- Hydraulic Archaeology, The archaeology of medieval colonialism, Al-Andalus archaeology, Agrarian Archaeology, Medieval Crown of Aragon, Medieval History, and 30 morePaleoenvironment (Archaeology), Al-Andalus, Agrarian History, Medievalism, Agricultural landscapes, Rural Archaeology, Islamic Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Pastoral landscapes (Archaeology), Geoarchaeology, Environmental Archaeology, Early Medieval And Medieval Settlement (Archaeology), Medieval rural settlement, Rural Settlement, Medieval Archaeology, Moriscos, History of the Crown of Aragon, Medieval Studies, Economic History, Medieval Europe, Late Middle Ages, Medieval Iberian History, Rural History, Mediterranean archaeology, Géoarchéologie, Feudalism and Lordship, Land Reclamation, Rural Elites, Agricultural History, and Medieval Landscapesedit
- I am a Ph. Doctor in Medieval History at the University of Valencia. My thesis explores the social features of the An... moreI am a Ph. Doctor in Medieval History at the University of Valencia. My thesis explores the social features of the Andalusi society that built the Horta of Valencia and the transformations undergone before the arrival of the Christian colonists in the wake of the 13th century conquest, through the examination of the remains of its agricultural structures (hydraulic systems, settlements, etc.). To date, research has shown evidence for a segmented and tributary society, as defined by Pierre Guichard in his work on al-Andalus, published over 35 ago. This clearly reflects on the morphology of the system in operation in the Horta of Valencia during this period. In summary, the objective of this research is to analyse the agricultural spaces created by peasant groups in order to reveal their social organisation and work processes. This will be achieved through the application of the methodology of so-called hydraulic archaeology, which combines: (i) the survey and reconstruction of hydraulic spaces; (ii) their morphological interpretation and the identification of different construction phases; and, finally (iii) the combination of the data thus obtained with the information provided by the written record and other archaeological investigations.edit
- Enric Guinotedit
The water of the Turia river has been traditionally distributed in the Huerta of Valencia among eight irrigation canals through a system of 138 filas, a measure of water capacity which nature is not clear. It is also unknown what is the... more
The water of the Turia river has been traditionally distributed in the Huerta
of Valencia among eight irrigation canals through a system of 138 filas, a measure of water capacity which nature is not clear. It is also unknown what is the historical origin of this system of water division and this is what we study in this article. Thomas F. Glick defended that it was a system of Andalusi origin, and proposed a reconstruction of the original system based on time shifts, but we try to demonstrate that this proposal cannot be correct, especially because it is based on a wrong interpretation of the nature of the row. Subsequently, we provide an alternative proposal on the origin of the distribution system in 138 filas that is based on the proportionality between the amount of water that each irrigation canal has and the amount of land irrigated by each hydraulic system, concluding that the distribution system of the Huerta de Valencia can only have been established shortly after the Christian conquest of the thirteenth century, when the Huerta was greatly expanded and rebuilt. Finally, we conclude that this is another evidence of the great changes that took place in irrigated cultivation spaces of Andalusi origin after the Christian conquests, contrary to what had been said so far. // El agua del río Turia se ha repartido tradicionalmente entre las ocho acequias de la Huerta de Valencia mediante un sistema de 138 filas, que es una medida de aforo de agua cuya naturaleza no está demasiado clara. También se desconoce cuál es el origen histórico de este sistema de división del agua, que es lo que se intenta resolver en este artículo. Thomas F. Glick defendió que se trataba de un sistema de origen andalusí, y propuso una reconstrucción del sistema inicial basado en los turnos horarios, pero aquí se va a intentar demostrar mediante diversos argumentos que esta propuesta no puede ser correcta, especialmente porque se basa en una interpretación errónea de la naturaleza de la fila. Posteriormente se aporta una propuesta alternativa sobre el origen del sistema de repartición en 138 filas que está basada en la proporcionalidad existente entre la cantidad de agua que le corresponde a cada acequia y la cantidad de tierra irrigada por cada sistema hidráulico, y así se llega a la conclusión de que el sistema de repartición del agua en la Huerta de Valencia solo pudo ser establecido poco después de la conquista cristiana del siglo xiii, cuando la Huerta fue ampliada y reconstruida en gran medida. Finalmente, se concluye que esta es una prueba más de los grandes cambios que se produjeron en los espacios de cultivo irrigado de origen andalusí tras las conquistas cristianas, contrariamente a lo que se venía creyendo hasta ahora.
