Geological, Cultural, and Archaeological Heritage Integrated into a Tourism Route Through the Main Granite Source Area Supplying Ávila’s World Heritage Site

Abstract

This work presents a series of points of geological, cultural and archaelogical heritage that allow for the development of tourism routes in the most significant extractive area that supplied natural stone to the primary historical monuments of the city of Ávila, a World Heritage City. The conceptualization of this route is predicated on a multidisciplinary study encompassing an inventory of quarries, geological cartography, a documentary search, petrological, geochemical and structural work. The study identified five distinct granitic facies, all of which have been utilized in the construction of Avila’s monuments, three of which have not been previously documented in cartographies. The petrological and geochemical investigation has facilitated the establishment of the sequence of emplacement of the distinct granitic facies, their classification, the explanation of compositional variations, their probable cogenetism, and the genesis of certain geological mesostructures. The structural study has revealed the existence of families of joints that controlled the size and shape of the dimension stone, which in turn has conditioned their use in the monument and the feasibility of exploitation. The inventory of the quarries has facilitated the analysis of the conventional techniques of cutting and the establishment of a size evolution of the wedge slots and the shape and size of quarries. The study’s findings have been compiled into 13 points of interest. Visitors can gain a comprehensive understanding of the region’s geology and its cultural and archaelogical heritage. This includes evidence of quarrying activities dating back to pre-Roman times.