Análisis integral de las torres de alquería de la frontera occidental del reino nazarí de Granada

Résumé 0

[EN] Due to the proximity of the Nasrid western sector of the kingdom of Granada to the border with Castile, some rural settlements had to equip themselves with defensive structures between the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, especially when the insecurity conditions were particularly pressing. Consequently, in some of the farmsteads a tower has been preserved. It was the most visible and predominant element of defensive enclosures that often had walled spaces to protect people, animals, and movable property. From an architectural and functional point of view, this type of towers with an enclosure for protection present great typological diversity in terms of the dimensions of plan and elevation, interior rooms, interior levels, layout of stairways or presence of cisterns or warehouses. Constructively, the walls of rammed earth with lime and gravel content, which allowed for the modulation of prism-shaped towers, were gradually replaced by masonry from the fourteenth century onwards due to Castilian influence. The change towards masonry construction was also born from a need to reinforce the earlier defences built with earth and facilitate the construction of structures with fewer edges, as those were less vulnerable for the increasingly widespread use of artillery system as a whole was completed and reinforced during the Nasrid period. This paper is devoted to the environmental and constructional analysis of a number of selected watchtowers from the western border of Granada, some of them built with crusted rammed earth and others in masonry with gravel filling. The structural stability of these towers has also been studied. They have been documented and analysed in depth due to the preservation of enough material structures for their physiognomy and materiality to be recognized. This allowed developing a set of in situ tests that has made its characterization possible from an integral perspective.