The Archaeology of currently inhabited villages in Spain: The case of Asturias

Abstract

The study of deserted villages abandoned during the last millennium in Europe has been the primary focus of archaeological interventions in rural settlements over recent decades. However, most of the hamlets and villages of medieval origin remain inhabited today and excavations in these small and medium-sized settlements are more unusual. The Archaeology of Medieval Villages Currently Inhabited in Europe focuses on these locations, giving examples of sites excavated in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia and Spain. The case studies highlight the diversity of problems and debates around this subject such as the meaning of the term ‘village’, the chronology beyond the last millennium with continuities, discontinuities and ruptures, the integration of research into residential and working areas, the role of local communities in research programmes and the need for multidisciplinary approaches to address all these issues. Deserted villages research along with currently-inhabited settlement excavation has the important potential to achieve long-lasting historical syntheses on medieval settlement networks in Europe. These five chapters offer challenging approaches to the above issues and proposals for future research in the field from Spain to the North Sea.