This research group was created in 1989, it studies the Islamic presence on the land that would later be occupied by the Nasrid kingdom (basically the present provinces of Granada, Malaga and Almeria) and of the transformations that took place after the Castilian conquest. This historical period covers two differently defined societies, the first of them a tribute-trading one, and the second feudal and proto-capitalist. The breakup that led to the installation of the Castilians made the kingdom an excellent place for appreciating this confrontation process, which, although it was expressed in the key political (Nasrid and Castilian states) and religious (Islam-Christian) areas, goes much deeper than this, as it concerns two structurally different realities.

The research projects and the organised scientific activities reflect these interests. Within these, the main topics covered, always within the medieval period (Muslim and Christian as explained previously) are as follows:

• Within toponymy: publication of Arab documents and studies of major and minor toponymy.
• Within medieval archaeology: the settlement, the ceramics, urban development and specific elements within them, such as castles and the Nasrid palace par excellence, the Alhambra, as well as the organisation of the spaces for economic exploitation (agricultural, pastoral, etc.).
• Within medieval history: social structures and Nasrid and Castilian economics from the analysis of productive spaces (distribution of ownership of the land, social sharing of water, Christian re-settlement and formation of Castilian estates).