The Archaeology of Pastoralism in the Central Pyrenees
A Diachronic Analysis of Livestock Structures in Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.23767Keywords:
archaeology of pastoralism, architectural structures, ethnoarchaeology mountain areas, Pyrenees, seasonal pastoral sitesAbstract
This study investigates changes in human occupation and pastoralism in a zone of the central Pyrenees (Spain) from their first occurrences to the present day, based on an analysis of archaeological structures recorded at sites in the study area. Huts, enclosures, rock-shelters and other architectural remains were analysed and compared in order to develop a typological classification, and morphological similarities and differences between sites in terms of size and number of structures were also noted. The study proposes a sociohistorical interpretation of the differences in the archaeological record within a long-term chronological framework, in this way building a historical sequence of livestock practices and human occupation in the Pyrenees.
References
Angelucci, D., L. Casagrande, A.L. Collechia and M. Rottoli 2013 APSAT II. Paesaggi d’altura del Trentino. Evoluzione naturale e aspetti Culturali. Trento: AP Società Archeologica s.r.l.
Barker, G., and A. Grant 1991 Ancient and modern pastoralism in central Italy: an interdisciplinary study in the Cicolano mountains. Papers of the British School at Rome 59: 15-88. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068246200009673
Bolòs, J., and V. Hurtado 2012 Atles dels comtats de Pallars i Ribagorca. Barcelona: Dalmau.
Bosch Gimpera, P. 1919 Prehistòria Catalana: Edats de la Pedra i dels Metalls, colonització grega, etnografia. Barcelona: Editorial Catalana.
Bringué, J.M. 1996 Comunitats i bens comunals al Pallars Sobira, segles XV-XVIII. Butlletí de la Societat Catalana d’Estudis Historics 7: 115-28.
Carrer, F. 2013 An ethnoarchaeological inductive model for predicting archaeological site location: a case-study of pastoral settlement patterns in the Val Di Fiemme and Val Di Sole (Trentino, Italian Alps). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32: 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2012.10.001
Herding strategies, dairy economy and seasonal sites in the southern alps: ethnoarchaeological inferences and archaeological implications. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 28: 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v28i1.27499
Carrer, F., and D. Angelucci 2018 Continuity and discontinuity in the history of upland pastoral landscapes: the case study of Val Molinac and Val Poré (Val di Sole, Trentino, eastern Italian Alps). Landscape Research 43: 862-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2017.1390078
Catalán, J., A. Pèlachs, E. Gassiot … D. Rodríguez and A. Sáez 2013 Interacción entre clima y ocupación humana en la configuración del paisaje vegetal del Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici a lo largo de los últimos 15.000 años. In Proyectos de Investigación en Parques Nacionales, 2009-2012, 71-93. Madrid: Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales.
Chang, C., and H.A. Koster 1986 Beyond bones: toward an archaeology of pastoralism. In M.B. Schiffer (ed.), Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 9: 97-148. London: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-003109-2.50006-4
Chang, C., and P.A. Tourtellotte 1993 Ethnoarchaeological survey of pastoral transhumance sites in the Grevena region, Greece. Journal of Field Archaeology 20: 249-64. https://doi.org/10.1179/009346993791549192
Chevalier, M. 1951 Vacheries, cabanes et orrys: essai de typologie pastorale. Pirineos 19-20: 309-31.
Cribb, R. 1991 Nomads in Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511552205
Cots, P. 2003 Los primeros pobladores: un paisaje en tranformación. In A. Esteban (ed.), La humanizacion de las altas cuencas de la Garona y las Nogueras (4.500 aC – 1955 dC), 43-143. Madrid: Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales.
David, N., and C. Kramer 2001 Ethnoarchaeology in Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316036488
Everitt, B., S. Landau, M. Leese and D. Stahl 2011 Cluster Analysis. New York: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470977811
Gallant, T.W. 1986 Background noise and site definition: a contribution to survey methodology. Journal of Field Archaeology 13: 403-18. https://doi.org/10.1179/jfa.1986.13.4.403
Galop, D., L. Carozza, F. Marembert and M-C. Bal 2007 Activités agropastorales et climat durant l’Âge du Bronze dans les Pyrénées: l’état de la question à la lumière des données environnementales et archéologiques. In C. Mordant, H. Richard and M. Magny (eds.), Environnements et cultures à l’Âge du Bronze en Europe occidentale. Congrès National des Sociétés Historiques et Scientifiques 129; Documents Préhistoriques 21: 107-19. Paris: CTHS.
