Archaeological research on seasonal settlement in south-western Europe

Abstract

The archaeology of seasonal occupations and their structures is not a subject that has dominated medieval research in south-western Europe. Some work has been done, mostly linked to multidisciplinary and multi-chronological teams, which have been focused on mountain areas. More recently, projects specifically addressing the study of medieval occupations in mountain areas have been developed and some results have now been published. Other research has studied Islamic contexts related to seasonal fishing. The role played by preventive archaeology must also be stressed, particularly in the characterization of ethnographic and archaeological structures. Therefore, this paper presents a state of art on seasonal settlement research in the Iberian Peninsula, approaching the currently available data on seasonal settlement in this part of Europe. It also presents the authors’ perspective on research in the near future.