Top 8 Natural Monuments around Bellús

The Quatre Camins quarry, also known as the Llosar dels Francs, is an archaeological site 500m away. of the Roman villa, known as Villa Cornelius, located in Partida dels Francs, in the municipality of Énova. These are quarries that, according to some scholars, could be considered the most important of the Roman period in the Iberian Peninsula. The commercialization of the marble extracted from these quarries was the main source of wealth for the Iunii family, of the Galeria Tribe, owners of the plantation and the Cornelius town. The transport of the stone was done through the carriladas, that is to say, grooves in the rocks that channeled the wheels of the carts, which can still be seen on the road that leads from Énova to Barxeta (https:// www.komoot.com/es-es/highlight/6171388). The planter has preserved marks that show that the marble was extracted forming rectangular blocks. These large blocks were transported in bullock carts to the town, where the work of stonemasons or stonemasons continued, who would fragment them and shape them into specific pieces, according to the order that needed to be served. This marble was used to make tombstones, monuments of different sizes and even slabs to pave the Roman theater in Zaragoza or the plinths of the Romanesque door of the Cathedral of Valencia. In the same municipality of Énova there are several Roman tombstones that provide the Greek names of slaves such as Lleones, Vibi Èutic (Vibius Euthycus) and Himeto (Himetós), which are built with materials from these quarries.

The La Cova Negra municipal natural area is located in the municipality of Játiva, province of Valencia. In the Cova Negra is the Middle Paleolithic site in which remains of Homo Neanderthal have appeared. This natural area is located in the narrow valley formed by the Albaida River, as it crosses the reliefs of the Sierra Grossa, at the exit of the so-called Estret de les Aigües. In the widest meander formed by the Albaida River, at the height of Pico del Paller, you can see the Cova Negra, named for the blackish appearance of its walls.

The so-called "lanes" are the marks of a road perpendicular to the Via Heraklea (Path of Hercules) during the Bronze Age, which the Romans later renamed Via Augusta. This road, in the Iberian era, connected the interior of the peninsula with the sea, directly connecting the ancient city of Saiti (Roman Saetabis, today Xàtiva) with the city of Dianium (now Dénia). These lanes are very marked in the rock due to the continuous traffic of the carts. The distance between the axles of the wheels confirms that they date from the Iberian era. In Énova, this road was used for centuries due to the Roman exploitation of the quarry for the production of marble (which is located a few meters away), as well as being used to connect the Roman Villa with the rest of the world

Les Salines de Manuel is a municipal natural site of 28 hectares, of great landscape value, which is located next to the town of Manuel. It is a protected space of high ecological and historical value, as it was an old salt mine of the army, now turned into a large green lung. The exploitation was possible thanks to the composition of the so-called Serra de les Salines, formed by a rich combination of mineral salts from sandy rocks, limestone, reddish clay and other materials, giving rise to what we know as "common salt" . Due to the presence of all these minerals, the vegetation has the particular characteristic of being different from that of other places, either because of the adaptation to the terrain or because of the abundant foliage. This is why the site of Les Salines de Manuel houses two very different types of vegetation. On the one hand, the white pine forest with its traditional companions (lentiscle, coscolla, margallon, rosemary, rudder, buckthorn, juniper, etc.); and for another, the saline outcrops, where a Valencian endemic known as Limonium mansanetianum grows in honor of José Mansanet, the great botanist of Simat de la Valldigna. Next to this grass, capable of filtering salt water and expelling the salt through the leaves, grow several tamarinds, trees more typical of coastal areas. The circular route of the area, known as the Ruta de la Sal, is divided into 3 paths, which make up a total of approximately 4 kilometers, all signposted. On the way, you will meet a hill called the "wall of bullets", used in the past for shooting exercises by the army, which had an Engineers and Sappers School here between 1906 and 1996. There is also the Paret del Moro , which are the remains of a Muslim fortification from the 10th century; the remains of an old machine gun nest and trenches; buildings of the old salt exploitation; or the birth of salt water that supplied the salt pans, as well as the recreational area. Les Salines de Manuel, full of vegetation and pines adapted to salt, was exploited since ancient times by the Romans, being handed over a little over a century ago to the army, who finally handed it over to the population to be recovered for the use and enjoyment of visitors as a natural site. The military use lasted until 1996, although it was not until 2006 when the Manuel City Council acquired the land to be used for sports, a rural tourism center and the adaptation of the area as a municipal natural site and the adaptation of various hiking routes.

La Cova Negra is a cavity that is located in a gorge called the Strait of Waters. Its black color is mainly due to the smoke from the bonfires made by its former inhabitants, the Neanderthals who occupied it for a few months of the year. An important amount of flint tools and other archaeological remains have been found here.

Marks left on the stones by the carts that loaded the marble from the Roman quarry.

La Cova Negra is an important archaeological site, located in the widest meander of the Albaida river. It was home to Neanderthal man in the Paleolithic. The cave gets its name from the dark color of the walls. Human remains and paintings have been found inside.

La Cova Negra is an important archaeological site, located in the widest meander of the Albaida river. It was home to Neanderthal man in the Paleolithic. The cave gets its name from the dark color of the walls. Human remains and paintings have been found inside. It is a space of fundamental importance for understanding the culture of the Mosterian and the reality of the Neanderthals. The Almodí Museum exhibits an exact reproduction of a parietal bone from the period, discovered in the cave.