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The marble quarries of Macael. From “free and communal” to council property

2017; Spanish National Research Council; Volume: 128; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.21701/bolgeomin.128.2.004

2253-6167

Anselmo Carretero Gómez, José Ángel Aznar Sánchez,

Medieval Architecture and Archaeology

The fate of the inhabitants of Macael has been closely linked to the production of marble from time immemorial. The scope of these resources transcended local borders during the latter part of last century; thus, in the last few years, the marble extracted from the surroundings of Macael accounted for over 40% of the national production, with Spain being one of the leading world producers of this ornamental rock. This paper analyzes the changes that have taken place in the quarry access system since 1573, when the town of Macael was surveyed, up to the present time. After many historical changes in which the people of Macael have had to fight for ownership of the quarries, both against private interests and public administration, the assets which were communal, and therefore freely accessible to the locals, became the property of the Local Council, which at present also holds the exploitation concession of the marble resources and the power to grant leases to entrepreneurs wishing to extract this mineral.