Archaeogeography

Objectives and Achievements

General Objectives

This Group was formed from the team which made up the ARGEBE sub-project headed by Maria da Conceição Lopes which, under the CEAUCP, developed research work in the Beja region during the three-year period 2003-2006.

The research was developed in collaboration with the UMR 7041 Environmental Archaeology Team (Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité – ArScAn) based at Maison René Giinouvès l’Archéologie et Ethnologie, Paris X.

Based on an approach that conceives of land and space as "bearers" of eco-human history and therefore believes that it is not possible to separate the natural from the anthropic, this project is part of a new type of landscape study.

The research undertaken in the Beja region involved an integrated approach to the evolution of past societies, in which landscape was an essential feature. It aimed to understand the dynamics conferred by landscape on archaeological studies, as specialised and vitally important "instruments" in decision-making procedures for land use and planning.

Without isolating particular socio-political periods, the research aimed:

- to understand the dynamics of historical landscapes within the Pax Iulia region, not from the perspective of creating heritage but rather to obtain environmental knowledge, in its broadest sense

- to construct an archeogeographical representation of space and its dynamics in the Beja region by re-examining agrarian plans from ancient and medieval history

- to analyse landscape formations within the framework of spatial-temporal modalities and redeem this knowledge from a representation that was the result of profoundly semiotic, morpho-historical approaches relating a given form to a given historical period and from a historiographical tradition that favoured particular objects or periods of history, developed by various specialists who worked in isolation, meeting only to decide how to number the chapters of their studies.

This was an innovative transdisciplinary study which included the definition of new hybrid forms and thus involved archaeologists, sedimentologists, pedologists, geographers, historians and morphologists working together.

Main Achievements

The project, which is still in progress, enabled us to obtain a reading of ancient urban and rural landscapes in the Beja region from a dynamic, long-term perspective.

With regard to landscape studies, the most significant results of the research, which is fundamental to an understanding of the "creation" of the southern lands, are:

- Verification that planning was a process that pre-dated the Romans and that its subsequent development was impelled by a series of environmental and anthropic circumstances, rather than historical facts. Furthermore, with regard to the Roman period, if not other very specific cases which are therefore largely unreliable, «where there was no evidence of the Roman centuriations that are traditionally presented as having been imposed on the contemporary landscape, the road network appeared to be well fossilised.

- Verification that the ancient road and settlement networks may be recovered by taking into consideration the active and non-active elements observable through analyses of the land surface, together with fossilised structures.

- Proof of the validity of the methodology, which, on the basis of aerial photography, revealed, amongst other things, the existence of a fossilised and probably sacrificial enclosure from the pre-Roman era, previously classified by us as a military enclosure and the first example of its kind within national territory.

- The realisation that urban morphology is structured on various levels and that the models that served as a basis for the morpho-chronological plan transmitted by historiography are difficult to confirm on site and are therefore being completely reassessed.

- Confirmation that this morphological evolution of the city of Beja develops a structure which, although considered in previous functional projects whose remains are still buried and in some cases well-preserved over 5 metres below the surface, has not been established as part of this past legacy. To a certain extent, the fact that a continuous process of recycling took place explains why a city which had such status during the Roman period preserved nothing of this past on the surface of the land.

Productivity

International publications

LOPES, M. Conceição, (edit), 2007, « Espaço das sociedades antigas : dinamica das paisagens da região de Pax Iulia (Beja) », rapport dans le cadre du projet “The space of the ancient societies: dynamics of landscapes in the Pax Iulia (Beja) region”. (POCI/HAR/60842/2004), novembre 2006, 52 p. et 79 planches. By LAVIGNE,Cédric, 2006 (inédit)

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2006 , “Ânforas de villae romanas alentejanas”, Simpósio Internacional de Homenagem a Françoise Mayet; Produção e comércio de preparados piscícolas durante a Proto-História e a época romana, no ocidente da Península Ibéria. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia de Setúbal.

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2006, “Pesquisando Culturas - Os contactos entre os colonizadores romanos e os povos autóctones no território actualmente português” Livro de comunicações do Mini-curso integrante do VII Seminário de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação / XXV Seminário Estudantil de Pesquisa, UFBA, Salvador, 2006, 32-51.

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2006, A leitura arqueológica da terra. A casa dos Jesuítas de Sejupeba (Brasil), (de colaboração com Carlos Etchevarne), Ouro Preto, DVD

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2005,“La civitas de Pax Ivlia”, Imagens e Mensagens. Escultura Romana do Museu de Évora, Merida – Évora, p. 11-20

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2005,“Guadiana: Marca profunda cravada na paisagem aplanada do sul”, Rivers as cultural infrastructures, p. 93-97 Bologna

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2005, “A leitura arqueológica da terra na paisagem” in, FERNANDES, Maria; CORREIA Mariana (edit), Arquitectura de terra em Portugal, Editora Argumentum, Lisboa, p. 97-99

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2003, A cidade romana de Beje. Percursos e debates acerca da “civitas” de Pax Iulia, Faculté des Lettres, Coimbra, 392 p.

LOPES, M. Conceição, 2003, Réflexions sur le modèle de la cité antique: l'exemple de Pax Iulia (Beje, Portugal), Études Rurales, juillet-décembre, n° 167-168, p. 55-68.

CHOUQUER, Gérard, “Les Paradoxes du territoire colonial”, I Forum Luso-Brasileiro de Arqueologia Urbana, salvador, Bahia, 2006, DVD

LAVIGNE, Cédric, 2003, De nouveaux objets d’histoire agraire pour en finir avec le bocage et l’openfield, dans "Objets en crise, objets recomposés ; transmissions et transformations des espaces historiques. Enjeux et contours de l’archéogéographie", Etudes Rurales, juillet-décembre n° 167-168, p. 133-186.

