Paisaje rural y patrimonio hidráulico, referentes señeros presentes en la cultura rural del Valle de Ricote (España) y de la zona central de Chile

Abstract

The relevance of hydraulic devices such as waterwheels, water mills and salt mines present in the various patrimonial expressions and in the cultural landscape of the rural communities of Ricote Valley (Murcia, Spain) and Central Zone of Chile. It has been based on the fact that these works have allowed rural communities to thrive in arid and semi-arid environmental conditions. However, the value, conservation and restoration of this vernacular hydraulic heritage differ greatly in its reality between both areas of study. In relation to the study area, it is divided in two sectors: The first sector includes the Ricote Valley enlarged (adding Cieza to the traditional municipalities of the valley), which reaches a surface area of 769 km2. Meanwhile, the second corresponds to the municipalities of Pichidegua and Pichilemu (O'Higgins Region), located in the Central Zone of Chile; whose respective municipal surfaces are 320.02 km2 for Pichidegua and 749.1 km2 for Pichilemu. The main objective is to analyze comparatively the relevance of the different hydraulic devices in their respective landscapes and rural societies in which they are inserted, through the registration, processing and evaluation and patrimonial exposure of those artisan goods that contribute to the optimum use of water resources in rural landscapes in very similar physical and human environments but which are at a considerable distance from each other, as is the case of the Ricote Valley (Murcia, Spain) and the lower sector of the Cachapoal Valley (Central Zone of Chile). To respond to this central objective, a methodology has been used that can be classified as non-experimental, of a descriptive and historical typology. Based on a qualitative method whose significance is exploratory, descriptive, correlative and explanatory. To this end, the phenomena related to the case studies (waterwhells, hydraulic mills and salt mines) both Valricotian and Chilean, have been explored and described. To obtain these qualitative data, a bibliographic review of texts, historical, cultural, engineering and heritage linked to the case studies was carried out. In addition, it was carried out a field work of unstructured observation techniques and interviews with experts (Delphi Method). Additionally, historical evolutionary schemes, SWOT matrix, heritage valuation cartography, patrimonial valuation model and, finally, a patrimonial management proposal based on the Chilean experience of the salt mines of Cáhuil, based on the legal concept of a foundation that ensures the enhancement, rehabilitation, conservation and dissemination of the natural and cultural heritage of the Ricote Valley. Finally, the Valricotian and Chilean hydraulic devices studied are considered by the local population to be very relevant, since they are linked to the activities and agricultural products that are vital in the human diet. However, the state of conservation of a large part of them is deficient, since they are in ruins, and abandoned. Some of them have survived over time, which is why they remain a hallmark of their respective rural and water landscapes, despite being replaced by other more modern mechanisms that fulfill the same hydraulic function since the middle of the XX century, by market vagaries and the maelstrom of globalization. Likewise, it must be added that these works have an equivalent relevance in their intangible as material aspects, since they are present in the collective memory, in the popular imaginary of each town where they are located and in consequence, they generate other valuations making themselves present in various academic, educational, touristic and artistic products.