Geografia, Prehistoria y Arqueologia

"LIBRO DISPONIBLE PARA INTERCAMBIOS

On the 20th and 21st of November 2008, the international conference “Archaeology of the villages in the Early Middle Ages” was held at the Faculty of Arts of University of the Basque Country. The conference was organized by the Medieval and Postmedieval Archaeology Researching Group of the University of the Basque Country, in the framework of the researching project “La génesis del paisaje medieval en el Norte Peninsular: Arqueología de las aldeas de los siglos V al XII. The origin of the medieval landscape in the North of the Iberian Peninsula. Archaeology of villages from the 5th 13th centuries” (HUM2006-02556), financed by the Ministry of Education and Science in the scope of the National Plan of Scientific Research, Development and Technologic Innovation (I+D+I), inside the National Program of General Promotion of the Knowledge.
The aim of this conference has been to make a critical evaluation of the last years of researches made in Europe around the archaeology of the villages, main theme to understand the early medieval landscapes and the management of the Archaeological Heritage. The works made during the last years in several European sectors have shown that the main part of the current cities and towns have been founded in the Early Middle Ages, so that is in this period where we should recognize the origins of the nowadays landscapes.
We have been working from ten years within the early medieval villages of the Iberian Peninsula, a systematic way, especially in the framework of the professional archaeology. In this conference, we wanted to unite the main interventions made in this sphere, establishing a comparative analysis with other mature experiences that have taken place in other European sectors.
The conference has been articulated into three sessions, the Early Medieval Villages in the European context, the Early Medieval Villages in Spain and Villages and Agrarian Spaces.

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In this paper it is made a synthesis about the development of the territory of Alava in the High Middle Ages. In special, it is defended that the formation of a stable villages net from the VIII century on, has meant a meaningful cut in the social development of the settlement of Alava. For that reason it is analyzed, in a synthetic way, the antecedents of the villa- ges, making clear that around the 450 it has been produced a deep transformation of the ways of space occupation in favour of the marginal areas and around new guidelines of territory hierarchies. The consoli- dation of new territorial powers involves the creation around the 750 of a net of economically very complex villages, that have remained in their majority until nowadays. Likewise it is detected the existence of inner social differentiation forms from the IX-X centuries on.

The present work analyses the building techniques used in the city
of Pisa in the Early Middle Ages. Four ecclesiastical constructions are precisely studied (San Piero a Grado, San Zeno, Santa Cristina,
San Matteo), leading to the understanding of the transformations that have taken place in the organizational structure of the architectural production. It is also paid specific attention to the constructive materials, to the diachronic evolution of the building techniques in the territory of Pisa and to the zeal that has supposed the realization of the Early Middle Ages religious architecture through the analysis of the volumetric dimensions of these constructions. Lastly, a social reading of the architectural production from the 5th to the 10th centuries is carried out.

"In this paper, the pottery found in the caves of Los Husos during the recent archaeological works of J. Fernández Eraso, is briefly analyzed. It is a domestic occupation, dated in the Vth and the beginning of the VIth centuries.
Likewise, it is made a critical valuation of the historiography of the cave occupations during the historical period in the Basque Country, taking into account other European recent works.
Finally, an interpretative proposal of the meaning of the occupation of Lus Husos is made, in the context of the social transformations that took place during the Early Middle Ages."

As in other countries in southern Europe, medieval archaeology in Spain is a young discipline. The predominance of prehistoric and Classical archaeology in academe has conditioned the study of medieval societies on the basis of the archaeological record. It is only in the last 30 years that medieval archaeology has undergone a significant quantitative and qualitative development. This paper presents a brief analysis of the discipline’s historiography and of the main subjects studied, and considers the main challenges currently posed by the development of the subject.

"En esta comunicación se defiende la necesidad de desarrollar una arqueología de los despoblados en Álava con el fin de analizar la formación del paisaje medieval y las transformaciones sociales que han tenido lugar en la fase final de la Alta Edad Media.
En particular se plantea que el único procedimiento válido para llevar a cabo el reconocimiento de estos yacimientos es el empleo de excavaciones en grandes extensiones que permitan identificar estructuras y elementos que no tienen visibilidad en superficie.
Se presentan, igualmente, los resultados de la primera campaña de excavaciones en el despoblado de Zornoztegi (Salvatierra-Agurain)."

