When you consider the fragility of archaeological remains, once uncovered; the care and dedication that is needed to keep them from deteriorating, nobody in their right minds would have them stacked in boxes and bags in a damp basement. Yet, the Almuñécar Councillor for Culture was horrified to discover that the finds of the last 30 years of excavations in Almuñécar had been stored (a euphemism), undocumented and unprotected, underneath the medical centre – in an area that has flooded at least twice.

The huge basement was packed with Phonetician amphoras, Roman stucco (plaster), alongside cement mixers, paving slaps, diesel containers and other building material… the mind boggles. But it’s not only a case of the items being there, but also the case of how they were transported and handled, as well.

The Councillor, Olga Ruano, took immediate steps to hire two archaeologists to document, clean and date, this mass of ancient material. Bear in mind that the provincial department of culture was already breathing down the neck of the previous mayor – to no avail – to have somebody hand over a complete register of the contents of the Palacio de Siete Cuevas Museum, the installations do not come up to the requirements of an official museum. This kind of problem exists with the Peña Escrita Zoo, readers might remember, which falls well below the requirements to consider itself as such, as well.

The two archaeologists have received a work contract for five months, costing the anemic municipal coffers nearly 18,000 euros – a period of time that falls far short of the time needed to carry out such a mammoth task.

The Head of the Municipal Cultural Heritage Board, Manuel Galiana, left no doubt as to his opinion of the situation: “If you had to think of what could be the worse place to store such material, this would be it.”

Meanwhile, the Junta de Andalucia has got wind of the situation. The Delegate for Culture, Pedro Benzal, said, “If we had known that this was how this material was being kept, we would have taken it away from Almuñécar.” However, seeing that the new administration not only is moving rapidly to remedy the situation, but were the first to denounce it, the Junta is letting them get on with it, pledging financial support for the task.

Bear in mind that the Junta is in the hands of the PSOE and the Town Hall in the hands of the PP, who are inveterate adversaries, who often go out of their way to trip each other up, yet their differences pale before the constant friction between the Junta and Sr Benavides, the ex Mayor. Since the Town Hall changed hands, party differences have been put aside and the sort of co-operation that you would expect between administrations is the order of the day.

Now, during the last couple of months many Seaside Gazette headlines have dealt with alleged misdoings of the previous mayor, and with that in mind, we have requested an interview with Sr. Benavides to put these points to him and to hear his side of the affairs in question. He kindly and readily agreed, so we hope to bring the planned interview to you in the near future.

(News: Almuñécar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)