of Valencia among eight irrigation canals through a system of 138 filas, a measure of water capacity which nature is not clear. It is also unknown what is the historical origin of this system of water division and this is what we study in this article. Thomas F. Glick defended that it was a system of Andalusi origin, and proposed a reconstruction of the original system based on time shifts, but we try to demonstrate that this proposal cannot be correct, especially because it is based on a wrong interpretation of the nature of the row. Subsequently, we provide an alternative proposal on the origin of the distribution system in 138 filas that is based on the proportionality between the amount of water that each irrigation canal has and the amount of land irrigated by each hydraulic system, concluding that the distribution system of the Huerta de Valencia can only have been established shortly after the Christian conquest of the thirteenth century, when the Huerta was greatly expanded and rebuilt. Finally, we conclude that this is another evidence of the great changes that took place in irrigated cultivation spaces of Andalusi origin after the Christian conquests, contrary to what had been said so far. // El agua del río Turia se ha repartido tradicionalmente entre las ocho acequias de la Huerta de Valencia mediante un sistema de 138 filas, que es una medida de aforo de agua cuya naturaleza no está demasiado clara. También se desconoce cuál es el origen histórico de este sistema de división del agua, que es lo que se intenta resolver en este artículo. Thomas F. Glick defendió que se trataba de un sistema de origen andalusí, y propuso una reconstrucción del sistema inicial basado en los turnos horarios, pero aquí se va a intentar demostrar mediante diversos argumentos que esta propuesta no puede ser correcta, especialmente porque se basa en una interpretación errónea de la naturaleza de la fila. Posteriormente se aporta una propuesta alternativa sobre el origen del sistema de repartición en 138 filas que está basada en la proporcionalidad existente entre la cantidad de agua que le corresponde a cada acequia y la cantidad de tierra irrigada por cada sistema hidráulico, y así se llega a la conclusión de que el sistema de repartición del agua en la Huerta de Valencia solo pudo ser establecido poco después de la conquista cristiana del siglo xiii, cuando la Huerta fue ampliada y reconstruida en gran medida. Finalmente, se concluye que esta es una prueba más de los grandes cambios que se produjeron en los espacios de cultivo irrigado de origen andalusí tras las conquistas cristianas, contrariamente a lo que se venía creyendo hasta ahora.
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Researching on Andalusi animal husbandry results quite difficult due to the lack of specific written sources. However, the combination of written documents of the Christian period and the analysis of the landscape allows us to submit some... more
Researching on Andalusi animal husbandry results quite difficult due to the lack of specific written sources. However, the combination of written documents of the Christian period and the analysis of the landscape allows us to submit some hypothesis. This paper seeks to identify some grazing areas of the Valencian territory and, thanks to land analysis, introduce an hypothesis about their uses and management during the Andalusi period. It is proposed that there was a movement of local livestock within the terms of villages (alquerías), seeking to combine different types of grasslands—marshy and mountain—to complement the diet of the animals and not exhaust the pastures. Nevertheless, it is possible that they also move the livestock through the terms of the neighboring villages, thanks to agreements between rural communities. Besides it is considered the possibility of transhumance between inner mountains and coastal wetlands based on tribal agreements, especially between the mountains of the Iberian System and the wetlands of the Valencian coast. Finally, it is identified a privatization of communal areas during the final Andalusi period through the formation of rahales for the elites, outside the villages.
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Irrigation water flow has traditionally been gauged in Valencia by a measure of capacity called «fila». Despite being a widely discussed issue for centuries, its true nature and value was unknown until now. In this article, a solution to... more
Irrigation water flow has traditionally been gauged in Valencia by a measure of capacity called «fila». Despite being a widely discussed issue for centuries, its true nature and value was unknown until now. In this article, a solution to this discussion is advanced by conceiving the «fila» or «hila» (literally, row), which had an Andalusí origin, as having three distinct methods of measuring water flow according to the amount available at different moments. Firstly, and most commonly, it was the amount of water that could flow through an orifice of a specific aperture. Secondly, when the water level declined, it was a proportional amount with respect to all the available water. Thirdly, if there was an extreme shortage of liquid, it was an amount of time during which all the available water could be used. In addition, the paper establishes the value of the «fila» in medieval and early-modern Valencia and its possible equivalence with other measures of water capacity, as well as proposing its value during the Andalusí period prior to its conquest.
