Mortuary Geography and the Traces of Post-roman Rural Landscape in the South-western Duero Basin (Spain)Peasant Monuments?

Resumen

The funerary record is the main indicator of the presence of rural settlements in several regions of the Iberian Peninsula, since the material culture linked to habitat spaces is much more elusive. Thus, the rock-cut graves characterize the post-Roman landscape in outlying rural areas in terms of Visigothic territorial control. It is possible to understand the social organization of local communities and their economic orientation by analyzing the spatial integration of the cemeteries. Some recent studies have linked this type of burial spaces with mechanisms of territorial ownership based on claims to the memory of the ancestors. This perspective has led to consider rock-cut graves as "peasant monuments". This, together with the existence of various archaeological sites identified as early medieval aristocratic settlements, allows us to understand the territorial organization of the rural world in terms of dialectics between peasant spaces and places of power.