Ocupación y uso del territorio en el sector centromeridional de la cuenca del duero entre la antigüedad y la alta edad media (siglos I-XI D.C.)

Abstract

The authors propose an overview of the dynamics of settlement and land use in the region between the Central System and the territory south of the Duero River. The time span is the period between the Roman establishment and the Early Middle Ages. In order to study the settlement patterns, data from a field survey contained in the provincial inventories have been used. In addition, information from recent excavations in rural and urban sites has also been taken into account. Based on this data, a quantitative evaluation of land use in the Amblés Valley (Ávila) has been attempted. To do so, Geographical Information Systems have been applied in order to measure land exploitation. As a complement, palaeopalynological data both from peat bogs and from samples from archaeological sites have been added. The paper focuses on the agropastoral transformations that took place from the Flavian colonization up to the Early Middle Ages. The main aspects discussed following a diachronic point of view are: the spread of the rural habitat, the increasing agrarian intensification and the growing specialization of production.