Research

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The search and study of hydraulic systems aims to analyze and understand the historical uses of water. The implementation of an hydraulic survey in this area consisted of a topographic survey of the historical irrigation systems running through the territory, using GPS technology. The data gathered has been digitized with its corresponding alphanumeric information, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

An ethnographic study about the Local Irrigators Community has been developed with the goal of understanding, analyzing and documenting the historical and current strategies of water management for agricultural purposes in high mountain zones; as well as comprehend their contribution to the creation of a landscape with great cultural value. The emphasis of this study has been the traditional water distribution among the locals and community organizing for the maintenance of the traditional irrigation infrastructure.

UCO, IISTA and IGME monitor the historical Irrigation systems of Barjas, infiltration area of Cerromán and source of Pueblo Alto. The installed capacitance water level recorders allow, through the corresponding expenditure curve obtained by standard methods, known circulating flows, recharged and drained in the hydrogeological system.

This activity is organised in collaboration with the ecology lab of CEAMA. The goal is to understand the evolution of the landscape and the changes produced by the cultural management of its natural resources.

Farms characterisation and crop management study in Cañar. 

Archaeology

We conceive archaeological activity in a complex and comprehensive way. In general we can say that the MEMOLA project falls within the Landscape Archaeology, seen as the result of a coevolutionary process and a synthesis of social relations. The landscape is, in this view, a historical product and as such, part of the material culture of the societies that have built it over time.

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Lanteira

Lanteira is a village in the north of the Sierra Nevada belonging to the Marquesado del Zenete. The municipal area extends from the peaks of the mountains to the plains of the plateau. The urban nucleus is located at the foot of the mountain, next to intensive irrigated area that, through a complex system of canals, takes advantage of the waters of the thaw.

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Cáñar

Cáñar (Alpujarra-Granada) is located in the southern slope of Sierra Nevada at 1014 meters altitude. Its origins as a settlement date back to late antiquity. Although the possibility of a previous settlement is not excluded, what is clear is that the Muslim influence in the landscape still persists today, especially in the irrigation systems and cultivation terraces, with numerous channels and irrigation ditches interconnected.

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The archaeological excavation has been developed near the village of Lanteira (Granada), located in the Northern face of Sierra Nevada, opposite with respect to Cáñar, that is in the Southern face of the mountain range.The excavation took place in the area known as El Jarafí, an already documented medieval neighbourhood in Lanteira. It is in fact, a very interesting location, as there are three different archaeological Islamic sites, one of them containing a castle. Documents from the 16th century mention the castle, and the area around it, as the Jarafí neighbourhood of Lanteira.

Pizzo Monaco (Custonaci, Trapani), was the archaeological site chosen for the excavation. Thanks to previous work in the area, the site had been interpreted as a possible collective fortified granary (aghadir) dated in the Islamic period (10th?-11th century). The site is located on the top of a calcareous peak, called Pizzo Monaco. A trial excavation conducted in 2012, confirmed the research potential of this settlement.

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