Garcia Casas, D. 2013 Aproximación al poblamiento de las zonas de alta montaña pirenaicas desde la arqueologia y la etnografía. Saguntum 45: 221-39. https://doi.org/10.7203/SAGVNTVM.45.2006
Arqueologia d’un territori d’alta muntanya del Pirineu Central. Persones, ramats i prats al llarg de la Història al Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. Online: https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/mostrarref.do?Ref=1719432.
Garcia Casas, D., E. Gassiot, N. Mazzuco, L. Obea Gómez, E. Puig and D. Rodríguez Antón 2015a On són els vius? El poblament de l’Alt Pirineu occidental durant el IIon i Ier Mil·lenni calANE. In La Transició Bronze Final – 1a Edat Del Ferro en els Pirineus i territoris veïns. 15th Colloqui Internacional d’Arqueologia de Puigcerdà, 153-66. Puigcerdà, Spain: Institut d’Estudis Ceretans.
Garcia Casas, D., M. Oliva and E. Gassiot Ballbè 2015b Assentaments ramaders d’alta muntanya al Pallars i l’Alta Ribagorça: Aparició i Canvis Durant l’antiguitat tardana i l’Edat Mitjana (Segles IV-XIV). In V Congrés d’arqueologia Medival i Moderna a Catalunya, 603-14. Barcelona: Associació Catalana per la Recerca en Arqueologia Medieval.
Gassiot Ballbè, E. 2016 Montañas Humanizadas. Arqueología del pastoralismo en el Parque Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. Madrid: Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales.
Gassiot Ballbè, E., I. Clemente Conte, N. Mazzucco, D. Garcia Casas, L. Obea Gómez and D. Rodríguez Antón 2016 Surface surveying in high mountain areas, is it possible? Some methodological considerations. Quaternary International 402: 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.09.103
Gassiot Ballbè, E., and D. Garcia Casas 2014 Històries d’ovelles i pastures. Arqueologia dels darrers segles de ramaderia a l’alta muntanya. Afers: Fulls de Recerca i Pensament 78: 451-70.
Gassiot Ballbè, E., D. Garcia Casas, J. Nunes Alonso and G. Salvador Baigues 2020 Modelización de territorios ganaderos en la alta montaña al final del neolítico: una integración de análisis espacial e información etnográfica. Trabajos de Prehistoria 77: 48-66. https://doi.org/10.3989/tp.2020.12246
Gassiot Ballbè, E., N. Mazzuco, I. Clemente Conte, D. Rodríguez Antón, L. Obea Gómez, M. Quesada Carrasco and S. Díaz 2017 The beginning of high mountain occupations in the Pyrenees: human settlements and mobility from 18,000 Cal bc to 2000 Cal bc. In J. Catalán, J. Ninot and M. Aniz (eds.), High Mountain Conservation in a Changing World, 75-105. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55982-7_4
Gassiot Ballbé, E., N. Mazzuco, L. Obea Gómez, N. Tarifa Mateo, F. Antolín, X. Clop, V. Navarrete Belda and M. Saña Seguí 2015 La Cova del Sardo de Boí i l’explotació de l’alta muntanya als Pirineus occidentals. Tribuna d’Arqueologia 2012-2013, 199-218. Barcelona: Departament de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya.
Gassiot Ballbè, E., and A. Pèlachs Mañosa 2017 La ocupación ganadera de los pirineos occidentales de Catalunya en época romana e inicios de la Edad Media. Treballs d’Arqueologia 21: 287-306. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/tda.71
González Álvarez, D. 2019 The need to understand the cultural biographies of alpine and subalpine landscapes during later prehistory: upland archaeology in the Cantabrian mountains. Quadernos de Investigación Geográfica 45: 143-65. https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.3824
Greenfield, H. 1999 The advent of transhumant pastoralism in the temperate southeast Europe: a zooarchaeological perspective from the central Balkans. In L. Bartosiewicz and H. Greenfield (eds.), Transhumant Pastoralism in Southern Europe: Recent Perspectives from Archaeology, History, and Ethnography, 15-36. Budapest: Archaeolingua Publishers.
Guillot, F. 2015 Rapport de sondages archéologiques et décapages aux Orris de Jean Lamic et à l’Ouriote (Vallée de Soulcem - Auzat - Ariège). Online: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-%0A00769263/file/rapportorris2012.pdf%0A.
