If the archaeological context is missing: the use of LiDAR prospection to uncover features at the medieval Christian position on Malvecino Hill (Alcalá de Henares, Spain)

Abstract

The ongoing study of the Andalusian castle of Alcalá la Vieja (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain) continues to provide new insights about this Muslim fortress. However, the investigation of other battlefield locations around this stronghold, such as Malvecino Hill, have remained in the background. As the site where the Christian army built a temporary castle, Malvecino played a decisive role during the siege and conquest of Alcalá la Vieja in 1118 and is a strong candidate for archaeological study. Some early archaeological prospections carried out at Malvecino in the 1970s corroborated the existence of medieval remains. Scholars have debated whether those remains derive from the fortress built by the Christians or to an earlier settlement. Unfortunately, those artefacts and features disappeared and are not available for additional investigation. Given the lack of archeological context, our investigation included the process of locating potential archaeological features in Malvecino Hill using both aerial photography and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) datasets. This article highlights the value of LiDAR prospection as a preliminary step to fieldwork and describes two early medieval structures on Malvecino Hill that were newly revealed by our LiDAR visualization.