Home - Articles - Rambling thoughts from an Alpujarran era.

On first visits to Spain and The Alpujarra, nearly always in winter, I was puzzled to be told that the numerous helipad-like circles of flat stones to be seen were in fact threshing floors. I accepted the information doubtfully; after all where were the wheat fields, the flat land and the young growths of cereal? I have never seen a threshing floor elsewhere in Europe and still do not know if there is any similarity. Perhaps in most countries of western Europe the period of un-mechanised threshing and winnowing is too far back in the past for any to remain. In the UK, threshing was often done inside a building, with 2 doors creating a wind tunnel effect, and the floors are now under concrete. I hope these in Spain do not all suffer that fate; they are such beautiful, simple yet intricate, functional structures, usually enhanced by their spectacular locations. They are so numerous that it is hard to imagine their disappearance but certainly, their slow deterioration is a fact now that the number in use is minimal. They deserve  recognition and preservation as historical sites.

Imagine a 10 to 15 metre diameter stone-paved area a half-day walk from the nearest modern-day dwelling, but usually within sight of a ruin to which it belongs. It is situated on the shoulder of a mountain slope that now supports nothing but scrub. It is not very steep land but steep enough to force the builder to construct a one or two metre high supporting embankment under the lower lip and an equally deep excavation at the upper, in order to achieve a level result. In a different location, say a Cotswold village or Watford town park; one would say it was destined to have a maypole centred on it, or a playground roundabout.

 Smaller eras exist, no more than a patio-like drying area at the side of a tiny, countryside living-room-cum-tool-shed, casa de campo. These areas often lack the conformity of shape that the builders of the true eras were able to create. The casa de campo would be a siesta spot if near to the village, an over-night or over-summer, temporary dwelling for the worker and possibly his family while they had tasks to perform on the land. The drying area would receive crops of maize, beans or whatever had to be dried to rock like consistency for keeping through the winter as animal fodder or raw material for potajes or cazuelas.

As a musing rambler, or rambling muse, as on paper so too in boots, I rarely resist the magnetism of the era and hope to meet the ghost of the builder; complement him and give him the tiny bit of encouragement, that I know he barely needs, to tell me all about it.

Working from a central point, obvious from the pattern of the stones, the builder was able to form a perfect circle from flat slabs, the largest of which form a circumference of inclined slabs, making a raised lip to aid retention of the crop on the surface. The embankment and excavation are formed and supported by dry stone walling, the stones and rocks bedded into each other with earth. The surface itself radiates from a central point making patterns dependent on the builder's whim and the rock available. If large, flat slabs are available so much the better; they make a smooth working surface. Heavy slabs looking like '4 man stones' would be more stable and require less maintenance.

Some builders finding themselves in a limestone area with fragmented round-ish rock to deal with had a longer job. Time not being a great issue, they seem to have made a virtue of the circumstance by making more intricate patterns, the pride in the creation of these monochrome mosaics being visible, tangible and much appreciated by this particular passer-by.

In some areas of Andalucia, there are both circular and oblong eras, the reason for which I have yet to confirm. I suspect different methods of threshing and perhaps this is also associated with different ranges of crops but since both types are seen alongside each other it is still rather intriguing. Having witnessed the process in action during the 1990's I can describe the method used in the Alpujarra on the circular eras. The implement used to thresh is, in Spanish 'un trillo', it is about the size of a sledge you might make for your children, a well made sledge, from stout timber and with a curled up front to help it ride over the crop. During its development over the centuries it's under side has been given a variety of cutting surfaces. Again, this may be related to the crop being threshed but partly to the technology available.

The earliest 'cutting edge' technology was simply small stones hammered into the wooden structure. Stones of this type are found throughout the Mediterranean by archaeologists who recognise their wear patterns and can deduce agricultural lifestyles in the sites under investigation. In this way although the wooden and leather parts have disappeared, we know the design dates back 10s of thousands of years and has arrived in the present with little change.
Later, serrated metal strips like saw blades and also iron or steel paddles on a series of axles which covered the under surface, were used. All types can be seen in local stables and museums. Wheat or Oats, hand reaped with serrated edged sickles would be left to dry in sheaves for perhaps a week before being 'carted' on mule back to the era. The era is spread with the crop to a depth of about 30cms. And then the work starts in earnest. A pair of mules is harnessed to the trillo and Ben Hur or his descendent stands on the trillo, placing his feet on the convenient, last-years-shoe soles which have been hammered in place for the purpose and ........ ¡Arre! Away we go.

 It used to be a big event perhaps with the cooperation of various neighbours because I am told there would be about 4 pairs of mules waiting ready to take turns, literally, pulling the trillo round and round the era for hours on end. By the end of the day the crop would be reduced to a mixture of dust finely chopped straw and grain.

The term threshing floor is to some extent, a misnomer. The Spanish 'era' is used for threshing but is sited as a winnowing platform. No farmer in his right mind would site a threshing floor in an inconvenient spot, a mule trip away from fields and farm.No, these are winnowing areas and so had to be sited in the place on the owner's land that most often caught the summer winds. Ironically from the beginning of the 20th. century it has been possible to modernise the winnowing process by the use of a hand-operated wind-making and sieving device. These are often still to be seen in various states of decay but their valued status can be judged from the existence of a purpose built shed occasionally seen alongside an era to house this pride and joy.

I was once witness to a 'wind stop work' situation in which the real wind blew too strongly into the mouth of the machine for the man turning the handle to compete with. Well, I mean, what could we do, apart from adjourn to the lee of a heap of threshed straw, wriggle the bum onto a nice warm smooth era slab and finish off the wine. But the wine in Spine is never finished!

The era from which I now muse is typical. The structure is as sound as it ever was; unmoved in the time it has taken for its owner's house to crumble completely. Some shapes and structures it seems were just meant to be right: the eras are such a part and parcel of the landscape they might have grown; having the appearance, and charm of a product of nature. They stem from a period when man was more a part of nature and his structures and life style conformed to it; the era seems to embody empathy between man and environment.

Its siting, like nearly all its brothers, incidentally provides a splendid view which combines with emotions exuding from the polished rocks to convert the view into an experience. It is on the shoulder of a hill looking left and right into two valleys that join below. The valley continues down and down through woods of Chestnut and Oak, widening, twisting out of sight between Sierras, but shortly to reach the sea. Turning to face uphill, the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, which comprise The Alpujarra, reach up; a day's walk more, to the snowy ridge and the bluest of skies. All this set to the music of cowbells and the tumbling water in one of the barrancos. Winds or breezes passing up and down the valleys in the diurnal rhythm of the mountains would offer a good chance of winnowing time be it day, night, light or dark. Competition for wind time in the relatively short period of time available would have been intense. One can almost sense the frenzy of activity from the huge numbers of eras and their close proximity, at least one per owner; in matters of water and harvest, neighbourliness probably did not overflow.

This era, like the majority found in The Alpujarra, is of a type of micacious rock that has a natural shine to which is added, a polished smoothness through centuries of use. It is a black rock absorbing heat from the sun to aid quicker drying. Now where previously the sweat ran freely during daytime threshing, and the fingers chilled from midnight winnowing, the black stones provide a comfortably warm picnic spot for winter walkers. For much of the year there is the feel of snow in the air, with cold air dropping from the peaks, although they are within sight of the Mediterranean. In selecting my lunch spot, I have usually to walk around the circumference of the era; compulsive behaviour or magic force? I don't know. I am looking for the best stone on which to sit. I wander around the circumference first but then I am inevitably drawn like a dying planet to its sun, to the centre of the universe from where our builder started, and there I rest, eat, drink and dribble, slightly madly.