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Kelin was an ancient
Kelin was an ancient Iberian
Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to:
*Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra.
The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...
city located on the hill of Los Villares (Caudete de las Fuentes
Caudete de las Fuentes is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Requena-Utiel in the Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Auto ...
, Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
). The site was inhabited from the Proto-Iberian period (7th century BC) to the Late Iberian period (2nd to 1st centuries BC). The site was walled and covered around 10 hectares. The archaeological site has been known from the mid-18th century, although it was first excavated archaeologically in 1956, with later campaigns as recent as 2011.
Toponymy
Coins with the name 'Kelin' written inIberian script
Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to:
*Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra.
The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...
have been found both at the site and through the Iberian Peninsula. The coins are Iberian ases
The ' (: '), occasionally ''assarius'' (: ''assarii''; ), was a bronze, and later copper, coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.
Republican era coinage
The Romans replaced the usage of Greek coins, first by bronze ingots, the ...
and semis
The ''semis'' () was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an '' as''. During the Roman Republic, the ''semis'' was distinguished by an 'S' (indicating ''semis'') or 6 dots (indicating a theoretical weight of 6 '' unciae''). Some ...
and were minted sometime between the mid-2nd and early 1st centuries BC.
Remains found around Caudete de las Fuentes itself indicate that the main settlement moved to the banks of the Madre river following romanisation
In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...
of the area from the 2nd century BC. From this new location arose the Latin name Caput Aquae (water source) from which the name of the modern town derives, via Muslim Qabdaq and Valencian Cabdet.
Iberian polity?
Kelin may have been the capital of a complex Iberian polity covering much of the submeseta de Utiel-Requena. At 10 hectares in size, and with perhaps around 3,800 inhabitants, Kelin is the largest known Iberian site in the area. Throughout its long occupation, the site has a greatest range of imports in the submeseta, suggesting it dominated trading and distribution networks. More written material has also been found at the site than at its neighbours, and it appears to have been the only site to mint coins during the Roman Republican period. Taken together, these indicators suggest Kelin was at least the pre-eminent site in the area, and may perhaps have acted as a form of capital controlling the surrounding area.Description of the site
Two zones of house remains can be seen at the present site, showing the evolution of building styles from the 7th to 2nd century BC. The houses have elongated rectangular rooms with few internal divisions. The materials used were a stone foundation andadobe
Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...
brick walls. At the edge of the site, a section of wall is visible as well as a quarry which may have provided building material for the wall or houses. The pottery found at the site includes hand-made forms, some of which imitate wheel-made forms, as well as remains of amphora
An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...
e, Western Phoenician storage containers and Iberian Red Slip ware.
Notes
References
* * * *{{Citation, last=Ripollès i Alegre , first=Pere Pau , contribution=Historia monetaria de la ciudad ibérica de Kelin , editor-last = Lorrio Alvarado , editor-first = Alberto J. , title = Los Íberos en la Comarca de Requena-Utiel (Valencia) , pages = 105–115 , publisher = Universidad de Alicante , place = San Vicente de Raspeig , year = 2001 Indigenous ancient cities in Spain