LAVIGNE, Cédric. 2003 “ La contribution de l'étude des parcellaires médiévaux de colonisation à la modélisation des formes planifiées historiques », dans Actes du colloque AGER 5, Actualités de la recherche en histoire et archéologie agraires (Besançon, 19-20 septembre 2000), Annales littéraires de l'université de Franche-Comté, Besançon.

Organization of conferences

2004- Co-organisation Open Meeting Cultura 2000 Project The Rivers as Cultural Infrastructures, (Agreement N. 2004–1394 / 001–001 CLT CA 12), Varsóvia (Polónia), Dezembro. (Conceição Lopes was a Portuguese Leader)

2005 Seminary - Les centuriations d'Orange prises comme exemple des implications de la rénovation des formes sur le discours historique; in The Faculty of Arts , University of Coimbra

- La rénovation des spatio-temporalités. Gérard CHOUQUER (CNRS, France) In the Faculty of Arts University, University ofCoimbra

2005 - Co-organisation Summer School of the Cultura 2000 Project, The Rivers as Cultural Infrastructures, (Agreement N. 2004–1394 / 001–001 CLT CA 12), Ferrara (Itália), “10-17 September

2006 - I Fórum Luso-Brasileiro de Arqueologia Urbana, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

2006 - Joint Organisation with CARVALHO, M. R. G. ; ECHEVARNE, Carlos ; GONÇALVES, Marilda ;The Culture and Science (meeting integrant The VII Seminário de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação / XXV Seminário Estudantil de Pesquisa - UFBA (Salvador, Brazil)

2004 - oint organisation with Jorge Quiroga, in scope of the Acção Integrada Luso-Espanhola, das Universidades de Coimbra e Autónoma de Madrid Formas de Ocupación rural en la Gallaecia y la Lusitânia (ss Iv-X): estúdios regionales y micro-regionales, Faro, Novembro

2007 - Member of the organisation of the 6 S Thème — ARCHÉOGÉOGRAPHIE— 4º Congrés International d’Archéologie Médieval e Moderne, Paris, Sept. 2007 Conceição Lopes is a member of the Lecture Committee

http://mep2007.free.fr/

Internationalization

The research group, either individually or collectively, has been involved in an important series of activities, of which the following deserve special mention:

Joint organization of the 6 S Thème — ARCHÉOGÉOGRAPHIE— 4º Congrés International d’Archéologie Médieval e Moderne, Paris, Sept. 2007 Conceição Lopes is a member of the Lecture Committee

http://mep2007.free.fr/

Member of the Steering Commitee, ARCANE project. EFS.

II Forum Luso-Brasileiro de Arqueologia Urbana, Coimbra, 2008 ( joint with Federal University of Salavdor, Brazil and Buenos Aires Unversity (Argentina).

Traité d'Archéogégraphie, GDR TESORA, CNRS, France

Future Research

Objectives

Considering the potential for the transfer of knowledge of the evolution of past societies which this new disciplinary area offers, in addition to its suitability in land use and planning activities and the fact that our proposals are, in part, related to those of our partners, the objectives of this group are as follows:

To offer more projects and resources for the research we are developing in conjunction with a group of researchers from universities and research laboratories in France, Italy and Spain.

To build an “edifice” of theoretical materials for reflection and action which will allow for interventions in relation to the land, land formations and the hybrid assemblies (of nature and society) that are linked to their inhabitants.

To undertake an archeogeographical study of landscapes, independently of chronologies and geomorphological profiles. To this end, the refining and continual updating of the www.archeogeographie.org website is absolutely essential.

To invest in formulating projects that enable us to expand the geographical basis of our intervention in Portugal, Europe and brazil, Argentina, Bolivia.

To formulate studies on the dynamics of landscapes within present-day Portuguese territory, on the basis of an interpretation and analysis of formations, and to understand how the "construction" of functional and structural landscape networks was achieved in the pre-Roman period.

To combine the prolonged and detailed work of surveying landscape formations and paleo-formations from aerial and satellite photography and cartography with the need for preventive archaeology work.

To provide a detailed analysis of formations and their possible inclusion within the network. To proceed with subsequent corridor excavation work on formations, using geoarcheological methods.

To establish appropriate links with state and private entities in order to include these studies in building, planning and land use projects.

Analysis and study of the forms of the present landscape of the urban nucleus of Beja and the excavation of some small areas as morphological "islands”, in order to understand the dynamics of the urban forms over time; To contribute towards an understanding of the spatial organisation of the Beja region from a long-term perspective.

To develop the facilities to offer PhD and postdoctoral courses in order to attract researchers to this discipline.

On-line training and e-learning courses

Previous publications in the area

LOPES, M. Conceição; ETCHEVARNE, Carlos, (Edit), Actas do I Forum Luso- Brasileiro e Arqueologia Urbana, Salvador, UFBA, CEAUCP, 2007

CHOUQUER, Gérard, Quels Scénarios pour l'Histoire du Paysage. Orientations de recherches Pour l'archéogéographie", Coimbra, CEAUCP, 2007

LOPES, M. Conceição, Vaz Pinto, Inês, 2006 , “Ânforas de villae romanas alentejanas”, Simpósio Internacional de Homenagem a Françoise Mayet; Produção e comércio de preparados piscícolas durante a Proto-História e a época romana, no ocidente da Península Ibéria. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnografia de Setúbal.

LOPES, M. Conceição; 2006, “A leitura Arqueológica da Terra”; I Seminário de Arquitectura e Construção com Terra no Brasil, IV Seminário de arquitectura de terra em Portugal, Ouro Preto; Minas Gerais, DVD

<< voltar aos Grupos