The fans were workshops to convert iron into metal. They were used in the Basque Country from the 5th century B.C. to the 15th century B.C. – even after the beginning of the use of water in the traverses – this system of steel production, which in our country spanned 2,000 years, was therefore like a prehistoric blast furnace.

The Archaeological Group of the Museum of Metaculture of the Basque Country began its study of the winds 15 years ago, at the request of the Basque Government, seeing that many of them were in danger from being underground. In order to protect this archaeological heritage, it was first considered necessary to carry out the recount, and the number of CAV’s wind turbines known so far has been quintupled: 170 sites have been catalogued in Bizkaia, 150 in Gipuzkoa and 25 in Álava.

The type of oven that will change the story

Javier Franco, head of the archaeological team and a researcher at the UPV/EHU, explains that in Europe they have also found “an unparalleled type of furnace”: they were in the form of wide-mouth vessels that survived until the Middle Ages to the more recent form brought by the Romans. This peculiarity, says Franco, alters the theory about the evolution of ovens in Europe.

On the other hand, the investigation has shown that Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa were “first class” steel producers, whereas in Álava this material was imported as ceramics were exported.