Mountainous landscape domestication. Management of non-cultivated productive areas in Sierra Nevada (Granada-Almeria, Spain)

Sierra Nevada is a high mountainous landscape under anthropic influence since ancient times. Despite its characteristics, the main production trend has been intensive irrigation agriculture. However, the complexity of the resources management and utilization system includes not only water management but also an intensive cattle raising activity and land forest utilization, as well as mining exploitation. During the 8th century the major landscape transformation will be triggered by the arrival of the Arabs and Berbers, and it has kept its general layout thanks to the stability of the hydraulic systems.La Sierra Nevada è un territorio montuoso che, sin dai tempi antichi, ha visto la presenza humana. Nonostante le sue caratteristiche, la principale produzione è stata l’agricoltura irrigua. Tuttavia, la complessità nella gestione delle risorse coinvolge non solo il sistema irriguo, ma anche l’allevamento intensivo, lo sfruttamento dell’incolto e quello minerario. Durante l’VIII secolo, la più grande trasformazione è stata causata dall’arrivo di Arabi e dei Berberi, e la persistenza del sistema si deve alla stabilità dei sistemi idraulici.Proyecto MEditerranean MOuntainous LAndscapes (MEMOLA)La investigación que ha dado lugar a estos resultados ha recibido financiación del Séptimo Programa Marco de la Unión Europea (FP7/20014-2017)The present study is an outcome of the project “Estudio de los sistemas históricos de regadío de Sierra Nevada: Un paisaje singular de montaña” (Study of the Historic Irrigation Systems in Sierra Nevada: a singular mountainous landscape 050/2009), funded by the Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales subsidiary of the Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine Environment and the project “Mediterranean Mountainous Landscapes: an historical approach to cultural heritage based on traditional agrosystems” (MEMOLA), funded by the FP7 project-European Commission

Rural settlement patterns in the territory of Baida (Trapani mountains) during the Islamic period

The ARPATRA Project, acronym that stands for “Archeologia del Paesaggio nei Monti di Trapani”, is part of the broader Idrisi Project, which studies western Sicily between the Byzantine and the Suebian periods.The purpose of this article is to discuss the settlement patterns concerning the territory of Baida (Trapani Mountains) between the 7th and the 12th c., with a particular focus on the Islamic period. The field activities of the Idrisi Project-ARPATRA (2009-12) permitted the documentation, starting from the Islamic period, of a high density of settlements (villages, farms and scattered single houses) that coexisted in a reduced geographical space (10 km2). The settlement choices seem to match certain characteristics peculiar to the Islamic social formation and to indicate an intensive exploitation of the hydro, agricultural and pastoral resources.Scopo di questo articolo è discutere gli schemi insediativi nel territorio di Baida (Trapani) tra VII e XII secolo, specialmente nel periodo islamico. Le attività del progetto ARPATRA (2009-12), hanno permesso la documentazione di una alta densità di insediamenti nel periodo islamico (villaggi, fattorie e case sparse) in uno spazio geografico ridotto (10 kmq). Le scelte insediative sembrano rispondere a certe caratteristiche peculiari alla formazione sociale islamica e ad una volontà di sfruttamento intensivo delle risorse idriche, agricole e pastorali.The ARPATRA Project was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture

MEMOLA project. Mediterranean Mountainous Landscapes: an historical approach to cultural heritage based on traditional agrosystems

Acceso página web Proyecto MEMOLA: http://memolaproject.eu/Four mountainous areas of the Mediterranean are being studied: Colli Euganei (Padova, Italy), Monti di Trapani (Sicily, Italy), Vjosa valley (Albania) and Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain). The main objective is to analyse cultural landscapes on these areas with a focus on the relationship changes between human communities and natural resources from Antiquity until today. The MEMOLA project proposes an interdisciplinary approach to cultural landscapes of Mediterranean mountainous areas, taking as a central axis the historical study of two natural resources, essential to generate agro-systems: water and soils.The MEMOLA Project - nº 613265 is financed by the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme (2014-2017)

El Marquesado del Zenete, un modelo de implantación castellana en el Reino de Granada

