These cannonballs are made of limestone and have a caliper of 7cm and 18cm, respectively. One of them was found when digging inside the cistern of the Medieval castle of Zorita (central Spain) in 2017 and the other attached...
These cannonballs are made of limestone and have a caliper of 7cm and 18cm, respectively. One of them was found when digging inside the cistern of the Medieval castle of Zorita (central Spain) in 2017 and the other attached to one of to the castle walls in 2014. Both were in contexts of the first half of the XVth century and were very likely shot by a bombarda and a bombardeta.
Firearms were begun to be used in the Iberian Peninsula only a bit more than a century before. Gunpowder came to Spain through the Arabs, who took it from the Chinese. First written notice of its use in Spain dates from 1262, at the siege of the city of Niebla. A text of 1491 mentions that some firearms were kept in the castle of Zorita, like “thunder”, “bombardas”, “espingardones”, “espingardas” and “fusleras”.