The oldest settlement at Crevillent is Ratlla del Bubo, founded 18.000 years ago. The first inhabitants were groups of hunter-gatherers who used silex tools and followed wild animals in order to eat.
In Neolithic, between 4300 and 3800 BC, there must be another settlement, since it were found seeds, rests of huts and dumping sites of that period in the nearby lowlands, a fertile place.
The first steady village arrived around the 3rd millennium BC, at the late chalcolithic, in Les Moreres hill, in the heart of the range. It is a walled settlement where people lived in circular huts built with mud.
After this period arrived the Bronze Age, which is identified in our land with the archeological group of El Argar. It is in the Pic de Les Moreres, at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, where the community decided to set at one of the foothills of the range. There, they created a little village of hard acces, well defended by natural thalwegs, where houses were set in different levels.
But the greatest archeological example comes from the first millennium BC. Between 850 and 550 BC a big town, nowadays known as Penya Negra and formerly Herna, was developed. It is a great settlement of about 40 hectares of extension constantly occupied from the Bronze Age until the beginning of the Iron Age. Between the 9th and 8th century BC people inhabited circular huts of red mud and they focused on metallurgy (one of the biggest smulting areas in the western mediterranean was found here). Between the 7th and 6th century BC, due to a strong commercial contact with phoenicians, the town turned into a big city of square houses, made with stone and mud, and even a wall.
The time of the town of Penya Negra would bring with it the presence of many other contemporary settlements in its environment. Thus, in the Final Bronze Age, we find remains of molds of swords and axes in the lands of the orchard, specifically in the El Botx site. In the immediate surroundings of the Penya Negra, the hill of Les Moreres became the necropolis of the inhabitants of the town. Two stone fortifications were built on the hills of Les Barricaes and Cantal de la Campana to control communication routes, and a small settlement would also be located in Coto Memoria, also destined for territorial control. The city of Herna (Penya Negra) would possibly be abandoned due to a violent event.
After this period greatly influenced by the East arrived the Iberican era, which covers from the last 6th century BC to the roman conquest in the 1st century BC. The Iberians are represented by the forts of El Forat and El Castellar Colorat.
In the Roman period our land was part of the farmland of Ilici, the main roman city of the area. One of the several roman villas which were built in the surroundings was the one of Canyada Joana, a well preserved torcularium for making oil from around the year 400 AC.
From the end of the roman period to the 11th century the area was inhabited in a dispersed way. But then, still in the Andalusian period, appeared the current urban core, specifically at Vila Vella – Castle. That village was called Qirbylian. It was protected by a wall and a fort, which was demolished around 1920. This period finished in 1243, when Alfonso X, King of Castilia, conquered the Kingdom of Murcia.
Nevertheless, after the conquest of Murcia by James II, King of Aragon, Crevillent became part of this kingdom.
From then, the history of Crevillent depended on the strategy of the christian aristocracy. In 1391 the King Marty “The Human” sold Crevillent and Elche to the barony of Barcelona in order to pay for the military expedition over Cerdeña. The village belonged to Barcelona until 1473, when Elisabeth of Castilla, the Catholic Queen, gave Crevillent to Gutierre de Cárdenas, whose family would hold the power in the village for ages.
During the Germanias revolt, in 1520, Crevillent, as many other towns in the Kingdom of Aragon, stirred up against the feudal power. The Cardenas needed the help of the Velez Marquis and the city of Elche to subdue the village again.
In the first half of the 16Ith century, Charles V ordered the conversion of the mosques into churches, so the local mosque, located at the same place as the current market, was replaced for a primitive church. Today, its tower dominates Plaza Vieja, the old square.
The village was deserted in 1609, when moriscos were definitely expelled. Along this century, families from Catalonia were arriving, repopulating the town.
During the Succession War, in 1705, Philip V of Borbon gave the rank of the village to people as a payment for their support.
-Fonts:
-Daniel Belmonte, Francisco Javier Molina, Ana Satorre Pérez: LOS ÚLTIMOS CAZADORES DE LA SIERRA DE CREVILLENT (NOVIEMBRE/DICIEMBRE 2020) EL MEU POBLE CREVILLENT.
–Un viaje entre el Oriente y el Occidente del Mediterráneo. Actas del IX Congreso Internacional de Estudios Fenicios y Púnicos, Mytra 5, Mérida. Celestino Pérez, S.; Rodríguez González, E. (Eds.) 2020
-Daniel Belmonte, Francisco Javier Molina, Ana Satorre Pérez: Pedra seca i explotació d’algeps a la serra de Crevillent (2018, Revista del Vinalopó)
– Archivo Municipal – Clara Campo Amor