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Actualment encara hi ha dubtes sobre el paper real que va exercir l’Estat islàmic en la construcció de les grans hortes periurbanes d’origen andalusí. L’objectiu d’aquest article és la identificació de l’estructura original d’una horta... more
Actualment encara hi ha dubtes sobre el paper real que va exercir l’Estat islàmic en la construcció de les grans hortes periurbanes d’origen andalusí. L’objectiu d’aquest article és la identificació de l’estructura original d’una horta fluvial andalusina de caràcter rural, allunyada de qualsevol ciutat, per a comparar-la amb l’estructura de la principal gran horta periurbana estudiada fins ara, que és la de València. Es tracta de les hortes situades sobre el riu Magre (afluent del Xúquer) en els districtes andalusins d’Alcalà (foia de Llombai) i de Carlet, on s’ha identificat una estructura original basada en petites hortes lligades a les qurà o aldees andalusines, de caràcter camperol, que són igual en morfologia i superfície a les que han estat trobades a l’Horta de València
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Title in English: "Construction and Developmen of the Agricultural plots in the Horta of Valencia. The area of Reialenc from the manor of Torrent" // Abstract: How plots of land were distributed between peasant families after the conquest... more
Title in English: "Construction and Developmen of the Agricultural plots in the Horta of Valencia. The area of Reialenc from the manor of Torrent" // Abstract: How plots of land were distributed between peasant families after the conquest of the Kingdom of Valencia from Muslims has been one of the main questions to solve for Valencian agrarian historians. This paper seeks, firstly, to analyse this issue focusing on a specific area of the Horta of Valencia, located in the manor of Torrent, by using different techniques on the common denomination of Agricultural Archaeology. Secondly, the evolution of the structure of the land is analysed confronting archaeological data to those obtained from written sources, through statistical methods // Resum: Un dels dubtes dels investigadors de la història agrària valenciana ha estat saber com es va repartir la terra entre les famílies pageses després de la conquesta del segle XIII. En aquest treball, en primer lloc, s'analitza aquest procés en una partida de l'Horta de València que esta-va situada dins del senyoriu feudal de Torrent, emprant diverses tècniques que s'han agrupat sota la denominació d'arqueologia agrària. Seguidament, s'intenta veure com va evolucionar el parcel·lari mitjançant la comparació de les dades arqueològiques amb les extretes de la documentació escrita, aplicant-hi mètodes estadístics.
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Title in English: “The issue of the proportionality in the distribution of irrigation water. The case of the Favara Canal (huerta of Valencia)”. Abstract: Proportionality in the distribution of irrigation water through divisors with... more
Title in English: “The issue of the proportionality in the distribution of irrigation water. The case of the Favara Canal (huerta of Valencia)”. Abstract: Proportionality in the distribution of irrigation water through divisors with cutwater is one of the usual arguments to defend the continuity of the use and the working of the Valencian hydraulic systems before and after the Christian conquest of the 13th century. This paper seeks to prove if proportionality between the quantity of water assigned and the irrigated land really existed in the Andalusi period using as example the canal of Favara. For this purpose we have archaeologically analysed the irrigated area of that period and we have studied a written document that informs about the measure of its divisors. This article is also an attempt to show if this proportionality existed or not after the extension of the hydraulic system made after the Christian conquest. // Resumen: La proporcionalidad en la distribución del agua de riego a través de partidores con tajamar es uno de los argumentos tradicionales esgrimidos para defender la continuidad en el uso y funcionamiento de los sistemas hidráulicos valencianos antes y después de la conquista cristiana del siglo XIII. En esta comunicación se intentará comprobar si verdaderamente existía una proporcionalidad entre cantidad de agua asignada y tierra regada en época andalusí, a través del ejemplo de la acequia de Favara, gracias a la identificación arqueológica de los espacios irrigados en este período y a un documento que nos informa de las medidas de sus partidores. Así mismo, se intentará comprobar si esta proporcionalidad continuó existiendo o no tras las grandes ampliaciones del sistema hidráulico realizadas tras la conquista cristiana.
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Title in English: The technical management of irrigation in historical Valencians irrigated areas. The “sequier”, from the origins to the end, 13th-17th centuries // Abstract: Recently, some authors have paid close attention to irrigation... more
Title in English: The technical management of irrigation in historical Valencians irrigated areas. The “sequier”, from the origins to the end, 13th-17th centuries // Abstract: Recently, some authors have paid close attention to irrigation management institutions, but technical maintenance management is very different from exercising control over users. In the irrigated region of Valencia, this role has historically been carried out by the “Sequier”, a position which is well known in rural areas and one which has been studied thoroughly at a local level, but not globally in the context of the whole country. In this paper we shall try to establish its origins, its evolution in late medieval and modern times and the reasons why it began to disappear toward the seventeenth century.
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Article de divulgació en una publicació local sobre els orígens andalusins de l'horta de l'alqueria d'Alèdua, a Llombai (València), i la seua evolució com a espai irrigat al llarg dels segles.
