This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ejarque, A. Articles by Gascón, C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Tracing the history of highland human management in the eastern Pre-Pyrenees: an interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental study at the Pradell fen, Spain

Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain, aejarque{at}icac.net

Ramón Julià

Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, C/ Lluis Sole Sabaris s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Santiago Riera

Seminar of Prehistoric Study and Research, Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Barcelona, C/Montalegre, 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain

Josep Maria Palet

Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain

Héctor A. Orengo

Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain

Yannick Miras

GEOLAB (UMR 6042/CNRS), Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Université B. Pascal, 4 rue Ledru, 6305, Clermont-Ferrand cedex 1, France

Carles Gascón

Consell Comarcal de l'Alt Urgell, Passeig Joan Brudieu, 15, 25700 La Seu d'Urgell, Spain

Although high mountain areas have traditionally been viewed as predominantly grazing areas, with low population and a high degree of land-use stasis, recent research suggest that land-use complexity and change over time has been underestimated. This interdisciplinary palaeoenvironmental analysis has been carried out on the Pradell calcareous fen, located in the eastern Pre-Pyrenees (Spain) at 1975 m a.s.l., and it comprises different environmental indicators: pollen, stomata, non-pollen palynomorphs, macrocharcoal particles, lithostratigraphy, sedimentology and geochemistry. The results of this high temporal resolution study are integrated with archaeological data, and together provide strong evidence for the complexity of the high-mountain land-use system over the last 1500 years. Archaeological fieldwork has shown the rise of highland mining activities during the Roman period. Later, frequent fires resulted from the farming and settlement that followed the Christian conquest. Geochemical analysis of sediment cores records late-Mediaeval metal production, while the expansion of feudal cropping and the advent of several Mediaeval crises are clearly recorded in both the pollen and the historical data. Finally, the rise of a mixed economy system based on transhumance, farming, metallurgy and woodland exploitation was established during Modern and Contemporary times. The high correlation between the palaeoenvironmental, archaeological and historical data at the Pradell fen stresses the value of calcareous fens for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of historical landscapes. Results obtained also depict high mountain landscapes as the result of the long-term interaction of many human practices, including mining and smelting, grazing, cropping and tree exploitation for the production of wood, charcoal and resin.

Key Words: Pre-Pyrenees • calcareous fen • high mountain • multiproxy analysis • historical land use • palaeoenvironment • late Holocene.

The Holocene, Vol. 19, No. 8, 1241-1255 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683609345084


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?