The first occupation of the place occurs at the Bronze Age.
The castle is on a cliff in the levantine slope of el massís de les Tres Creus, at the foot of which is Tavernes. It is located approximately 250 metres above sea level, with a broad visual domain of the coast and the east sector of la Valldigna.
Despite the error during many years, where they considered el Castell d’Alfàndec as if it was the one of Marinyén in Benifairó, the reading of some donations gathered in the book of el Repartiment referred to the Valldigna force it to put it to the other side, on the current Tavernes, an ancient Andalusian farmhouse called Gebalcobra or Algeba.
This castle that corresponds to the remains of “Els Castellets”, despite being used in Christian times, probably towards the end of the 14th and 15th centuries, it did not have the importance or the remodellings of el Castell de Marinyén.
Probably the medieval precedents of the fortification d’Alfándec belong to the 10th and 11th centuries moment to which some archaeological materials that are observed on the surface belong.
It is formed by an enclosure extended with very few structures. It extends to a space of 1500 m² approximately. It has the entrance to the southern part, where a series of masonry walls are preserved and arranged in parallel to make it difficult to access. On the northeast side a cubic tower built with lime mortar tapial of about 62 centimetres in width would defend this sector of the enclosure.
To the west are the vertical walls of the mountain that define this part of the enclosure and served as a natural defense. To the northwest there is a rectangular cistern with capacity for approximately 17,700 litres, which has lost its coverage.
Near this cistern appears another tower similar to the first one, but smaller, which encloses the castle in the north, made with masonry at the base and mudwall tapial in the upper part. From this tower there is a rectilinear wall of about seven metres in length that would have by function to make difficult the access in the case of an enemy incursion.
Between the two towers the base of a long masonry wall of about 70 metres is still visible that would close the enclosure on the east side. Inside there are some basements of walls that probably were room structures. Some Arabic graffiti are conserved on the exterior wall of the tower, made of fresh mortar, also preserved inside the smaller tower.
The first occupation of the site corresponds to the Bronze Age, at an undetermined time that could be located in the middle of the second millennium before our era. From this prehistoric settlement, the only remains observed correspond to a few fragments of handmade ceramics, remains of an important occupation. Later it was occupied in the Iberian era, of which there are few vestiges left. (C.Pérez-Olagüe)