Resumo
Mountainous landscapes constitute an exciting meeting point for archaeologists aiming to engage with other academic disciplines, such as Geography, Anthropology, Earth Sciences, History, or GIScience. Interdisciplinary research developed on the uplands has grown substantially within the last few decades, deconstructing traditional views on the mountains as barely anthropized and peripheral landscapes through history. Since 2017, we have conducted archaeological research in the upland region of Babia (León, Spain), in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Iberia). Aiming to fill the voids in the archaeological knowledge about the diachronic occupation of these mountains, we have carried out extensive remote sensing surveys, field-walking and geophysics prospections, and archaeological excavations. The data gathered flagship the relevance of the anthropogenic impact in these considered ‘remote’ or ‘marginal’ areas, in addition to the complexity of the anthropization processes. In this paper, we will reflect on how interdisciplinary research on upland landscapes driven by archaeological questions can widen our horizons on relevant debates for Iberian history such as the earliest spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Late Prehistory, the Roman conquest, the economic basis for the Medieval and Modern expansion of the Spanish cities, the impact of globalized contemporary markets in the decline of rural Spanish areas, or the recent climate crisis.