Spanish views from a small town

It was only a small blurb in the news, but it was striking. Since it concerned history, and medieval history at that, it didn't hit the headlines and would not have been noticed, even, if it weren't for the amount of money involved. This past week the Spanish medievalist, Ana Rodriguez, a member of the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) was awarded a grant of 2.5 million euros from the European Research Council. That is an unusual amount for a grant, especially one on the Humanities. Her object is to conduct research into the reason stone began to be used in buildings from 1050 onwards. Her plan is to invest five years of research with ten or fifteen co-workers in the area from the Christian kingdoms of Spain, to southern France, to Italy.  So many possible reasons spring to my mind to have switched from using perishable wood to imperishable stone. Europe a thousand years ago was undergoing a transformation, much like now. One might say that a thousand yea...