The marquis of the Zenete is located in the North face of Sierra Nevada mountains and it is extended from the top of those mountains, in the South side, to the Sierra de Baza mountains, in the North. In the middle, the wide Zalabi’s valley is placed. A new Christian power was implanted on this territory. Immediately, it became the Marquis of the Zenete, which is represented by the castle-palace of La Calahorra, built in a new style, the Renaissance style. However, it expected to become an authentic feudal fortress. The model of implant of the Castilian people is summarized in the Zenete region and, also, the model of Granada’s manors. There, it is shown some contradictions of a society which is remained more and more underdeveloped compared to an external world, which is developing to the capitalism.El Marquesado del Zenete se sitúa en la cara Norte de Sierra Nevada y se extiende desde sus cumbres, al Sur, hasta las de la Sierra de Baza, al Norte, quedando en medio de ambas el amplio valle del Zalabí. La implantación del nuevo poder cristiano en el que de manera inmediata pasará a ser Marquesado del Zenete se plasma fundamentalmente en el castillo-palacio de La Calahorra, construido en un nuevo estilo, el renacentista, pero sin duda con la voluntad de ser un auténtico castillo feudal. En el se resume el modelo de implantación de los castellanos en el Zenete y, en buena medida, de los señoríos del Reino de Granada. En el igualmente se manifiestan las contradicciones de una sociedad que va quedándose anclada en comparación con un mundo exterior en evolución hacia el capitalismo

The Marquis of the Zenete, a castilian model in the Kingdom of Granada

Artículo de la sección: EstudiosEl Marquesado del Zenete se sitúa en la cara Norte de Sierra Nevada y se extiende desde sus cumbres, al Sur, hasta las de la Sierra de Baza, al Norte, quedando en medio de ambas el amplio valle del Zalabí. La implantación del nuevo poder cristiano en el que de manera inmediata pasará a ser Marquesado del Zenete se plasma fundamentalmente en el castillo-palacio de La Calahorra, construido en un nuevo estilo, el renacentista, pero sin duda con la voluntad de ser un auténtico castillo feudal. En el se resume el modelo de implantación de los castellanos en el Zenete y, en buena medida, de los señoríos del Reino de Granada. En el igualmente se manifiestan las contradicciones de una sociedad que va quedándose anclada en comparación con un mundo exterior en evolución hacia el capitalismo.The marquis of the Zenete is located in the North face of Sierra Nevada mountains and it is extended from the top of those mountains, in the South side, to the Sierra de Baza mountains, in the North. In the middle, the wide Zalabi’s valley is placed. A new Christian power was implanted on this territory. Immediately, it became the Marquis of the Zenete, which is represented by the castle-palace of La Calahorra, built in a new style, the Renaissance style. However, it expected to become an authentic feudal fortress. The model of implant of the Castilian people is summarized in the Zenete region and, also, the model of Granada’s manors. There, it is shown some contradictions of a society which is remained more and more underdeveloped compared to an external world, which is developing to the capitalism.Departamento de Historia Moderna y de América, Universidad de Granada

Alquife, un castillo con vocación minera en el Zenete (Granada)

El castillo de Alquife es uno de los más importantes del Zenete, una zona de intenso poblamiento en época medieval, caracterizado por las grandes vegas de agricultura intensiva de regadío y por la explotación minera. Alquife es, en este sentido, el máximo exponente en la extracción de mineral de hierro a partir del s. XI tras un proceso concentración de la producción. Tras la conquista castellana, la implantación del señorío introducirá cambios radicales.The Alquife castle is one of the most importants in the Zenete (Granada), in an area of intense settlement during the medieval period caracterized by the intensive irrigated agriculture and the mining explotation. Alquife is, in this sense, the principal producer of iron since the XIth century after a process of production concentration. After the castilian conquest, the creation of a manor will introduce radical changes

Artificial recharge by means of careo channels versus natural aquifer recharge in a semi-arid, high-mountain watershed (Sierra Nevada, Spain)

