Summary
Pastoralism has been the main economic activity that has shaped the high mountain traditional cultural landscape. However, the material remains of it are usually reduced to the footings of hundreds of small temporary huts and dry-stone enclosures. This structures usually offer little evidences about the livestock exploitation system to which they were associated and are difficult to interpret. A multidisciplinary approach can shed new light. Geographical and ecological studies show us that aspects like type of relief, climate and altitude of the grasslands are important to understand the development of diverse forms of livestock management. The type and breed of cattle raised and the productive orientations of animal husbandry have also to be considered. Other sources like the ethnographic and documentary records or place-names can provide valuable information. This paper points out how the use of different terms to designate pastoral settlements in the summer pastures at the Aragonese Pyrenees suggest diverse herding strategies in the past. Also, the importance of studying documents that regulated the communal use of the uplands is exposed in order to interpret the archaeological record of the pastoral activities in the highlands.
Keywords
Pastoralism. Pyrenees. Ethnoarchaeology.