Archaeological landscapes and long-term settlements in the Perputxent valley (eastern Iberia): Exploring land use strategies and sustainability in a Mediterranean mountain area

Abstract

In this paper, we present the long-term occupation of the Perputxent Valley with the purpose of exploring the factors that could explain the long-lasting and trans-cultural occupation of resilient sites and landscapes for nearly two millennia. The first part describes the archaeological research carried out based on remote sensing and intensive coverage survey methods and geoarchaeological analysis. The characterisation of the intensive agricultural uses has been studied from the geochemical analysis of the soil and sedimentary record. The objective is to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental processes and the possible evidence of the agricultural practices. This research has identified the residential spaces, the sites and the agrarian land-uses, especially intensive farmlands. The second part analyses the evidence of this long-term settlements in the context of the archaeological, ethnographic and historical record of the region. Understanding these practices of agriculture and land-use can contribute to understandings of what makes societies sustainable.