José Ramón Mélida y Alinari was born on October 26, 1856 in Madrid, Spain, son of the jurist Nicolás Mélida and the Florentine Leonor Alinari y Adarve.
Writer, archaeologist, university professor, historian, art historian, and librarian. University professor and director of the National Archaeological Museum (1916-1930). José Ramón has been considered the father of Spanish archaeology. He died on December 30, 1933, in his native Madrid.
In 1905 he published in the Journal of Archives, Libraries and Museums a work on the Iberian Treasure of Jávea that had been discovered a few months earlier, towards the end of November or beginning of December 1904 (120 years and four months ago).
I am republishing an article I published in the print edition of Canfali Marina Alta in November 2009 about Francisco García García.
«There are characters whose existence goes unnoticed without us realizing the importance they have and who acquire it not because of their personal qualities but because of the chance of being in a specific place at the right time. Francisco García García is one of them and his name has been linked to the treasure of Xàbia although almost no one remembers him. He is an anonymous character but thanks to him we can today count on this historical jewel that these days we can see in all its beauty, lacking some silver elements, in the exhibition that is entitled
"Gold and Silver, Luxury and Distinction in Hispanic Antiquity" is taking place at the Museum of Prehistory in Valencia.
In the Xàbia Museum we will find a replica of this treasure, but in the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia we can see the original that the National Archaeological Museum has lent for this occasion and which I invite you to visit, since in it we will also find the precious Treasure of Villena, whose discovery was fortuitous and also the product of chance.
On that cold morning in late November or early December 1904, Francisco García García got up to go dig the field he had rented from Carlos Torres Orduña in the Lluca district, about four kilometers from Xàbia. He was digging in the Levantine style –says the chronicler José Ramón Mélida– when he tripped over something. We believe he was overflowing, that is, digging deep, because at that time there were no tractors that could change the soil from top to bottom and vice versa, extracting all the roots to avoid damaging future crops and at the same time that the soil was changed it was stirred a lot to make it less hard.
This work required the use of a good hoe and strong arms. It was truly hard work, Bernat Capó tells us, that bathed the body in sweat, caused back pain, and dried out the skin on the hands. Since it was winter, Francisco García surely rested little, and sometimes he would do so to eat a little: some sausage that he would roast over embers, which he would make with the dried roots he had dug out of the ground throughout the day, and which he would place on the scarce dark bread, allowing the overflowing red butter to give its color to the bread.
crust of bread: a little wine and some raisins and almonds or dried figs from last summer would be his country diet to relieve fatigue and regain strength.
Today the overtake has disappeared from our fields. We don't know if it was early in the morning or late in the evening, but the fact is that at one point the hoe struck something about three palms deep, "it was a clay vessel, which the hoe had broken, and whose contents were a series of gold and silver jewels." Francisco García had
found the 'treasure of Jávea/Xàbia'. It had happened like in that unlikely story told to children, about where the rainbow begins or ends, there is a pot of coins. He found the pot without having looked for the rainbow's beginning.
The vicissitudes that this treasure from Xàbia went through before it was purchased by the National Archaeological Museum are masterfully explained by Ramón Llidó, and in the catalogue of the aforementioned exhibition, you can take note of the various authors who have discussed it. But since we want to talk about the person who found the treasure, we will point out, as Ramón Llidó tells us, that the estimated price of around six thousand pesetas, which D. Carlos Torres Orduña took a long time to collect, was divided between Francisco Garcia and a charity in Benissa. That day, the anonymous laborer lost his anonymity and found himself with a small fortune.
When I saw the treasure displayed in the showcases of the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia today, I remembered this laborer to whom Xàbia should dedicate a street because his contribution to the history of the town and the publicity that this treasure gave to the population was difficult to estimate in its true value.
But we've included José Ramón Mélida y Alinari as a subtitle. He was born on October 26, 1856, in Madrid, son of the jurist Nicolás Mélida and the Florentine Leonor Alinari y Adarve. A writer, archaeologist, university professor, historian, art historian, and librarian. A university professor and director of the National Archaeological Museum (1916-1930), José Ramón has been considered the father of Spanish archaeology. Indeed. He died on December 30, 1933, in his native Madrid. Mélida was the one who published a study in the Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos (Review of Archives, Libraries, and Museums) in November 1905, revealing the significance of the Iberian Treasure of Jávea, from which we transcribe the first two paragraphs.
«Hispanic archaeology records a new discovery worthy of being included in the same honorable page as the sculptures of Cerro de los Santos, the sarcophagus of Cadiz, the bronzes of Costig and the bust of Elche. It is, therefore, a unique and precious piece which, with some accessories, was discovered at the end of November or beginning of December of last year 1, on the property called Lluca, belonging to the judicial district of the same name, located in the area and at a distance of about four kilometers from Jávea, a small town on the coast of
Alicante, the Greek coast whose red cliffs and blue sea Sorolla immortalized in admirable paintings. The discovery was a chance discovery. While digging in a field he had leased to Carlos Torres, Francisco García y García stumbled, "about three palms deep," the note before us says, in the Levantine style, upon an object: it was a clay vessel, broken by the hoe, and containing a series of gold and silver jewels.
These jewels, thanks to the zeal and diligence of Mr. D. Elías Tormo, Royal Commissioner of Fine Arts, who understood
Of course, the appreciation that should be given to such a discovery, and the intelligence and noble patriotism of Mr. Roque Chabás, who served as mediator with the owner, have been acquired by the Government, for the National Archaeological Museum.
