The Source of The Alacrán (Los Brianes, Corvera): From spring of public use to private mine

Abstract

We analyze the physical and historical characteristics of the traditional human and agricultural use of the Fuente del Alacrán, a water source that was located north of the hamlet of Los Brianes in the Corvera district (Murcia), on the bed of the so-called Rambla del Escobedo, once known as Rambla de la Fuente del Alacrán. The physical evidence appreciated through fieldwork shows the presence of up to four different systems of water supply in the aforementioned riverbed for centuries. However, although all the channellings found are addressed, due to the better conservation of the work and the greater availability of historical documentation, we study here fundamentally the one that corresponds to a water mine built in the middle of the 19th century by Nicolás Dato Rosique as supply method of his state in Los Brianes. In this way, it is added to the regional inventory another traditional system for capturing sub-surface waters in semi-arid environments where the underground galleries, with or without luminaries, completed the scarce water resources.