A study which examines the use of space and changing settlement patterns in the area of Luca in Northern Tuscany in the early Middle Ages. Based on historical and archaeological records, Juan A Quiros studies four different areas within Luca, revealing the history of the formation of dioceses between the 10th and 12th centuries and tracing the social, geographical and settlement changes that took place. This study is then placed within a Tuscan and then within an Italian context.

In this paper, the implications of theoretical nature arised from the systematic use of carbon-dating dates in studying material record of non-monu- mental character are discussed, as for example, the peasant archaeology.
Likewise, the different temporal scales used by the history made with texts and the history made with objects are analyzed, as well as the ope- rative and conceptual problems arised from them.
Finally, it is analyzed the construction process of the archaeological record in historical time from the use of radiocarbonic dates, from our expe- rience about the intervention protocols (why we need to date, the selection of contexts and samples, the interpretation). We propose some examples of analysis that show all the complexity and utility of this tool, focusing in the datation of several early medieval domestic units of the site of Aistra

The objective of this paper is to analyze the changes undergone by medieval rural societies in the Basque Country on the basis of archaeological digs undertaken in the last few years. Three types of archaeological evidence are presented and discussed: the cultivation spaces (manuring processes, terraced spaces), the storage structures and the species cultivated. These findings allow a diachronic characterization of Basque rural landscapes, with emphasis on the region of Alava during the 5th-12th centuries. The agrarian techniques documented allow us to propose the existence of a well-structured landscape in the Early Middle Ages, which changed in the 8th century due to the creation of dense village networks. Income silos which resulted in a reorientation of production activities in the framework of a feudal-type social system, are found towards the end of the millennium

This text provides a summary on Archaeology in the Early Middle Ages in North-Eastern Spain (Cantabria, Biscay, Guipuzcoa, Navarre, North of Burgos, Alava and La Rioja). The text is divided into two main parts. The first presents an overall assessment and a summary of the most recent results concerning archaeological actions undertaken in recent decades. Then, there are three thematic chapters dedicated to several territories where in-depth studies have been performed

This paper analyses the results of the recent practice of peasant archaeology in Spain in relation to interventions carried out in Europe. The circumstances as well as some of the most significant results obtained from the archaeological study of villages in several sectors of the continent are studied. This is followed by the study of peasant archaeology in the north of Spain from a variety of viewpoints. To this end, we shall avail of a historiographic analysis to reveal the bases on which village archaeology has been built; a sociological analysis to help us understand the development of this archaeological practice within the framework of heritage management; and an historical analysis allowing us to understand the social transformations of landscape. Last of all, some of the main problems currently under study by specialists in this subject are discussed.1

En este trabajo se realiza una primera síntesis sobre las intervenciones arqueológicas realizadas en las aldeas altomedievales del País Vasco. Concretamente se presen- tan los principales casos analizados en extensión en los últimos años, especialmente en el territorio alavés, y se propone una periodización en los procesos de configura- ción de los paisajes medievales alaveses. Se pueden atri- buir al 450 y al 700 aproximadamente, una serie de gran- jas y aldeas de pequeña entidad, en un contexto en el que carecemos hasta el momento de fuertes evidencias mate- riales relativas a aristocracias en el territorio. Hacia el 700 se configura una densa red de aldeas y se hace patente una reconfiguración social de los paisajes, mediante la afirmación de nuevas redes aristocráticas.1

En esta ponencia se presentan brevemente los resultados del proyecto arqueológico que la Universidad del País Vasco está realizando en Treviño desde el año 2007. Más concretamente se presentan los aspectos básicos del diseño del proyecto arqueológico, las secuencias ocupacionales y una síntesis de
los resultados más importantes. Se constata que Treviño fue fundado en el siglo X por parte de un grupo aristocrático laico que promovió la concentración del poblamiento en un centro fortificado, proceso que puede ser conceptualizado dentro del paradigma de incastellamento clásico, tal y como fue
definido en su día por Toubert. En el siglo XII se construyó la iglesia de Santa María, probablemente identificable con la de San Clemente que aparece en el fuero de 1254, y una potente construcción militar en la cima de la colina. En el siglo XIII se produjo la definitiva consolidación del asentamiento al
pie de monte y se creó una dualidad entre el uso señorial del castillo y el burgo.