Abstract
The paper analyses the social background of the different architectural models and urban layouts that developed during the Iron Age in Central Spain. The information handled comes from recent archaeological excavations which have provided important data about houses’ and settlements’ ground-plans as well as about their chronological contexts and specific ecological environments. These data are used for studying different architectural parameters. They are organized into three frameworks: 1) the “individual dimension”, examining size, internal configuration, and the furnishings of households; 2) the “relational aspects”, studying the relations between the different residence units on several levels (intervisibility, centrality vs. marginality, size, etc.); 3) the “settlement configuration”, taking into account both its internal layout and the changing role that the perimeter walls played in the latter: from a basically symbolic function at the beginning to a practical, defensive, one at the end of the period. The ultimate goal of this study is to unveil the social logic of some built environments and, from there, to explain by means of the architecture the evolution of the Iron Age social models in a specific area of the Iberian Peninsula. The methodology applied in this study is based on strictly archaeological criteria (measurable i.e. contrastable) and, later on, on some interpretative approaches, focussed on the social background of the constructed space, provided by Social Anthropology and Theoretical Architecture.
Presenters
Jesus Alberto Arenas EstebanReader of Prehistory, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Open University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
SOCIAL IMPACT, HOUSING, COMMUNITY CONSTRUCTION, HUMAN HABITATS, HERITAGE, HUMAN RESOURCES
