Like an unexpected twist on the typical Netflix hit series, one that follows in the footsteps of intrepid archaeologists, albeit somewhat less adventurous than the mythical Indiana Jones; as a plot twist that changes everything predicted these days by the experts. There are barely two weeks left for the end of the excavation campaign carried out this summer, with the impulse of the Murcia City Council, in three capital enclaves of the Historic Site of Monteagudo and Cabezo de Torres: the Castillejo, the Armero mill and the well-known pool of Larache. The work on this last point was beginning to close this week, when an archaeological finding appeared that will force us to modify the planned roadmap for this site.
Also known as the Huerto Hondo, due to its traditional use for agricultural production, it had always been considered that the Larache pool could have functioned in the past -specifically since the Andalusian period- as an irrigation pond, due to the layout of the walls that perimeter. In fact, historically not much more than aromatic herbs and other herbaceous crops had been cultivated on it, since the traditional paving that the plot was understood to have made it difficult to plant trees, according to the Monteagudo villager, David Campoy. The work of the archaeologists seemed aimed at confirming this point, but the survey carried out in the center of the orchard has brought an exciting surprise to the researchers.
After their documentation and georeferencing, the findings have been covered with textiles and earth to avoid looting or damage due to rain
“If there was something else, it had to be there, given the configuration of the Andalusian structures,” commented the municipal manager of the Strategic Project of the Fortresses of the Wolf King, the councilor for Pedanías and Territorial Vertebration, Marco Antonio Fernández. And they hadn’t done more than start digging, when he revealed the discovery. It is a hydraulic construction of fired clay bricks, which corresponds to several pipes and a promenade platform, arranged radially and through which water flowed in various directions, possibly with constant circulation. “This structure -partially preserved by agricultural land clearing- is drawn, therefore, as a centralizing architectural element of a landscaped space,” explains Mireia Celma, archaeologist and co-director of the intervention carried out by the Mediohabit company together with the Urbanizadora Municipal (Urbamusa).
“We were before an orchard”
This hypothesis is confirmed by other elements such as the characteristics of the perimeter walls, with a much greater width at the top than at the bottom, which suggests that their function was really to allow walking, as the team that undertakes has preliminarily concluded. the excavation. The symmetrical disposition of the four identified water spillers is also striking, which would have the objective of supplying this large green area with water. “Therefore, as was believed, we were not in front of an irrigation reservoir and not even in front of a recreational pond, but in front of an orchard with fountains, pipes, flower beds with trees and spaces for walking, as there are, for example, in in El Generalife in Granada”, explains Fernández, following the conclusions of the researchers. “We will have to change the name, since it has been shown that it is not a pool,” said the mayor of Murcia, José Ballesta, after visiting the findings last Friday.
“What is expected of this environment is exciting,” says the mayor Ballesta, with a view to the creation of a future archaeological park
It would therefore be the remains of an Islamic pleasure garden, perhaps associated with a large medieval almunia whose real extension could reach a million and a half square meters, including in this enormous palace complex not only the fortress, the Castillejo and the Castle of Larache, all high, but also a flat palatine area with other gardens and buildings. This is the thesis that seems to have already been imposed by the hand of both these works, carried out at the municipal initiative, as well as those carried out in other parts of the environment by the archaeologist from the School of Arab Studies, belonging to the Higher Council for Scientific Research. (CSIC), Julio Navarro.
Because if the discovery of the Huerto Hondo garden represents a plot twist in the actions of archaeologists, it does so within the construction of a story with which it is intended to decipher and spin the history of this Andalusian enclave, that of the Historic Site of Monteagudo and Cabezo de Torres, which is presumed to have lived its heyday in the 12th century, and which, beyond the reign of Ibn Mardanis, the Wolf King, its chronology is unknown, as well as the uses and inhabitants of the different elements that are scattered around the garden, between terraces, weeds, houses and lanes. «You have to investigate both the influences of the previous population and the later one in this space; The Tudmir period and the possible previous Almoravid complexes are not the same as the second Taifa or what was left after passing over the Almohads; They are periods that resemble a chestnut like an egg”, Celma adds.
Measures pending a plan
This week’s script twist now requires putting together a specific archaeological intervention for the Larache pool. To do this, first, everything discovered has been documented, using a drone to georeference the area, then linking the plans with 3D documentation and elevations. Subsequently, the discovery has been covered with a geotextile and with the same earth that covered it, to avoid looting or damage that could generate rains like the one expected for this weekend. Thus they will have to wait for the remains, waiting for the right moment, while an adequate project is drawn up for its full excavation in extension and its value enhancement, including a possible musealization within a future archaeological park. “What is expected of this environment is exciting,” Mayor Ballesta added next to the remains.
This work will come hand in hand with the drafting of the Master Plan for both this site and Castillejo -in regards to its upper enclosure- and the Islamic pool of the Armero mill, which should be ready next autumn. This document is also an essential milestone to meet the justification requirements for the aid of 400,000 euros granted by the Autonomous Community in 2019 to carry out these works and which finally materialized this summer, when the period of use was almost over. “Ideally, this action would have been carried out, as planned, over 30 months,” Fernández adds. To reach this point it was necessary for the Consistory to complete the expropriation or acquisition of these three enclaves in that year. A script twist does not end the series, but raises its interest to continue the plot. There are still many seasons ahead in Montegudo.
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