Traditional pastoralism in the Fageca and Famorca villages (Mediterranean Spain) : an ethnoarchaeological approach

This thesis develops an ethnoarchaeological approach to the study of traditional Mediterranean pastoral economies through a case-study of two mountainous village territories in eastern Spain. The research has two main aims: first to rescue an important corpus of ethnographic data from a rural community whose traditional economy is being eroded and secondly, to provide insights into how pastoral economies in antiquity can be studied archaeologically. The thesis adopts an interdisciplinary methodology, synthesising oral, documentary and archaeological data sources, and applying the techniques of landscape archaeology. The research ultimately examines two aspects of the pastoral economy that leave signatures in the archaeological record: herd management strategies and pastoral sites. Throughout, it is emphasised that a pastoral economy based on sheep and goat herding is intricately linked - socially, economically and physically - to an agricultural landscape of terrace cultivation. Chapter 1 defines the scope and purpose of the research and Chapter 2 presents the geographical, historical and archaeological setting for the case-study. Chapter 3 explores aspects of traditional pastoral land-use and examines linkages between terrace agriculture and herding. Chapter 4 is concerned principally with ethnographic data relating to herd management su ategies and develops a model of kill-off pattern analysis through computer simulation. Chapters 5 and 6 address pastoral sites within the study area: the former analyses structural and spatial aspects, whereas the latter deals with abandonment processes and site taphonomy. Chapter 7 draws the conclusions of these chapters together and Chapter 8 explores the wider implications of the study. Appendices I-III contain primary documentry and archaeozoological data and Appendices IV-V comprise a gazetteer of pastoral sites within the study area.