Sobre la arqueología de las aldeas altomedievales

Abstract

The Spanish Medieval Archaeology has recently joined the historical and archaeological debate on the question of rise of networks settlements after the collapse of the late Roman State in the West. Historians like P. Toubert, R. Fossier and J. Chapelot coined the terms incastellamento and encellulement to allude generally to the formation of such a wide new political and landscape reality. This article pretends to be a critical consideration on the achievements reached by medieval archaeologists in trying to document the case. But inevitably the weak points of their practice and the explanations offered are also stated. The recent publication of the book The archaeology of Early Medieval Villages in Europe, edited by J. A. Quirós came timely to fill up a void in Spanish Medieval archaeology. I is around this book that my considerations evolve.