Ruins of forgotten wars. Archaeology and heritage of the Carlist Wars in Catalonia

Abstract

Carlist wars guided the political clash between revolutionaries and reactionaries in 19^th century Spain. Its development generated a numerous architectural and archaeological heritage. However, these elements had received little attention by academia until very recent times. Despite some advances in the area, it still exists a huge unknowledge about the materiality of these conflicts. This paper deals with the archaeological expression of the Carlist wars in Catalonia. The first step to solve this problem was to know what kind of elements were generated. In order to achieve that, we have located and characterized more than 180 constructions and places related to the conflict across all Catalonia: forts, city walls, castles, towers and battlefields, among others. With this we hope to have built a solid basis for further studies in Carlist conflict in that territory. The paper ends with some main conclusions and a reflection that focus on the situation of oblivion this heritage suffers from the vast part of society.