The traces of transhumants on livestock routes. Part II

As we said in the First part In this post, these rest areas were not only intended for the shelter of livestock, but also humans had their spaces between those large walls that served as protection against possible external dangers.

Thus, within these large spaces, others, of much smaller dimensions, are reserved, clearly dedicated to the protection of the people who accompanied the herds in their migration. These structures are mainly the remains of small huts or cabins, usually attached to the thick walls of the pens, of which only the perimeter walls of those shelters are preserved, which must have been covered with roofs of plant elements that are now completely lost.

The huts we are talking about have a more or less quadrangular plan and an area, in general, less than 4 square meters. On the inner side of its walls we find different elements like cupboards or vases that should have been used to house everything from dishes to lamps for lighting. In the absence of in-depth studies, in the absence of in-depth studies, specific areas intended for homes are not observed inside, so it would probably be cooked outside these huts.

Another element present in the group that we are dealing with and that we have been able to see in other areas, although related to the agrarian world in that case, is a watchtower used to monitor the herds perched on it. Also made of dry stone masonry, it has a trunk-conical shape with a base of about 2 m in diameter and walls buttressed up to a height of about 3 m.

As for the chronology of these remains, as we have already indicated in another of our interventions (The remains of the Via Herculea or Augusta as it passes through Albacete), we must bear in mind that this ravine has been related by some authors to the Herculean or Augusta Way (also known as the Way of Hannibal) that linked Gades to Rome, and that it was the longest Roman road in Roman Hispania with an approximate length within the Iberian Peninsula of 1,500 km that ran from the Pyrenees to Cádiz, bordering the Mediterranean; this is what Ñacle and Velasco remember (2001) in their publication on the Livestock Roads of Albacete in which they point out that from the term of Balazote to the This one, the Cañada Real of Andalusia coincides with the old Roman road.

In this case, compared to other well-known archaeological sites (Castellar de Meca, Tolmo de Minateda), the depth of the road tracks in the rock would even lead us to think of a possible chronology from the Iberian era, although the main use of the complex must be ascribed to some time in the Middle Ages.

Bibliography

• Abbot Casal L, Gutierrez Lloret S, Sanz Gamo R. El Tolmo de Minateda. A story of three and a half thousand years. Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, 1999
• Broncano Rodriguez S, Alfaro Arregui MM. Access to the Iberian city of Mecca through its wheeled roads. Prehistoric Research Service. Provincial Council of Valencia, 1997
• Carrasco, G., 1988: “Roman communications in the province of Albacete in classical period itineraries”, Al Basit, 23, pp. 41-42
• Ñacle, A. and Velasco, J.M., 2001: Livestock Roads in the Province of Albacete. Albacete Provincial Council.
• https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/biodiversidad/temas/politica-forestal/vias-pecuarias.html#origen
• https://dle.rae.es/trashumar