediterranean (the wrecks of Murcia, like the oldest Phoenician boats). In addition, and despite its complexity and importance in the Ancient Mediterranean, the Iberian Culture is not represented in the lists, so the inclusion of these properties in series, which illustrate it so well, is clearly necessary.

Therefore, the inclusion of The Wine in Iberia in the UNESCO Heritage List is fully justified not only for cultural and social reasons, but also because it proves that, from very early dates, wine was a symbol of Mediterranean cultural identity.