The first references to archaeological finds and monuments, especially from the Roman period, are found in the historical works published in Valencia since the 16th century, such as the Crónica of Pedro Antonio Beuter. In the seventeenth century the first monographs on Roman inscriptions and coins appeared, and in the eighteenth century Roman sites began to be excavated such as the villas del Vilar (el Puig) and Els Banys de la Reina (Calp), and the cities of Saguntum, Lucentum (Alacant) and Ilici (Elx) at the initiative of ecclesiastics and scholars such as Antonio José Cavanilles and Antonio de Valcárcel. In the second half of the 19th century, the trajectory of Juan Vilanova y Piera must be valued, who published the first works on Prehistory and began excavations and explorations in reference sites of the Valencian Paleolithic, such as Parpalló (Gandia), Negra (Xàtiva) and Les Llometes (Alcoi) caves. Despite this impulse to prehistoric studies, physicians and naturalists from the University of Valencia (UV) will be the promoters of Evolutionary Theory and the work of Charles Darwin. Throughout the 20th century, new theoretical approaches and the improvement of excavation and documentation methods led to a growing institutionalization and professionalization of archeology, which at the UV was reflected in the constitution of the Archeology Laboratory in 1921 and in the introduction of prehistory content in university studies by Professor Lluís Pericot as of 1927. After the civil war, with the incorporation of Professor of Archeology Miquel Tarradell in 1956, archeology studies were consolidated at the UV and with the founding of the magazine Papeles del Laboratorio de Arqueología de Valencia in 1962, the development of scientific archeology began at our university.
Inscripciones y antigüedades del Reino de Valencia / recogidas y ordenadas por el Excmo. Sr. D. Antonio Valcárcel Pío de Saboya;
e ilustradas por Antonio Delgado. [Madrid]: [s.n.], [1852]. Universitat de València. Biblioteca Històrica. BH Sala 5/2840 (p. 45)
