This is a Thesis on Industrial Archaeology, the first of its kind to be developed in the University of Cordoba. Its main aim is to analyze the role played by copper mining and metallurgy in the peculiar industrialization process of...
moreThis is a Thesis on Industrial Archaeology, the first of its kind to be developed in the University of Cordoba. Its main aim is to analyze the role played by copper mining and metallurgy in the peculiar industrialization process of Cordoba, focusing on the particular case of Cerro Muriano, an area of the cordobesian mountain range located 16 km North from the city and divided into the municipal boundaries of Cordoba and Obejo (Spain). From strict meaning, the chronological range of this research goes from 1897 to 1919, when Cerro Muriano was worked by four different British companies: Cordova Exploration Company, Ltd.; Cerro Muriano Mines, Ltd.; North Cerro Muriano Copper Mines, Ltd.; and Cordoba Copper Company, Ltd. However, the study of the context (from a local to an international scale) and the connection between the case analyzed and its environment attends to a wider period: around 1850-1950, i.e. the time of Cordoba industrialization.
Mining and metallurgy brought far-reaching changes to the territory of Cerro Muriano. This Thesis answers a number of questions by applying archaeological methods to the remains of these industrial activities, combined with the study of any other sources of information. For example, how was the English exploitation of that place, how and why did it start, which one was its model, which was the situation of the Cerro Muriano mine in relation to others, how mining and metallurgy changed the landscape there, which cultural context and industrial society were generated by these activities and how the whole thing influenced on the industrialization of Cordoba.
