We present the data obtained during the three archaeological excavation campaigns (2015, 2017 and 2018) carried out at El Quemao (Sarrión, Teruel), an Andalusian farmhouse made up of a dozen dwellings with a central courtyard that was occupied between the Caliphate and Taifa periods. The documentation work, which has already made it possible to recognise the complete plan of the settlement, has focused on carrying out several probes in four of the dwellings with the aim of gaining in-depth knowledge of the functioning of the domestic routines of the rural communities in this part of al-Andalus.
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We usually associate monasteries with the Middle Ages. Monks, nuns, friars and canons played a fundamental role throughout this millennium, both in religious, cultural and economic life. There were different forms of monasticism, both male and female, from the diversity of the early Middle Ages to the establishment of religious orders, and monasteries were an articulating element of society, from the aristocracy to the peasantry. The desire to attain the perfection of Christian life clashed with the adaptation to society, in a tension that took the form of scandals and reforms. The relationship with the laity, between protection and abuse; the attitude to teaching and written culture; the different ways of organising the life of the monastic community; intercessory prayer for the living and the dead; and the tensions with bishops and secular clerics, all marked the evolution of the monastic life.
Since 2012, systematic excavation campaigns and preventive consolidation and restoration work have been carried out at the archaeological site of the Estrella de Montiel castle. The result of this work has been the discovery of a Muslim hisn, a castle of the Order of Santiago, the primitive parish church of the Virgen de la Estrella, part of the town planning and walls of the medieval town, and a series of very significant archaeological materials.Since 2018 the project has focused on the archaeological study of the Battle of Montiel (1369), in whose outcome King Pedro I of Castile died, locating the scenes of the battle and documenting various materials and structures from the conflict.
The site known as Vascos (Navalmoralejo, Toledo), despite all the monuments it has preserved, has no contemporary documentary references, so it has always raised many questions about its origin and meaning, as well as its own name. The excavations that have been carried out on the site since 1975, apart from providing us with material evidence of the daily life of those who lived there, also lead us to consider that we are dealing with an enclave that was founded in the Umayyad period with the aim of being a metallurgical production centre and that later, in the 11th century, in the Taifa period, it became a centre for metallurgical production, in the 11th century, during the Taifa period, it became an urbanised enclosure with eminently military functions, given its strategic location in the territory of al-Andalus at that time and especially in the Taifa of Toledo.
Despite being a fundamental element in the life of human communities, plants have attracted little interest in medieval archaeology. However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in gaining a detailed understanding of the role of plants in medieval communities and this project responds to this interest. This project, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, aims to: a) investigate the variety of plants used in the Iberian Peninsula in medieval times (6th-11th centuries AD); b) determine the introduction of new species and, c) study the interaction between human groups and plant species through different practices.
Mining in Al-Andalus is a subject with many interesting facets. Heir to Roman and Visigoth mining, it will also open its own paths in mining practice thanks to the technological advances experienced in the Arabian Peninsula between the 6th and 9th centuries. Arabic written sources will be analysed, covering topics such as property, mining, the manipulation of metals and the alchemical uses of minerals.
Relevant issues such as the relationship between mineral wealth and the manoeuvres of conquest, the link between mining and the forms of population of the territory, the expansion and commercialisation of these mining materials in the Andalusian period, as well as their legal forms of exploitation will be dealt with.
The University of Salamanca, like other European centres, was constituted before the process of royal concession of c. 1218, so that the knowledge preserved in the cloisters would be the seed of the cultural recomposition.
In addition to the books identified and other elements that provide information on the cultural universe in which the protagonists who would eventually make up the Estudio General de Salamanca moved, it is the preserved sculptural representations that confirm the relevance of the knowledge within its walls, by recognising the personification of the Liberal Arts in several Romanesque capitals in its battered cloister.
According to what has been analysed to date, these are the most remote figurations located on the Peninsula, a milestone in close agreement with those observed in the rest of Europe.
These cultural manifestations confirm that, prior to the foundation of the Studio, a powerful and highly qualified cultural elite existed in the Cathedral during the 12th and 13th centuries and that knowledge was given great importance.
The southern doorway of Jaca Cathedral is much less well known than the western entrance to the church, with its famous chrism and inscriptions. However, it was one of the first historiated doorways in the Romanesque style in the Iberian Peninsula. The alterations suffered over the centuries and the loss of original elements have undoubtedly contributed to this historiographical neglect.
A hypothesis for the reconstruction of the ensemble, based on the study of components still in situ and other decontextualised elements, will make it possible to highlight its singularities and propose new keys for reading its images. In this sense, the cathedral doorway is revealed as an important milestone in the creation of visual discourses and the configuration of entrance typologies at the end of the 11th century.
The archaeological site of Los Hitos (Arisgotas -Orgaz-, Toledo) is an important rural and sacred complex related to the Late Antique elites of the capital of Toledo. The archaeological and documentary records reveal the process of monumentalisation of Toledo and its territory throughout the 7th century, and allow us to understand the collapse of the Roman territorial model based on uillae (e.g. Carranque), and its replacement by a genuine Visigothic model in which monastic, sacred and funerary complexes, as in the case of Los Hitos, constituted new references in territorial planning. The architecture documented in this area is particularly valuable in this sense and context and, consequently, served to transform the image of the cities, territories and landscapes linked to kings, aristocracies and religious elites.
Video of the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum. Protohistoric Area: Celtic peoples.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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