The Spanish town destroyed in 1937 is still revealing what war left behind
PC: World Monuments Fund The old Belchite was left behind as a new town emerged Bullets and everyday objects reveal the human side of Belchite
PC: World Monuments Fund The old Belchite was left behind as a new town emerged Bullets and everyday objects reveal the human side of Belchite Belchite became a battlefield twice Every fragment can reveal another layer of Belchite’s past The human cost beneath the ruins A landscape marked by two kinds of silence From Franco's memorial to an archaeological site On the edge of Zaragoza province, the remains of Belchite sit among dry grass and scrub, their broken walls exposed to the weather. Towers rise without roofs, doorways lead nowhere and sections of masonry have been left much as they were after the fighting. A newer settlement stands nearby, separated from the ruins by a road and by decades of ordinary life. Yet the old town has never quite become an ordinary archaeological site. Its damaged streets, trenches and scattered objects belong to one of the most violent periods in modern Spanish history. Beneath the soil, archaeologists continue to find small traces of the people who fought, worked and died here during the Spanish Civil War.Someone carried medicine. Someone lost a button. Someone kept a bottle close at hand. These fragments do not explain the entire conflict, but they show how it was experienced at ground level.Belchite was badly damaged during fighting in 1938, when Republican and Nationalist forces battled for control of the area. The town became one of the many places caught up in the wider conflict between supporters of Spain's Republican government and the forces led by General Francisco Franco.After the fighting, the original settlement was not rebuilt in the usual way. Franco ordered that the ruins remain standing. A new Belchite was constructed beside them, with much of the labour carried out by Republican prisoners captured during the war. The newer settlement was laid out according to the planning ideas of Franco's regime. Its straight streets and ordered blocks contrasted sharply with the irregular remains of the old town.Beneath the ruins archaeologists found traces of the battlefieldFor archaeologists, the most revealing parts of Belchite are not necessarily the towering ruins.
Some of the evidence lies almost invisibly beneath the vegetation.During archaeological work teams led by archaeologist Alfredo González-Ruibal worked across parts of the old battlefield. Excavation exposed the shape of a military trench, allowing researchers to reconstruct sections of a defensive position that had been used during the fighting.The trench had changed considerably over the decades. Soil had accumulated, vegetation had spread and later human activity had altered the landscape. But the basic outline was still recoverable.A machine-gun position on higher ground presented a different problem. Farmers had moved rocks into it over the years, obscuring the structure beneath the accumulated material. Archaeological work therefore involved more than simply looking for objects. In places, the landscape itself had to be carefully taken apart.According to the International Brigade Memorial Trust, there were cartridges and bullets, fragments of grenades and pieces of military equipment. Some have spent decades corroding in the soil. Their origins can sometimes be identified from their design and manufacture, offering clues about the weapons used by the opposing sides.Republican forces used ammunition and weapons supplied from several countries, including Soviet material. Nationalist forces received substantial military assistance from Germany and Italy. A cartridge recovered from the ground can therefore tell archaeologists something about the wider international dimension of the Spanish conflict.A rusted food tin speaks of someone who needed to eat. A medicine bottle points towards illness or injury. A piece of boot leather, a button or a broken bottle may appear almost insignificant, yet each belongs to the practical world of people living through the war. Among the finds are fragments of everyday belongings, including glass containers and personal items.The original battle may have ended decades ago, but the ground has continued to attract competing interpretations.Belchite was incorporated into the memory politics of Franco's Spain. Leaving the ruins intact created a physical reminder of the Nationalist victory and the destruction associated with Republican forces. The neighbouring new town, meanwhile, was built under the dictatorship.The people who constructed it included prisoners from the defeated Republican side.
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