Jiménez Zamora, J. 2007 La imagen de los espacios de alta montaña en la Prehistoria: el caso de los Pirineos Catalanes Occidentales. Unpublished MA dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
Jimeno, A 2001 El modelo de trashumancia aplicado a la cultura de Cogotas I. In M. Ruiz Gálvez (ed.), La Edad del Bronce: ¿primera Edad de Oro de España?: Sociedad, Economía e Ideología, 139-80. Barcelona: Crítica.
Le Couédic, M. 2010 Les pratiques pastorales d’altitude dans une perspective ethnoarchéologique. Cabanes, troupeaux et territoires pastoraux pyrénéens dans la longue durée. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Université de Tours, France. Online: https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00543218/
Mazzuco, N., I. Clemente Conte and E. Gassiot Ballbè 2019 Lost in the mountains? The Cova Del Sardo and the Neolithisation of the southern central Pyrenees (fifth-third millennium Cal bc). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11: 1461-75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0603-0
Moe, D., F. Fedele, A. Engan Maude and M. Kvamme 2007 Vegetation changes and human presence in the low alpine and subalpine zone in Val Febbraro, upper Valle Spluga (Italian central Alps), from the Neolithic to the Roman period. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 16: 431-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-006-0088-0
Obea Gómez, L., M. Celma Martínez, R. Piqué Huerta … N. Mazzucco and D. Garcia Casas 2021 Firewood-gathering strategies in high mountain areas of the Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici (central Pyrenees) during prehistory. Quaternary International 593-94: 129-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.044
Palet Martínez, J.M., A. Garcia Molsosa, H.A. Orengo Romeu and T. Polonio Alamino 2017 Els espais altimontans pirenaics orientals a l’antiguitat: 10 anys d’estudis en arqueologia del paisatge del GIAP-ICAC. Treballs d’Arqueologia 21: 77-97. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/tda.59
Reimer, P., W. Austin, E. Bard … A. Sookdeo and S. Talamo 2020 The IntCal20 northern hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62: 725-57. https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41
Rendu, C. 2003 La Montagne d’Enveig. Une estive pyrénéenne dans la longue durée. Canet, France: Trabucaire.
La question des orris à partir des fouilles archéologiques de la montagne d’Enveig (Cerdagne): état des recherches et éléments de réflexion. In A. Rouselle and M. Marandet (eds.), Le paysage rural et ses acteurs première journée d’étude du Centre de Recherches Historiques sur les Sociétés Méditerranéennes, 245-77. Perpignan, France: Université de Perpignan. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pupvd.28942
Rendu, C., C. Calastrenc, M. Le Couédic and A. Berdoy 2016 Estives d’Ossau, 7000 ans de pastoralisme dans les Pyrénées. Toulouse: Le Pas d’oiseau.
Ros, I. 2016 Notes per a una etnografia de la vida pastoral a cavall dels S. XVI-XVII, a la ciutat de Lleida. Unpublished paper presented at I Congres de Transhumancia i camins ramaders de Catalunya, Lleida, Spain.
Stagno, A.M. 2016 Seasonal settlements and husbandry resources in the Ligurian Apennines (17th–20th centuries). In J. Collis, M. Pearce, and F. Nicolis (eds.), Summer Farms: Seasonal Exploitation of the Uplands from Prehistory to the Present, 67-88. Sheffield: Equinox.
Trebsche, P. 2009 Does form follow function? Towards a methodical interpretation of archaeological building features. World Archaeology 41: 505-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903112534
Vilà Valentí, J. 1950 Una encuesta sobre la trashumancia en Cataluña. Pirineos 17-18: 405-45.
Vilar, P. 1979 Catalunya dins l’Espanya Moderna. Barcelona: Curial.
Vilarrassa Vall, S. 1981 La vida dels pastors. Ripoll, Spain: Maideu.
Violant i Simorra, R. 2001 La vida pastoral al Pallars. Edited by I. Ros. Tremp, Spain: Garsineu.
Walsh, K., M. Court-Picon, J. Bealieu … B. Talon and S. Tzortzis 2014 A historical ecology of the Ecrins (southern French Alps): archaeology and palaeoecology of the Mesolithic to the medieval period. Quaternary International 353: 52-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.08.060
Walsh, K., S. Richer and J.L. de Beaulieu 2006 Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a ‘marginal’ Alpine landscape. The integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high-altitude landscape in the French Alps. World Archaeology 38: 436-53.
