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Fig. 1.
Mountain of Sant
Sebastià de la Guarda.
end of the 1980s. However, these excavations were not continuous
and, apart from urgent interventions made during the restoration of
the inn excavation of the settlement did not begin again until 1998.
That year an agreement between the Palafrugell Town Council and
the University of Girona led to the beginning of new excavations
which lasted until 2009. During this time, it was possible to completely
excavate the part of the settlement located at the north of the
platform, in the area unoccupied by the buildings mentioned above.
As a result of these interventions it was possible to confirm the existence
of archaeological remains placed chronologically between the
sixth century BC and the first century BC. Within this long period
two major phases of construction were recorded, one located above
the other (Burch, Rojas, Vivo, 2010). It should be highlighted that
the lower and older phase was far better preserved than the more
modern one. However, the more modern remains had a greater
scope than the older ones which were limited spatially. Basically,
the archaeological remains found consisted of: one and two roomed
houses, a street which passed longitudinally through the settlement
linked to a large open space and a set of grain stores used to store
cereals. Generally, the overall state of preservation was precarious.
The archaeological excavation revealed a significant number of
materials, some of which were exceptionally well preserved. These
arrived at Sant Sebastià from around the Mediterranean as a result
of trade between the inhabitants and merchants from other Iberian
settlements. They were quite probably from the Greek city of
Empúries which was easily accessible by sea at a distance of 35
kilometres. These materials are not exposed in any museum.
Potential Users
Among potential users of the site were the people living in the municipality
of Palafrugell. The mountain is strongly linked to their
identity. In fact, every year various local traditional acts are celebrated
there.
Another group of users to be taken into account were summer visitors
from Barcelona, just 120 kilometres away. The area around the
Iberian settlement of Sant Sebastià de la Guarda is a tourist destination
for people from Barcelona and its surrounds who stay in apartments
and houses in the area.
When work began on preparing the site for visitors there were no
precise data available for the volume of visitors accessing the peak of
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