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Title in English: "The reorganization of ther agrarian landscape in the 'horta' of Valencia after the Christian conquest. The hydraulic system and the land plots of Montcada and Benifaraig in the 13th Century" // Abstract: In this article... more
Title in English: "The reorganization of ther agrarian landscape in the 'horta' of Valencia after the Christian conquest. The hydraulic system and the land plots of Montcada and Benifaraig in the 13th Century" // Abstract: In this article it is studied the evolution of medieval agricultural landscape of the town of Montcada and Benifaraig, in the 'horta' of Valencia, combining written documentation of the thirteenth century and the prospect of the studied area through the Hydraulic and Space Archaeology methods. It has been possible to distinguish phases of construction of the hydraulic system from its origins in Andalusian times until the changes and additions made by feudal society after the conquest of James I in 1238.
Title in English: "Prospects and problems in the application of Hydraulic Archaeology to large river huertas an assessment of the research in the Horta of Valencia" // Abstract: Hydraulic Archaeology has shown over the past two decades... more
Title in English: "Prospects and problems in the application of Hydraulic Archaeology to large river huertas an assessment of the research in the Horta of Valencia" // Abstract: Hydraulic Archaeology has shown over the past two decades that is an essential methodology for the study of Andalusian and feudal societies. However, it has been rarely applied to the study of large river huertas, so its origin and evolution are very little known. In this work, despite a lot of difficulties and problems, we will see how it has been possible to identify the original clanic peasant design in the Horta of Valencia. Likewise we know how the design of the original small huertas was expanded after the feudal conquest, filling the gaps that existed between them to form a continuous hydraulic space, as actually is the Horta of Valencia. In short, although having answered some old issues about the origin of the large huertas, there are still many unresolved problems and new questions generated by the research. Anyway prospects for the future are very encouraging.
Titler in English: "Difficulties in the use of the waters of Jucar river. The mill, the dam and the waterwheel of Matada (13th-16th Centuries)" // Abstract: The rebuilding of a Andalusian river mill besides the river Jucar, in the term of... more
Titler in English: "Difficulties in the use of the waters of Jucar river. The mill, the dam and the waterwheel of Matada (13th-16th Centuries)" // Abstract: The rebuilding of a Andalusian river mill besides the river Jucar, in the term of Matada (Valencia), in the early fourteenth century began the history of a hydraulic complex made up of a dam, a mill and a big waterwheel to irrigate. Through its study until the beginnings of the early modern times we will analyse some issues not treated yet by the Valencian historiography: the relation between the population and the hydraulic system, the administration, costs and incomes of the mill, and its impact on the regional and the local economies.
Title in English: "The evolution of the Andalusian and feudal agrarian landscapes in the great river ‘huertas’. The Quart and Comuner d'Aldaia canals in the territory of Valencia" // Abstract: This paper presents the first detailed study... more
Title in English: "The evolution of the Andalusian and feudal agrarian landscapes in the great river ‘huertas’. The Quart and Comuner d'Aldaia canals in the territory of Valencia" // Abstract: This paper presents the first detailed study of an irrigated area of Valencian ‘huerta’ applying the methods of Hydraulic Archaeology. So, after a brief geographical and historical contextualization of Quart and Aldaia manorial lordship and its hydraulic system, the agrarian landscape is analyzed from the current situation to the system origins setting out a diachronic explanation that relates each historical landscape to each social formation. The Islamic origin of the hydraulic system during the time of the Arab and Berber colonization at the eighth century involved a complete transformation of the former Roman landscape through the construction of small irrigated areas belonging to clans. Those areas remained stable until the feudal colonization of thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when there was a great expansion of irrigated land.
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Title in English: "About the rigidity of the hydraulic systems and the evolution of the plot in the Moriscos irrigated areas: the case of the canal of Alèdua"
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Titler in English: "The building works of the royal palace of Valencia around 1400. An approach to the history of the Valencian construction in the late Middle Ages".
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Title in English: "Moncada and the Knights Templar in the thirteenth century. A rural community of Horta de Valencia at the time of James I" // Abstract: The Crown of Aragon expanded over the Sharq Al-Andalus in the thirteenth century in... more
Title in English: "Moncada and the Knights Templar in the thirteenth century. A rural community of Horta de Valencia at the time of James I" // Abstract: The Crown of Aragon expanded over the Sharq Al-Andalus in the thirteenth century in a general context of feudal expansion. This involved the colonization of new lands by lords and peasants and the city of Valencia and its hinterland were one of the major areas of Christian immigration from the North. In this sense, the study about the village of Montcada is a great chance to study the process of colonization in the urban periphery, thanks to the exceptional collection of scrolls kept in the archives of the Temple Order. The combination of archaeological and written documentation allows us to study in detail various matters, as the reconstruction of the Andalusian landscape at the time of the Christian conquest or the process of distribution of land made by the King in 1238 among the inhabitants of the Aragonese town of Calatayud. Later, in a second phase, these first settlers were replaced by Catalan ones when the Knights Templar had become lords of Montcada in 1246.