The Vascos site: potential use of groundwater for water supply

Abstract

The Muslim city of Vascos (Navalmoralejo, Toledo) was inhabited from the 9th to the11th centuries A.D. The reasons that justify its specific location are unknown, although the latest research considers this settlement to be a centre related to metallurgical work. The archaeological excavations carried out evidence a population greater than a thousand inhabitants. A city of such a magnitude must have had a water supply system, sufficient to meet the demand of the population, as well for derived secondary activities. Today some archaeological remains both inside and outside the city have been identified, which could be related to the original supply system. It is considered that the possibilities of water supply were complicated when the geological, hydrogeological and weather conditions are taken into account. This difficulty raises the hypothesis of a water supply and possibly of underground origin. After an analysis of the hydrogeological conditions of the environment, and in line with the identified remains, a possible supply system is proposed, characterized by the maximum use of available surface and underground water resources. This system combines waters of both origins, thus forming a truly integral system of resource management that arose as a result of a shortage of temporary water in the surroundings of the city of Vascos.