This research was undertaken as part of the project "Impact, monitoring and assessment of global and climate change on water resources in high-mountain National Parks (CCPM) ", with reference number CANOA-51.3.00.43.00 and funded by Organismo Autonomo Parques Nacionales from the Ministerio para la Transicion Ecologica y el Reto Demografico. The authors thank the Ibero-American Science and Technology for Devel-opment Programme (CYTED) for its financial support to the network "Wa-ter Sowing and Harvesting in Protected Natural Areas" (419RT0577) . This work is a contribution to the Research Group RNM-126 of the Junta de Andalucia. Special thanks goes to the irrigation community in Berchules and the Sierra Nevada National Park for their collaboration. We also appre-ciate the support of AEMET and REDIAM, who provided meteorological and hydrological data. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions which led to a substantial improvement of the paper.The acequias de careo are ancestral water channels excavated during the early Al-Andalus period (8th–10th centuries), which are used to recharge aquifers in the watersheds of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Southeastern Spain). The water channels are maintained by local communities, and their main function is collecting snowmelt, but also runoff from rainfall fromthe headwaters of river basins and distributing it throughout the upper parts of the slopes. Thismethod of aquifer artificial recharge extends the availability of water resources in the lowlands of the river basins during the dry season when there is almost no precipitation and water demand is higher. This study investigates the contribution of the careo channels in the watershed of Bérchules concerning the total aquifer recharge during the 2014–2015 hydrological year. Several channels were gauged, and the runoff data were compared with those obtained from a semi-distributed hydrological model applied to the same hydrological basin. The natural infiltration of meteoric waters accounted for 52%of the total recharge, while the remaining 48% corresponded to water transported and infiltrated by the careo channels. In other words, the careo recharge system enhances by 92% the natural recharge to the aquifer. Our results demonstrate the importance of this ancestral and efficient channel system for recharging slope aquifers developed in hard rocks. The acequias de careo are nature-based solutions for increasing water resources availability that have contributed to a prosperous life in the Sierra Nevada. Its long history (>1200 years) suggests that the system has remarkable resilience properties, which have allowed adaptation and permance for centuries in drastically changing climatic and socioeconomic conditions. This recharge system could also be applied to—or inspire similar adaptation measures in— semi-arid mountain areas around the world where it may help in mitigating climate change effects.Organismo Autonomo Parques Nacionales CANOA-51.3.00.43.00Ibero-American Science and Technology for Devel-opment Programme (CYTED) 419RT0577 RNM-126Junta de Andaluci

Water community management in the northern face of Sierra Nevada: Collective action and ethnoecological knowledge in the irrigation systems from the Al-andalus period

Acceso página web: http://memolaproject.eu/En la cara norte de Sierra Nevada (Granada) existen sistemas de riego desde época medieval que, gracias a una gestión racional del agua del deshielo, han logrado sobrevivir hasta la actualidad. Las comunidades de regantes son las instituciones responsables del funcionamiento y conservación de estos sistemas de riego y su labor cotidiana descansa en dos pilares fundamentales: por una parte, la organización comunitaria para el aprovechamiento de un recurso escaso y, por otra, la posesión de conocimientos etnoecológicos vitales para comprender el medio natural serrano. Ambos aspectos constituyen un rico Patrimonio Inmaterial que debe ser reconocido y protegido, pues de él depende la conservación del paisaje cultural en su conjunto.Since the Middle Ages, on the northern face of Sierra Nevada (Granada) there are irrigation systems that have survived until nowadays thanks to the rational management of meltwater. Irrigators' communities are the responsible institutions for the operation and maintenance of these irrigation systems. Their work is based on two main pillars: on the one hand, the community organisation necessary for the exploitation of a limited resource, and, on the other hand, the possession of a particular ethnoecological knowledge key to understand the mountainous environment. Both aspects constitute a rich intangible heritage that must be recognised and protected as the basis of this cultural landscape's conservation.Financiado por el Septimo Programa Marco FP7-SSH-2013-2Fundación Juanelo Turriano (Madrid) por haber financiado parte de la investigación doctoral a través de su convocatoria anual de contratos de investigación para realización de tesis doctorales (2015-2017)

Digital Public Mortuary Archaeology via 3D Modelling: The Pago del Jarafi Cemetery (Granada, Spain)

One of the main goals of the MEMOLA research project's open-area excavation at Pago del Jarafí (Lanteira, Granada, Spain) was to promote knowledge socialisation by means of imparting information and public participation. The site, a multi-phased rural settlement with cemeteries of different chronologies and cultural affinities, was subject to a complete 3D photogrammetric survey, a tool serving to develop virtual models both to interpret the excavation and subsequently transmit the results to the public – so as to raise their level of engagement - via social networks and websites. Burials, in particular, are features that attract the local population to the site and arouse both a demand for information and site preservation. 3D modelling of the burials is thus a digital resource bearing a high scientific and social potential when integrated in a strategy reaching beyond the technical aspects. This paper therefore considers the 3D modelling of burials as an innovative form of digital public mortuary archaeology

Entorno de simulación de la gestión de una FPGA bidimensional, parte de un sistema computador de propósito general basado en HW

