Elur putzuak Euskal Herrian: materialtasuna, historia, kultura eta paisaia = Pozos de nieve en el País Vasco: materialidad, historia, cultura y paisaje: Araba / Bizkaia / Gipuzkoa

• Autores: Teresa Campos López, Angel Martínez Montecelo, José Rodríguez Fernández
• Localización: Arkeoikuska: Investigación arqueológica, ISSN 0213-8921, Nº. 2017, 2017, págs. 427-440
• Idioma: varios idiomas
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• Resumen

  • Snow pits are an integral part of our landscape, located high in the mountains, with buildings and/or making use of natural chasms, or forming part of population settlements in more urban settings. The traditional ways of making use of snowfall for storage, transportation, distribution, and use as ice are activities that have been ever-present throughout history, since ancient times, continuing to a greater or lesser degree across different historical cultures to the 19th or beginning of the 20th century, when industrial cooling became regular practice.

    At least in our environment, the peak period use of these natural refrigerators occurred between the mid-16th century and the last few decades of the 19th century, coinciding with widespread consumption in society for domestic, therapeutic and recreational-leisure use, which was also fostered by a period of worsening climate conditions known as the Little Ice Age.

    The typical image we have in our minds recalls a construction with a round floor, approximately 6 to 8 metres in diameter, and a great depth of up to 9 metres, excavated in the ground in the most shady area possible, with a spectacular ring-shaped elevation of masonry or stonework. However, this is not always the case.

    Also, the pits are not limited to the storage wells themselves; rather, their construction shows use of the resources from the surrounding environment. Additionally, the supply of ice produced required marketing channels; management by the municipal governments, the presence of specialised experts and the participation of the neighbourhood in auxiliary tasks are all key elements to their operation. Given these circumstances, this study adopted a global perspective that goes beyond the concept of the snow pit as an isolated entity, to offer instead a comprehensive analysis of the snow production cycle.