Materialities and memories of the Spanish Civil War: an approach to Bilbao’s Iron Belt through digital humanities

Abstract War heritage memorialisation is a complex process because of the traumatic nature of warfare. One paradigmatic example is the mythic Iron Belt, a fortified line defending Bilbao during the Spanish Civil War. Over the years, it has become a political instrument in disseminating different war visions. The large scale of industrial warfare is an added challenge: a complex fortification as the Iron Belt may extend over kilometres, thus displaying diverse memorialisation dynamics. Our work tackles these challenges by deploying a novel Digital Humanities framework designed to record, study, and interpret 4 areas of the Iron Belt archaeological remains. The framework defines a geospatial database model to be analysed using Geographical Information Systems and Data Visualization techniques. Results suggest divergent heritage managements with a markedly local character due to the political, economic, and social background. Local entities and associations also play a leading role as pioneers in initiating these processes.