ULP.PILAEMA · Urban Landscapes of Power in the Iberian Peninsula from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

Urban Landscapes of Power in the Iberian Peninsula from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

Debates around late antique societies have drawn renewed interest today from archaeological approaches, and the attention given to this period from the 5th to the 8th centuries is the result of a number of present-day issues closely related to urban landscape and long-term change in the human occupation of space. The aim of this proposal is to examine the interaction of new elites on urban life between the late Roman and early Middle Ages through the study of the main components of townscape. The project is articulated around a series of key case studies from Spain selected for their actual and potential contribution to offering a more secure image of architecture and topography throughout Late Antiquity (Barcelona, Toledo, Reccopolis, Idanha-a-Velha, Valencia, Oviedo). Taken together, the archaeological research presents a coherent and up-to-date perspective of how cities were transformed via new symbolic places. The goal is exploring the ways in which topographies of governance were configured and to identify urban patterns comparing with other representative examples in Europe. It is important to know that archaeology can discover and trace some social and urban processes similar to those that happens today. Transitional periods such as Late Antiquity are generally understood to be the result of serious crises induced by traumatic events (e.g. wars, invasions, natural disasters) or of gradual but intense adaptation to situations that lead to new social, urban and cultural contexts. The major migrations involving so-called barbarian societies and transformations that took place on the economic systems of post-Roman in Western Europe make it an attractive period to study. After the failure of the political and economic model established by the Roman Empire administration, various ideological and physical conflicts broke out in Mediterranean societies in order to re-establish a balance between resource exploitation, trade, territories and populations. The city’s architecture as representation of power has long been used intentionally to define relationships among individuals, groups, cities, and governments. Christianity also was one of the long-term phenomena involved in the transformation of Roman urban societies and their territories. Material expressions of governance were reflected in the landscape of several late antique Iberian cities through transformation and planning of new spaces, and nowadays recuperated by archaeological practice.The research strategy is to study the townscape and the main topographic phenomena such as the Christianization of society and the strengthening new (Visigoths) elites that have influenced the emergence of late antique and early medieval cities. Thus it is important to have an understanding of late Roman city since the earlier settlement will have heavily influenced to subsequence models.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union