The Royal Workshops of the Alhambra: Industrial Activity in Early Modern Granada

Abstract

The introduction focuses on the history of the research and archaeological work done on the site, and chapter 1 summarizes what is known about the layout of the Secano from archival records. Using the case study of the Patio de Comares (Court of the Myrtles), we learn that maintaining the elaborate architecture and decoration of the Alhambra palaces was a constant process requiring a bustling craft industry. What the Royal Workshops of the Alhambra project contributes to the archaeological field is a concerted effort to shed light on urban life at the Alhambra, outside of the usual palace narrative.

The Royal Workshops of the Alhambra project is an ambitious, collaborative work focusing on the urban workshops in the Secano sector of the Alhambra palace and fortress complex in Granada, Spain. For those unfamiliar with the Alhambra, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is the only preserved palatine city of the Islamic period in Spain and dates to approximately 1250 C.E. The project comprised 20 contributors from many parts of the world, working within multiple disciplines. The findings of the project, encapsulated in this book, call to our attention a deeper level of complexity and richness than was previously known at the Alhambra. This book serves as a collection of archaeological explorations in 2016 and 2017 into the industrial activity of the Secano.

The volume opens with a forward detailing the organizations involved in managing the site, the protection plans in place (resulting in the need for this project), and the project goals and obstacles. The rest of the volume consists of an introduction, nine chapters, and concluding remarks coauthored by the contributors.

In the introduction by editors Alberto García Porras and Chloë N. Duckworth and chapter 1, “The Secano: The City of the Alhambra” by María del Carmen Jiménez Roldán, we are given a thorough background of the complex history of Al-Ándalus (Islamic-ruled Iberian Peninsula), Islamic palatine cities, and the Secano, with a focus on industrial buildings. Both chapters then move from the historical context to give us an idea of the archaeological background and site layout. The introduction focuses on the history of the research and archaeological work done on the site, and chapter 1 summarizes what is known about the layout of the Secano from archival records.

In chapter 2, David J. Govantes-Edwards, Porras, Duckworth, and Eleonora Montanari provide an overview of the theoretical frameworks and methodologies used on the project. The project employed diverse methods including magnetometry, magnetic susceptibility, resistivity, ground penetrating radar, portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), in situ soil chemical analysis, excavation, archival research, and chemical and petrographic ceramic analysis. Project members aimed for multidisciplinary collaboration and interpreting the results of different methodologies as a whole rather than as discrete outcomes.

In chapter 3, Juan Manuel Ríos Jiménez and Miguel Busto Zapico look at five existing kilns in the Secano. They offer a typological and stratigraphic analysis of the site’s kilns to support their interpretation of the Alhambra as a significant pottery production center in the early modern age (16th–18th centuries). They expand these arguments in chapter 4 using geophysical and geochemical data, which revealed chemical compounds in the soil around the kilns indicating the practice of glazing pottery. It should be noted that many of the geophysical and geochemical methods used in this project also guided excavation strategies and site interpretations, as well as documenting the potential for further exploration.

Chapters 5 and 6 detail the archaeological sequences and excavations of Trenches 1 and 2 at the Secano. The trenches were selected based on data collected from geophysical tests. These tests indicated areas where high-temperature activities likely took place. The excavation team aimed to gather information about the configuration of the space, function and chronology, and explore possible workshop areas other than kilns.

Moisés Alonso-Valladares and Porras (chap. 5) address the ongoing issues of previous excavations and reconstructions in the 1960s and 1970s and how the damage and lack of records continue to present obstacles for the project’s interpretation. In describing the excavation work of Trench 2 (chap. 6), Ben Moore and Montanari encountered similar issues with previous alterations to the area. The site was not subjected to the same earlier archaeological attention as Trench 1 but still revealed extreme disturbances. Despite these hindrances, the excavations are confidently proclaimed as improving the characterization of the furnace technology and industrial activity of late-medieval and early-modern-age Secano.

Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the two main types of material culture produced in the workshops of the Secano: pottery and glass. Chapter 7 (Laura Martín Ramos, María José Peregrina Sánchez, and Saúl Guerrero Rivero) characterizes the pottery assemblage by typology and function, describes the archaeometric methods used to analyze the collection, and presents the results of this analysis. Chapter 8 (Almudena Velo Gala, Duckworth, and Govantes-Edwards) illustrates the importance of glass technologies during the medieval and early modern periods of the Alhambra as intersecting with other crafts, such as ceramics. For archaeologists exploring industrial workmanship, this chapter makes a compelling argument for glass as a robust source of material evidence.

Chapter 9, “Furnaces at Full Blast: The Demand for Architectural Ceramics for Construction in the Alhambra (16th and 17th Centuries)” by María Elena Díez Jorge, delivers context on ceramic production based on archival records. Using the case study of the Patio de Comares (Court of the Myrtles), we learn that maintaining the elaborate architecture and decoration of the Alhambra palaces was a constant process requiring a bustling craft industry. Ledgers and purchasing records reveal extensive demand for maintenance and reconstruction of the glazed roof tiles and wall plinths after the Christian conquest. Additionally, these records provide a glimpse into the process of ceramic production from commission to kiln to palace.

The volume ends with concluding remarks from the contributors summarizing the main results and interpretations of the project. Some of the obstacles hindering the original research questions of this project will be familiar to many archaeologists. Landscaping, reconstructions, and excavations in the late 19th century and in the 1960s and 1970s, compounded by a complete lack of records, obscured data from previous workshops in the medieval Secano. Identifying this obstacle, ironically, is a compelling argument for the importance of this work. Using archaeology to assess what was altered, removed, lost, or changed to present one culturally specific narrative enhances historical interpretations of the site and subsequently underscores the rich heritage of the Alhambra.

What the Royal Workshops of the Alhambra project contributes to the archaeological field is a concerted effort to shed light on urban life at the Alhambra, outside of the usual palace narrative. Perhaps more significantly, the project successfully brings in multiple disciplines to collaborate throughout the project. In particular, gathering data using a pXRF machine and sharing the results with excavators in real time to augment their contextual understandings of the work (chap. 2) is an inspired approach to interdisciplinary collaboration that is often absent from fieldwork. This is a wonderful addition to the growing research field of industrial archaeology, revealing the depth and complexity of craftsmanship in medieval and early modern Al-Ándalus, as well as the below-ground history of one of the world’s most well-known sites.

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