FPGA Simulator 1.0 simula el comportamiento de una FPGA bidimensional dinámicamente reconfigurable. La simulación consiste en la gestión de una cola de tareas de tamaño rectangular (simple), con la posibilidad de multitarea, lo que permite ejecutar simultáneamente varias de estas tareas. La ubicación de las tareas dentro de la FPGA se lleva a cabo mediante un algoritmo previamente implementado que gestiona el espacio libre en la FPGA. Este algoritmo gestiona las tareas en espera de ejecución, las que están ejecutándose actualmente en la FPGA y las que han terminado de ejecutar. Nuestra solución FPGA Simulator 1.0 permite gestionar tanto la FPGA como la lista de tareas en espera a través de una sencilla e intuitiva interfaz gráfica. El algoritmo encargado de la ubicación de las tareas también puede ser configurado manualmente. Entre la diversidad de algoritmos existentes (p.e. First-Fit (FF), Best-Fit (BF), First-Fit-Decreasing (FFD) y Best-Fit-Decreasing (BFD)), el algoritmo utilizado en nuestra solución es el Bin Packing MER, que ubica las tareas en el MER (Maximun Empty Rectangle) o Máximo Rectángulo Vacío. Trabajar con distintas FPGAs y listas de tareas se convierte en una tarea sencilla gracias a la exportación de estos elementos a ficheros de texto, que permite tanto abrir y guardar como modificar los elementos involucrados en la simulación. A parte, el uso de ficheros incrementa la versatilidad del producto, permitiendo la exportación de elementos a otros ordenadores. FPGA Simulator 1.0 permite además guardar la configuración de una simulación concreta de manera que se pueda reproducir en cualquier momento. Dado el carácter determinista de los algoritmos utilizados, una misma configuración desemboca en un mismo resultado, de forma que el almacenamiento de resultados se simplifica con el uso de un fichero de texto absolutamente independiente, que también es completamente portable. A parte de la creación de un entorno de simulación, FPGA Simulator 1.0 proporciona además una idea general del comportamiento de la simulación por medio de métricas. Estas métricas, que deben ser utilizadas de manera orientativa, se basan en la utilización del espacio libre de la FPGA, y consisten en la ocupación media y la ocupación instantánea (en porcentaje) del espacio de la FPGA. La comparación de estas métricas como resultado de la ejecución de diferentes algoritmos sobre un mismo entorno de simulación nos puede dar un acercamiento al comportamiento real de los algoritmos. La versión actual de FPGA Simulator 1.0 sólo está disponible para plataformas Windows (windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 y XP) Implementando en Borland C++ Builder, este software presenta una gran estabilidad y rapidez de ejecución, al igual que un mínimo consumo de recursos de sistema. La posibilidad de incorporar manualmente nuevos algoritmos de ejecución convierte este producto en un software de gran utilidad en el campo de la investigación. [Abstract] FPGA Simulator 1.0 simulates the behavior of a dynamically reconfigurable bidimensional FPGA. Simulation consists of a rectangular task queue managemente (simple tasks) with a multitask posibility, which implies the simultaneous execution of several tasks. The task allocation within the FPGA is done through a previously programmed algorithm, which manages the free space in the FPGA. The task management involves the waiting for execution tasks, currently executing, and already finished ones. Our solution FPGA Simulator 1.0, enables the management of both the FPGA and the task queue throug an easy and intuitive graphic interface. The algorithm used to allocate the tasks con also be manually configured. Between many other existing ones (p.e. First-Fit (FF), Best-Fit (BF), First-Fit-Decreasing (FFD) y Best-Fit-Decreasing (BFD)),Bin Packing MER was the final algorithm used in our product. Bin Packing MER allocates tasks in the Maximum Empty Rectangle available at a given moment. The exportation of elements such as FPGAs and task queues to text files translates into a clear enhancement of the working capabilities, specially when working with different types of these kind of elements. The use of text files increases the product's versatility, as these elements can be exported to other copmputers with a minimum amount of space expense. FPGA Simulator 1.0 allows saving concrete simulatin configurations for later execution Given that the algorithms used are deterministic, two identical configurations imply same results. Thus, results storage is simplified by the use of absolutely independent text files, wich are also portable. Apart from creating a simulation environment, FPGA Simulator 1.0 offers a general view of the algorithms behavior trough the metrics. These metrics, which should be used only in an orientative way, are based on the available free space in the FPGA. The two metrics used are the current occupation and the average occupation (in percentage). The comparison of the metrics obtained out of the execution of different algorithms over the same simulation environment can give us an approximate idea of the real behavior of th algorithms. The current version of FPGA Simualtor 1.0 is only supported under Windows platforms (Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and XP). Programmed under Borland C++ Builder, this software displays a great stability and execution time, at the same time as it consumes a minimum amount of system resources. The possibility of adding manually new algorithms provides this software with a great utility withing the scope of investigation