Human
Archaeologists Unearth Thousand Year Old Vineyards in Alava
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Dec 24, 2013 08:14 AM EST
Archaeologists have made a surprising find in what was once a medieval settlement. They've discovered thousand-year-old vineyards in Zaballa, a location that was abandoned in the 15th century.
Zaballa is one of the more than 300 deserted settlements known in Alava-Araba. They're rural settlements that were abandoned during historical times. It's likely that they were "abandoned" when the residents decided to leave the outer countryside and migrate toward nearby towns. This particular settlement had terraced fields built in the 10th century which are still perfectly visible in the landscape. Now, the archaeologists have found that these terraced fields were actually used to cultivate vines for wines.
"Archaeo-botanical studies of seed remains found in the excavations and pollen studies have provided material evidence of the existence of vine cultivation in a relatively early period like the 10th century," said Juan Antonio Quiros-Castillo, one of the researchers, in a news release. In fact, this evidence is also supported by the metal tools that were discovered which were destined for this very use, and the study of agrarian spaces, "which owing to the nature of the crop spaces built and the agrarian practices developed, they are not compatible with cereal crops but they are with vines."
These recent findings are a window into the past. They reveal a peasant community that gradually adapted to the political and economic changes that took place in the medieval era and later. In addition, the research allows archaeologists to abandon more traditional points of view of history which "conceptualize the high medieval periods in economic terms, since they point to considerable social and economic complexity. Specifically, it has been possible in these studies to see that there are various important moments in the Basque Country, 5th to 6th centuries and 10th to 11th centuries, which were decisive in the construction of our landscapes," said Castillo-Quiros.
The findings reveal a bit more about this area and its heritage. In the future, archaeologists plant to continue unearthing artifacts from these abandoned sites in order to learn a little bit more about Spain's past.
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First Posted: Dec 24, 2013 08:14 AM EST
Archaeologists have made a surprising find in what was once a medieval settlement. They've discovered thousand-year-old vineyards in Zaballa, a location that was abandoned in the 15th century.
Zaballa is one of the more than 300 deserted settlements known in Alava-Araba. They're rural settlements that were abandoned during historical times. It's likely that they were "abandoned" when the residents decided to leave the outer countryside and migrate toward nearby towns. This particular settlement had terraced fields built in the 10th century which are still perfectly visible in the landscape. Now, the archaeologists have found that these terraced fields were actually used to cultivate vines for wines.
"Archaeo-botanical studies of seed remains found in the excavations and pollen studies have provided material evidence of the existence of vine cultivation in a relatively early period like the 10th century," said Juan Antonio Quiros-Castillo, one of the researchers, in a news release. In fact, this evidence is also supported by the metal tools that were discovered which were destined for this very use, and the study of agrarian spaces, "which owing to the nature of the crop spaces built and the agrarian practices developed, they are not compatible with cereal crops but they are with vines."
These recent findings are a window into the past. They reveal a peasant community that gradually adapted to the political and economic changes that took place in the medieval era and later. In addition, the research allows archaeologists to abandon more traditional points of view of history which "conceptualize the high medieval periods in economic terms, since they point to considerable social and economic complexity. Specifically, it has been possible in these studies to see that there are various important moments in the Basque Country, 5th to 6th centuries and 10th to 11th centuries, which were decisive in the construction of our landscapes," said Castillo-Quiros.
The findings reveal a bit more about this area and its heritage. In the future, archaeologists plant to continue unearthing artifacts from these abandoned sites in order to learn a little bit more about Spain's past.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone