Archaeology and Social Processes (IH, CCHS)

""El artículo revisa los resultados obtenidos en el proyecto “Minería y Civitates en el Noreste de Portugal (Bragança, Guarda y Castelo Branco)” (MinCiNEP I), dentro del cual se han analizado áreas portuguesas con el objetivo de detectar los procesos de transformación derivados de la conquista romana. Se ha puesto especial interés en la identificación de minería romana, pero integrada dentro de la ocupación y explotación del territorio.
This articles reviews the results of the project «Research and valorisation of mining areas and civitates in NE Portugal (Bragança, Guarda and Castelo Branco districts bordering with Spain) (MinCiNEP)». Within it, archaeological areas of bordering Portugal have been studied, in order to detect processes of transformation witnessed on the Spanish side after the Roman conquest. Special attention has been paid to the identification of Roman mining activity, understood within an integrated view of settlement and territory. Likewise, Roman epigraphy from these areas has been revised
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Little is known about the impact of human activities during Roman times on NW Iberian mining landscapes beyond the geomorphological transformations brought about by the use of hydraulic power for gold extraction. We present the high-resolution pollen record of La Molina mire, located in an area intensely used for gold mining (Asturias, NW Spain), combined with other proxy data from the same peat core to identify different human activities, evaluate the strategies followed for the management of the resources and describe the landscape response to human disturbances. We reconstructed the timing and synchronicity of landscape changes of varying intensity and form occurred before, during and after Roman times. An open landscape was prevalent during the local Late Iron Age, a period of relatively environmental stability. During the Early Roman Empire more significant vegetation shifts took place, reflected by changes in both forest (Corylus and Quercus) and heathland cover, as mining/metallurgy peaked and grazing and cultivation increased. In the Late Roman Empire, the influence of mining/metallurgy on landscape change started to disappear. This decoupling was further consolidated in the Germanic period (i.e., Visigothic and Sueve domination of the region), with a sharp decrease in mining/metallurgy but continued grazing. Although human impact was intense in some periods, mostly during the Early Roman Empire, forest regeneration occurred afterwards: clearances were local and short-lived. However, the Roman mining landscape turned into an agrarian one at the onset of the Middle Ages, characterized by a profound deforestation at a regional level due to a myriad of human activities that resulted in an irreversible openness of the landscape.

This articles reviews the results of the project «Research and valorisation of mining areas and civitates in NE Portugal (Bragança, Guarda and Castelo Branco districts bordering with Spain) (MinCiNEP)». Within it, archaeological areas of bordering Portugal have been studied, in order to detect processes of transformation witnessed on the Spanish side after the Roman conquest. Special attention has been paid to the identification of Roman mining activity, understood within an integrated view of settlement and territory. Likewise, Roman epigraphy from these areas has been revised.