Abstract:

Evidence of the use of earthen architecture in the defensive system of La Fonteta (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante) is presented. It is a drawer wall, filled with layers of earth and stones, although mud-brick was also used for the construction of the wall stone foundations. The use of mud-brick is also documented for the superstructure of the wall and the towers, but also for the construction of the avant-mur, located about 4 m in front of the wall, with the wall itself and the avant-mur having been covered with an earthen mixture. This work includes the macroscopic analysis of mud-bricks, complete or fragmented, and of the remains of the rendering of the wall and avant-mur, as well as the micromorphological study and XRD analysis of the wall rendering.