Papers by María Benítez Galán
Archaeometry
Investigations of the siege of Islamic Alcalá la Vieja (Madrid, Spain) by Christian forces in twe... more Investigations of the siege of Islamic Alcalá la Vieja (Madrid, Spain) by Christian forces in twelfth century CE have depended on secondary sources proven to be unreliable and errorladen. In our search for possible locations of trebuchets used by the Christian attackers, we opted for an interdisciplinary approach combining elements from archaeology, physics and spatial analysis. The discovery of stone projectiles near the Islamic fortress has allowed us to apply projectile physics in calculation of several effective firing ranges for each stone. Those outcomes, in combination with geographic information system (GIS) data, have revealed a possible location where Christian forces could have effectively deployed hybrid trebuchets as siege engines.
Physical Review D, 2021
M. Benitez Galan, ∗ M. Rafi Alam, † and I. Ruiz Simo ‡ Departamento de F́ısica Atómica, Molecular... more M. Benitez Galan, ∗ M. Rafi Alam, † and I. Ruiz Simo ‡ Departamento de F́ısica Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, India Departamento de F́ısica Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear and Instituto Interuniversitario Carlos I de F́ısica Teórica y Computacional, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain
The research of this medieval battlefield was necessary to gain a deeper knowledge about this his... more The research of this medieval battlefield was necessary to gain a deeper knowledge about this historical fact because studies never focused on it. The main information was located in secondary written sources, however it was not completely reliable or clear, for example when they talked about trebuchets and their location, or the situation of the temporary castle in Malvecino hill. In order to fill these gaps, we decided to use “traditional” methods in archaeology, like aerial photographs, and new techniques, like LiDAR or physical calculations. Through the combination of physics and historical and archaeological data we could propose a new perspective about the battle and siege of Alcalá la Vieja, allowing us to establish a new theory about this place.
Archaeometry, 2020
Investigations of the siege of Islamic Alcalá la Vieja (Madrid, Spain) by Christian forces in twe... more Investigations of the siege of Islamic Alcalá la Vieja (Madrid, Spain) by Christian forces in twelfth century CE have depended on secondary sources proven to be unreliable and error‐laden. In our search for possible locations of trebuchets used by the Christian attackers, we opted for an interdisciplinary approach combining elements from archaeology, physics and spatial analysis. The discovery of stone projectiles near the Islamic fortress has allowed us to apply projectile physics in calculation of several effective firing ranges for each stone. Those outcomes, in combination with geographic information system (GIS) data, have revealed a possible location where Christian forces could have effectively deployed hybrid trebuchets as siege engines.
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Papers by María Benítez Galán