Stone balls and projectiles
Their weight ranges between 5 and 150 kg.
Stone balls and projectiles
What catches the eye the most about A Rocha is the huge amount of missiles from catapults or trebuchets found throughout the archaeological site which were hurled by both assailants and defenders of the castle. The weight of these ball rocks ranges between150 kg and 5 kg, which indicates that that pasavolantes and bombardetas cannons were also used.
Medieval fighting was not based on body to body combat in spite of its idealisation by chivalric romance. What was essential was to conquer fortified enclaves, the destruction of their defences, bringing down their towers and gaining access to strongholds. To this end, machines of war were used: catapults or trebuchets that hurled stone balls that pierced the walls of the castle or were the response from the castle to break through the siege.
These machines of war often had a dissuasive, power which meant that their mere presence sometimes led defenders to surrender the castle without opposing resistance. There is yet another military device used in sieges of which there is evidence in A Rocha: the siege tower of belfry. A moving wooden tower used to approach the top of the walls and enter the fortress.
these rocks are all from the final attacks of the Irmandiños against the fortresses. There were also gunpowder artillery weapons, especially bombards and falconets, so state-of-the-art weapons were used at this time alongside other, more basic and primitive arms. Indeed, assailants and defenders often resorted to boulders, which were abundantly unearthed during the excavations.
