Dynamic Landscapes on the Margins: Changes in Settlement and Resource Management Practices in the Mountains of Southwestern Europe (16th-20th Centuries)

90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA 2025)

Colorado. Estados Unidos
Congreso. 2025

In Europe, numerous rural regions are frequently interpreted as "marginal" or "peripheral" in relation to the significant transformations that occurred during the 16th-21st centuries. This idea is largely due to the fact that the material evidence of “modernization” is less visible than in major urban and commercial centers. Nevertheless, a comprehensive examination through the frameworks of Landscape Archaeology and Environmental Archaeology reveals the significant dynamism of these spaces and their intimate linkage with global transformations. This contribution aims to present a reading of a rural area in Asturias (southwestern Europe), a region that is geographically distant from the major Spanish ports and cities of the Modern period. By employing a multi-scale and long-term methodology, the profound transformations in settlements and in the management of environmental resources since the 16th century can be elucidated. This approach enables the reconstruction of the long processes that give rise to significant challenges in contemporary rural Europe, including depopulation and the erosion of collective rights over resources.

Western Europe. Landscape Archaeology. Historical Archaeology. Management of Environmental Resources. Settlement Patterns.