Las Médulas (León), un paisaje cultural patrimonio de la humanidad

Abstract

E-JAVIER SÁNCHEZ-PALENCIA (*) M.^ DOLORES FERNÁNDEZ-POSSE (**) JULIO FERNÁNDEZ MANZANO (***) ALMUDENA OREJAS (*) LUIS CARLOS PÉREZ (****) INÉS SASTRE (*) RESUMEN El proyecto de investigación de la Zona Arqueológica de Las Médulas (León) se ha realizado desde una perspectiva científica y patrimonial que valorase su comprensión como un paisaje cultural, resultando a su vez de un proceso histórico. En este artículo se analizan los presupuestos y condicionantes de esa concepción, los criterios que permiten llegar a esa valoración y las medidas concretas tomadas hasta ahora para su conversión en Parque Arqueológico, como proyección social de la labor investigadora.

La Balouta exhumed karst: a Roman gold-mine-derived landscape within the Las Médulas UNESCO World Heritage Site (Spain)

“…To the east, three small valleys (one occupied by a lake) excavated in the conglomerates connect without interruption to the main deposits of Las Médulas. Its relationship to major mining operations has already been explored by several authors (Sánchez-Palencia et al, 1999;Pérez García & Sánchez-Palencia, 2000), though these authors considered it as a point of exit for waste materials from the main mine and not as an additional mining area. Moreover, at several points in the valley, isolated remains of the paleokarst (Figs.…”

“…The obtained samples were examined in a laboratory setting, and finer materials of the conglomerate matrix (USDA classification) and the granulometry of sand-sized material were classified. The objective of these analyses was to identify Cenozoic sediment formations responsible for karst fossilization, as only the Santalla Formation and, to a lesser degree, the Las Médulas Formation contain significant traces of gold (Sánchez-Palencia et al, 1999).…”

“…Despite deep downcutting of the Sil River, which crosses these thrusts, and despite retrogressive erosion that has led to its incision into Paleozoic structures, ancient remnants in the study area reflect morphologies within this topography that were present before were deposited (Santalla Formation and Las Médulas Formation; Martín-González & Heredia, 2010), sealing and burying the pre-existing karstic topography and forming a buried karst (Jennings, 1987;Bosák et al, 1989;Osborne, 2013). Processes related to red-facies sedimentation, especially at the start of this period, transported gold particles from the fan source areas (resulting from the destruction of paleo-soils covering the massif; Sánchez-Palencia et al, 1999), whit the gold remaining trapped (Filippov, 2006) in karstic channels filled with red Cenozoic sediment (Figs. 2 and 9).…”

“…The study area covers a "Y"-shaped flat-bottomed valley, 1.5 km in length that has formed with in Paleozoic limestone. Abundant mining debris (known locally as murias, Sánchez-Palencia et al, 1999) and numerous karstic channels -some that are sealed by red Miocene conglomerates and others that are only partially or fully excavated (Fig. 2) -are its main features, although dense vegetation has commonly prevented its direct observation.…”

“…mine converge, though they are not recognized as part of the main valley and/or represented on maps. Sánchez-Palencia et al (1999) place the La Balouta Valley clearly outside of the area mined at Las Médulas, though they recognize it as a "tailing fan" of the main mine or as a site of accumulated waste material generated from the mine (Pérez García & Sánchez-Palencia, 2000).…”