Exploring the Dynamics of Occupation between Resilience and Abandonment in Two Post-Classic Rural Landscapes on the Iberian Peninsula

Julia Sarabia-Bautista ()
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Julia Sarabia-Bautista: University Institute for Research in Archeology and Historical Heritage (INAPH), University of Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-22

Abstract: In this paper, we present a comparison of two rural landscapes in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, where the dynamics of occupation have differed since the end of the ancient world in terms of both the degree of resilience of settlements and the land use. Our purpose was to explore the social, political, economic, and environmental factors that could explain why there has been a long-term cross-cultural occupation of some resilient sites and landscapes for almost a millennium, while there have been only very specific temporary occupations in other areas. The first part of this paper describes the archaeological investigations carried out by means of intensive survey methods, geophysics, and some excavations in peripheral and peri-urban spaces. In the second part, we reflect on whether the use of the same methodology in all cases allows us to compare and understand what makes societies sustainable (or not) over time through their archaeological record.

Keywords: landscape archaeology; off-site surveys; historical land uses; agrarian practices; Late Antiquity; Middle Ages; Al-Andalus; “Campos de Hellín”; Balazote River Valley (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:4:p:768-:d:1109900

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