The Prehistory Museum of Valencia is a museum of the city of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, in Spain, that exposes archaeological materials covering from

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

to the Visigoths period. From 1982, it has been part of The Old House of Charity, built in 1841 which highlights the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

style church built in 1881. The Font de Mussa Mosaic is one of the most highlighted pieces. In 1995 began the complete restoration of the building, carried out by the architect Rafael Rivera. The House of Charity, now the Museum of Prehistory, has a ground floor and two stories arranged around five courtyards. On the ground floor are located the shop, cafeteria, two temporary exhibition rooms, workshops, warehouses and the Restoration and Quaternary Wildlife laboratories, as well as offices of the Prehistoric Research Service, while the Church has become the Hall. On the first floor are the Library and the Permanent Facilities dedicated to

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. On the second floor permanent galleries devoted to the Iberian culture and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

World.

Prehistory Research Service

The Prehistory Research Service (''Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica'', SIP) of the Diputación of Valencia and the Museum of Prehistory are founded in 1927 at the request of Isidro Ballester Tormo as a scientific institution dedicated to research, preserve and promote the archaeological heritage of Valencia. In the museum have worked some of the most notable archaeologists of Spain Lluís Pericot Domingo Fletcher or Enrique Pla, who directed the SIP, or

Miquel Tarradell Miquel may refer to: * the Catalan form of the given name Michael * Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1811–1871), a Dutch botanist * Gérard Miquel (born 1946), a member of the Senate of France * Ignasi Miquel (born 1992), a Spanish football player ...

Miracles Gil-Mascarell or Carmen Aranegui, who worked closely with this service. Since its creation, the SIP developed an intense archaeological field work as in the Bastide de les Alcuses of

Moixent Mogente () or Moixent () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Costera in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the four ...

, the Black Cave (''Cova Negra'') of

Xàtiva Xàtiva (, es, Játiva ) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right (western) bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. It is located 25 km west ...

, the Cova del Parpalló of

Gandia Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acc ...

or Tossal de Sant Miquel of

Llíria Llíria (; es, Liria) is a medium-sized town off the CV35 motorway to the north of Valencia, Spain. Known as ''Edeta'' in ancient Iberian times, it is the musical capital of the region. On October 30, 2019, Llíria was declared a Creative City ...

. The materials obtained from these excavations soon formed a collection whose scientific and heritage value has made the SIP and its museum one of the most important in Spain. Currently, research projects cover all phases of the Prehistory and Antiquity of Valencia, with major actions developed in

Cueva de Bolomor Cueva de Bolomor, or Bolomor Cave, is an archaeological site near Tavernes de la Valldigna in the Valencian Community, Spain. It was occupied over a long period of time, between 350,000 and 120,000 years ago. Four Neanderthal remains have been r ...

Tavernes de la Valldigna Tavernes de la Valldigna (, es, Tavernes de la Valldigna) is a municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain, located in the district of Safor, 54 km far away from Valencia. It is the biggest town in La Valldigna, a horseshoe shape valley ...

, where appeared the oldest human remains in Valencian lands. Also excavations are conducted at the Eneolithic sites of Fuente Flores y Cinto Mariano ( Requena), in the Bronze Age sites of Lloma Betxí (

Paterna Paterna is a city and a municipality in the province of Valencia in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located northeast of the comarca of '' L'Horta de Valencia'', northwest of the inland suburbs of Valencia, and on the left bank of the riv ...

) and Les Raboses (

Albalat dels Tarongers Albalat dels Tarongers is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre in the Valencian Community, Spain. Notable people * Ángel Casero Ángel Luis Casero Moreno (born 27 September 1972 in Albalat dels Tarongers, Province of Val ...

), in the Iberian villages of Bastida de les Alcusses and Los Villares ( Caudete de las Fuentes) and the Ibero-Roman city of La Carencia de (

Turís Turís, ca-valencia, Torís, is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ribera Alta in the Valencian Community, Spain. Villages * Altury * Cortitxelles, a village built by the Instituto Nacional de Colonización The Instituto Nacional de Co ...

The Library of the Prehistory Research Service

The SIP library was created in parallel with the Valencia Museum of Prehistory in 1927. It is a specialized library which began its bibliographic collection with donations and acquisitions. During the formation of the Library, the acquisitions of monographs were made taking into account a range of needs and would include: general works or reference, other studies that discuss the prehistory and archaeology prior to the founding of the SIP and those dealing with the latest advances in archaeology. Similarly, from the outset there was the need to create a network of exchanges of publications, in order to increase the number of copies and to publicize the institution's own publications. Initially it was planned with the "Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina" although due to economic difficulties, it took 16 years between publication of the first and the second volume, as a result, the bibliographic exchange was performed with the Annual Report.

Publications

The SIP research task obtains results that are disseminated through scientific publications. The SIP edits the journal "Archivo de Prehistoria Levantina", and the series of monographs "Serie de Trabajos Varios" as well as catalogs of exhibitions held by the SIP, brochures, educational books, monographs, etc.

References

External links

Website of the Prehistory Museum of Valencia
{{Authority control

Museums in Valencia Tourist attractions in Valencia

Prehistory Research Service

The Library of the Prehistory Research Service

Publications

See also

References

External links