La señalización lumínica y la navegación por el Estrecho de Gibraltar en la Baetica romana: un panorama con más sombras que luces
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[1] Universidad de Huelva
Universidad de Huelva
Huelva, España
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- Localización: Virtual Archaeology Review, ISSN-e 1989-9947, Vol. 14, Nº. 29, 2023, págs. 99-117
- Idioma: español
- Títulos paralelos:
- Light signalling and navigation in the Strait of Gibraltar in the Roman Baetica: a panorama with more shadows than lights
- Enlaces
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Resumen
- español
El continuo avance de las investigaciones arqueológicas, especialmente en los ámbitos portuarios, está produciendo casos de estudio de mayor complejidad y riqueza. En este sentido, la progresión en cuanto a la definición de los urbanismos, el mayor conocimiento en la identificación de las denominadas “estructuras de contacto” como los muelles o embarcaderos, los progresos de la arqueología subacuática en la localización de pecios y áreas de fondeo conocidas, así como del resto de evidencias vinculadas a las infraestructuras portuarias, está permitiendo que se articule un discurso más concreto acerca del funcionamiento del puerto en época Antigua. A pesar de estos hechos, el faro como elemento principal y determinante en el paisaje portuario, permanece rodeado de numerosas incógnitas derivadas de una presencia importante en las fuentes literarias, numismáticas, pictóricas, escultóricas y musivarias pero una ausencia casi total en el registro arqueológico. Más allá de su icónico papel como construcción monumental en las infraestructuras portuarias, su función como hito señalizador y articulador del tránsito lo hace componente clave en estos contextos. Debido a estas circunstancias, en el presente trabajo se analizan los casos béticos identificados y presupuestos en el ámbito del Estrecho de Gibraltar, relacionándolo con la información aportada por las fuentes, los estudios geomorfológicos y los datos del poblamiento de la costa bética. Estos datos han sido introducidos en un sistema de información geográfica (SIG) donde se han realizado cálculos de cuenca visual para determinar cómo se configuraría este teórico escenario. El resultado ha permitido plantear una serie de hipótesis sobre la configuración de las redes marítimas béticas y la presencia real del faro en el contexto portuario.
- English
The progress of archaeological research, as well as the improved means of analysis and data processing, is leading to a notable advance in the knowledge we have of such complex enclaves as Roman ports. In this sense, the progression in terms of the definition of urban planning, the greater knowledge in the identification of the so-called "contact structures" such as docks or wharves, the progress of underwater archaeology to locate wrecks and known anchorage areas, as well as the rest of the evidence linked to port infrastructures, allows researchers to articulate a more specific discourse about how the port functioned in the Ancient period. Nevertheless, these areas, defined by combining productive, administrative, commercial, fiscal and service environments, still remain one of the least known of Roman culture. Thus, classical sources, numismatics or pictorial, musivarian or sculptural representations are the main references for the theoretical composition of these spaces. This circumstance is mainly due to two causes: the lack of evidence caused by water –related erosive action on the structures, and the ephemeral nature of wood or other perishable elements when making some constructions.
Among the infrastructures that define a port, such as jetties, administrative buildings or stationes, cetariae, horrea, etc., the pharus stands out: a monumental element whose main functions were to signal the entrance to the port and to articulate the arrival and departure of ships; the pharus normally had complementary systems of lights, sound signals or other visual elements such as flags. Although they are large constructions, they are built without complexity, according to the references in the sources and representations; they have a simple architecture: a wide base upon which a series of bodies are arranged and which are topped by a bonfire or luminaria. Their importance, beyond the functional aspect, is reflected in the multiple representations of these elements, at times becoming the hallmark of the port in question or of the city itself, appearing on its coins.
The Baetic coast, as one of the main industrial and trading territories of the High Imperial period, has a large number of important ports, most of which are located on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. These include Onoba as a port of departure for the metalla of the southwest, Gades and its hegemonic role in the south of the peninsula, enclaves with a large productive volume and/or determining factors in the North African connections, such as Baelo Claudia, Iulia Traducta, Carteia, Suel and Malaca, etc. Despite their importance and the definition of several of these cases as annonary ports, archaeology has only been able to confirm the existence of structures linked to a lighthouse structure in the city of Onoba; about the rest, there are only hypotheses about their existence and possible location.
On this basis, this work has analysed the Baetic port network configuration on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. To this end, a geographic information system (GIS) has been designed; the evidence and hypotheses on the lighthouse structures that were distributed between the ports of the current provinces of Huelva, Cadiz and Malaga have been included. With this information, calculations of visibility basins (viewshed) have been carried out based on estimated heights according to the reference bibliography. Since the result showed large "gaps" in the coastline, the port and productive infrastructures of the rest of the urban enclaves in this context were studied; the objective was to establish the possible locations of lighthouses by combining them with the geomorphological and palaeotopographical data plus information on the usual locations. Even with the addition of these new data, this process has revealed a panorama in which, apparently and taking into account the current state of research, the lighthouse as a monumental construction is not likely to have been a frequent infrastructure in the Baetic port landscapes. This information, similar to that identified in other ports such as Carthago Nova and supported by some data referred to in classical sources, has made it possible to propose a hierarchical configuration of this territory ports; by indicating only some of them as points where the official or annonary routes converged and those destined for redistribution at regional or local level, a series of first-level enclaves are defined as annonary ports, relegating the rest of the commercial nodes to a secondary or less relevant category, regardless of their urban nature.
- español
