The reviled preservation of the recent past: ethnology at the forefront

Let's start without preamble. Many people ask us “is that protected?” Or “but it's not Roman, is it?” Not many people understand why a 50-year-old house is documented or why a 20-year-old raft is protected. It's normal, until recently “archaeology fell with the Roman Empire”. For this reason, we dedicate these lines to that archeology (Archaeology of the Present, of Architecture, etc.) that studies what is part of the landscape and that we often overlook. That reviled preservation of the past...

It is true that, although increasingly aware, these elements continue to be seen as just elements, without patrimonial interest. We could ask ourselves who today would do a Hut, a cuckoo or any other structure in dry stone? And, in fact, the most accurate question would be why do it?

With industrialization and the subsequent technological revolutions, the effort to build this type of property is a considerable effort that does not correspond to a comparable benefit according to current standards. Added to this is a change in economic production, who needs a water cooler? How many times do you need a blacksmith in your daily life? How many transhumant farmers continue to use the various complexes that exist? But the progressive disappearance of certain professions or the implementation of technology are not the only explanations. Part of these constructs arise from a collective organization to do so. And mobilizing, organizing and developing these works is not easy. He thinks that there are livestock complexes that are created by successive hands that are expanding and improving for their own use and for others.

Thus, little by little, the construction technique is forgotten and that is why, as some farmers tell us: “Nobody knows how to do that anymore”. Because yes, they are placed stones, but without mortar, and they may be a few centuries old, and they are still there, which may be wells, farmhouses, huts, etc. But they are an existing reality of the forms of construction and life of a world that is about to disappear.

However, it is not preserved to be preserved. It is preserved for answering the questions of why was it necessary? How did they do it? And, above all, because we are taking up the ideas that shaped them today, because they are also a clear reminder that the circular economy was not invented in the 21st century. Human creativity is, to say the least, diverse. In these years we have seen everything: efficient ventilation systems without fans, systems for using rainwater in a simple farmhouse, efficient space management, central heating without energy and so many other ideas embodied in stone, lime and clay that make us reevaluate this civil engineering, born of popular knowledge, of a collective and anonymous effort.

Just because the orientation of this type of structure maximizes climate comfort and adapts to the needs of the intended use of the space (housing, storage,...), we already say a lot. And if there seems to be little they can teach us about the use of resources, we can add that they are shelters for a wide variety of species, which find a home where humans can only see ruins. Everything is taken advantage of.

These elements have become part of the landscape and, as part of it, sometimes we don't notice them. Surely, many would think when they saw a labor house the same as a person from the Middle Ages who saw Roman ruins, even if it seems shocking to us. The difference is the ability that a person in the Middle Ages had to modify their environment. We are not aware, but years of legal vacuum over these structures have meant their disappearance, possibly, unquantifiable. During our work, these elements represent a large part of the patrimonial findings documented in a project. Without a doubt, the most important thing about good is the information it provides and, in these cases, it's usually a closer story.

The fact is that the social connection that exists with this type of structure is somewhat more emotional than in other cases. For a cuckoo, a cistern, a laundry room, there is a story lived directly in the use of that asset. The neighbors understand this element as part of their identity or history and when we carry out the surveys we have come across the human history they hide: such as the memory of women washing by hand on days when the water was so cold that the water did not flow through the laundry room, the farmer who took refuge in that cave in the face of fear of the night, and all those little stories that would pass through general history without pity or glory but that provide a human dimension to what are only “four stones”.