The Geomorphological Context of Medieval Juslibol Castle in the Middle Reaches of the River Ebro, Spain

Abstract

An interdisciplinary non‐invasive research strategy combining the analysis of archival documents, detailed geomorphological mapping, Quaternary stratigraphic studies, analysis of ceramics, and radiocarbon dating was designed to reconstruct the evolution of the Mezimegeer–Juslibol Castle, northeastern Spain. This fortress had great strategic importance in the siege and conquest of the nearby Islamic city of Saraqusta by the Christians in A.D. 1118. The castle and moat complex was built in the mid‐10th century. In the mid‐12th century, its rapid degradation began, as it is shown by this geoarchaeological study of the sediments in the moats. Its present state of decay is due to later erosion that is promoted by the unstable bedrock of Miocene gypsum, highly deformed gravels that form a Pleistocene fluvial terrace, and the environmental aridity.

Geoarchaeology applied to paleo-environmental reconstruction: Late Holocene evolution in NE Spain

“…Geoarqueología aplicada a la reconstrucción paleoambiental:... Boletín Geológico y Minero, 129 (1/2): 285-303 de agradación e incisión alternantes durante el Holoceno, que se prolongan hacia los cursos principales mediante conos aluviales. En la figura 2 se representan estos componentes del paisaje capaces de convertirse en registros geoarqueológicos, cuando hay en su entorno actividad humana intensa, caso de cuevas, abrigos, terrazas de cultivo, fortalezas, asentamientos dispersos de diferentes épocas y culturas y obras de defensa, que también generan por sí mismos registros útiles para la reconstrucción geoarqueológica, destacando especialmente los rellenos de los fosos defensivos en yacimientos desde la Edad del Hierro hasta época Medieval (Rubio et al, 2006;Peña-Monné et al, 2014a, 2014b.…”

What do we know about castle kitchens and their management? : forty years of excavations of Rokštejn Castle

“…The working theory is that, if not all, the majority of the accumulated waste during the whole existence of the castle can still be found within the castle walls, and that we can thus piece together either whole animal or pottery individuals, enabling the research on how the waste management changed over time. The formation processes of layers can shed new light into their origin, usage, and/or structural changes (Mazáčková-Lisá 2016;Peña-Monné et al 2014;Schillito et al 2014). Microscopic changes, which cannot be otherwise observed, point at different usage of different castle areas, and what post-deposition processes were in play (Banerjea et al 2019;Kittel et al 2018;Giaime et al 2018).…”

Past and present Geomorphological hazard and cultural heritage loss in El Castellar castle scarp (central Ebro Basin, Spain)

“…In both cases, their locations were not favorable, especially that of Juslibol, located on an Ebro River terrace highly deformed by the karstification of the underlying gypsum. As a result, in little more than one century, some walls collapsed (Peña-Monné et al, 2014).…”

“…PREPRINT VERSION excavated. Only Juslibol was deeply geoarchaeologically studied (Peña-Monné et al, 2014), and guidelines were proposed for its subsequent excavation, which was never conducted. Besides, a geoarchaeological and paleoenvironmental reconstruction was made in the surroundings of Miranda castle (Peña Monné, 1996), but without further interventions.…”