Munibe Antropologia-Arkeologia (Jun 2022)
Aprendiendo a disparar. Un lugar de adiestramiento en la Guerra de la Independencia, junto a la Raya de Portugal
Abstract
Este artículo está dedicado al estudio de un conjunto de proyectiles esféricos localizados en el municipio salmantino de Gallegos de Argañán, muy cerca de la frontera portuguesa. Muchos de ellos presentan severas deformaciones que alteran completamente su forma original y hacen necesario recurrir a medios indirectos para conocer su diámetro. Las características físicas que presentan estos objetos, su distribución espacial sobre el terreno junto con otros objetos metálicos asociados y las noticias que aportan las fuentes históricas, indican que estos proyectiles podrían estar vinculados con un episodio de adiestramiento militar, realizado por tropas que usaban armamento inglés entre 1810 y 1813. ABSTRACT: Due to its location on one of the main routes of communication with the Portuguese border, the province of Salamanca was, during the Peninsular War, witness to the transit and accommodation of thousands of soldiers as well as the scene of countless episodes of war. Some of them have been widely studied due to the enormous carnage they caused, such as the two sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo or the battles of Fuentes de Oñoro and Arapiles. Other events were almost ignored because, compared to the previous ones, they were only brief combats with far fewer victims. In order to try to document some of these minor episodes we started in 2017 an archaeological research project, based on intensive metal detector prospecting of large areas of the municipality of Gallegos de Argañán. The numerous findings that we have documented during the three phases already executed are providing new data on this intense historical period. However, not all the finds come from combats. The location of camps and guard posts, the movement of the units along the roads and their close relationship with the local people led to the loss of numerous small material remains. This article is devoted to the study of a set of musket balls. Many of them present severe deformations that have completely altered their original shape. In order to identify them correctly, it is necessary to resort to indirect means. We consider that due to their physical characteristics, their spatial distribution on the ground forming three clearly defined groupings, their association with other metallic materials and also the information provided by historical sources, it seems very likely that these projectiles were linked to an episode of military training. An act of instruction firing, carried out by troops using English weaponry and which took place between 1810 and 1813.
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