UB archaeologists participate in an international project to date Carcassonneʼs walls
The Archaeological and Archaeometric Research Team of the University of Barcelona (ERAAUB) participates in an international project to study and date the walls of the city of Carcassonne. Last October, ERAAUB researchers stayed in the French city to carry out fieldworks and, now, they are analysing the data they collected. The medieval city of Carcassonne, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has an extraordinary system of ramparts surrounding the castle and the buildings associated that was built in different periods throughout the history. The research has required the use of accurate technical instruments and the design of a suitable methodology.
The Archaeological and Archaeometric Research Team of the University of Barcelona (ERAAUB) participates in an international project to study and date the walls of the city of Carcassonne. Last October, ERAAUB researchers stayed in the French city to carry out fieldworks and, now, they are analysing the data they collected. The medieval city of Carcassonne, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has an extraordinary system of ramparts surrounding the castle and the buildings associated that was built in different periods throughout the history. The research has required the use of accurate technical instruments and the design of a suitable methodology.
This is the first scientific research developed in order to date the walls. The medieval fortified city includes remains from different periods, so wall stretches combine bonds from different periods —Late Antiquity, 12th and 13th centuries—, together with successive restorations, including the one carried out by Viollet-le-Duke in the 19th century. “Other walls as complex as Carcassonneʼs are, for example, the ones of Constantinople for the Late Antiquity, and the ones of Provins, in the south of Paris, for the Middle Ages”, explains Gisela Ripoll, university lecturer in the Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology of the UB and coordinator of the research project.
The research team has worked in a stretch located in the western flank of the walls which measures about one hundred metres of length and goes from the tower Pinte to the door of Aude. The Laboratory of Photogrammetry of the University of Valladolid —a project partner—took accurate images by means of laser technology and photogrammetry. Moreover, they collected many samples of the mortar to carry out archaeometric analyses and develop comparative studies. Now, experts are studying the data collected from archives, files and fieldwork during the first phase. “The fortified city of Carcassonne is such a complex system that we had to agree a specific methodology”, affirms the researcher.
One of the most important research lines of the ERAAUB is devoted to Roman, Late Antiquity and Medieval architecture. Besides the University of Barcelona, the partners who collaborate in the project are the Aix-Marseille University, the University of Rennes and the University of Valladolid. Several French institutions sponsor and support the project: the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC Llenguadoc-Rosselló), the French National Monuments Center, the General Council of Aude and the cultural association Amicale Laïque de Carcassonne. In total, nineteen researchers are working in the project, coordinated by the French archaeology Marie-Élise Gardel. In the case of the UB, together with Gisela Ripoll, the researchers who participate in the project are Francesc Tuset and Montserrat Valls.
Ripoll points out that the project will contribute to know better the historical heritage of the region of Aude and Carcassonne from scientific and cultural perspectives. Moreover, she underlines the importance of UB researchersʼ participation in a project carried out in the city of Carcassonne “which has had historical relations with our country since the Roman Empire: it was the residence of the Counts of Barcelona and the refuge of Republican exiles.