Los Pedregales (Lupiñén-Ortilla, Huesca): Contribución al conocimiento del poblamiento altomedieval en la Hoya de Huesca

Abstract

The Visigothic and Paleo Islamic settlement system in the Ebro Valley (NE Spain) is yet not well known. This is due to the lack of research and low visibility of the settlements, but not to an effective demographic recession. In this paper we present the results of our research in Los Pedregales archaeological site, in Huesca Province. The site appears as a complex assemblage of archaeological artifacts from different chronologies (Roman, Early Middle Ages, Modern...) and numerous stone structures in a severely eroded terrain. Within the framework of a geoarchaeological research, we carried out an intensive surface survey and the excavation of some of the structures. Thus, we interpret the main phase of the site as an assemblage of storage pits dated between the 6th and the 9th Centuries AD. This is new data for the improvement of our understanding of past rural landscapes and the scattered peasant communities that dwelled in them. In this paper, we describe and interpret the studied structures, we study the most relevant artifacts recovered-mainly pottery- and we set the site in the context of the general settlement system and historical processes that affect this territory.