Recovering a lost seismic disaster. The destruction of El Castillejo and the discovery of the earliest historic earthquake affecting the Granada region (Spain)
Metadatos
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Forlin, Paolo; Reicherter, Klaus; M. Gerrard, Christopher; Bailiff, Ian; García Porras, AlbertoEditorial
PLOS
Fecha
2024-04-17Referencia bibliográfica
Forlin, P. et. al. PLoS ONE 19(4): e0300549. [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300549]
Patrocinador
Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowship called ArMedEa (‘The archaeology of Earthquakes in medieval Europe’, grant n.626659); British Academy small grant (SRG/171316)Resumen
This paper discusses recent archaeological fieldwork conducted at El Castillejo, a medieval
Islamic settlement in Los Gua´ jares, Granada, southern Spain. Results from combined
archaeological excavation and archaeoseismological assessment of standing structures
suggest that the site was affected by a destructive earthquake during its occupation. Radiocarbon
samples and OSL analysis point to a seismic event in the period CE 1224–1266.
The earthquake occurred within an area marked by a ‘seismological gap’ in terms of historic
seismicity and the causative fault has been tentatively identified in the Nigu¨elas-Padul Fault
System which lies north of the settlement. This event is not recorded by national or European
seismic catalogues and represents the oldest historic earthquake in the Granada area.
Our work stresses the significant impact that targeted archaeological investigations can
generate in our understanding of the local historic seismicity, thus providing clear implications
for seismic disaster prevention and reduction.