Traditional Pastoralism in the Asturian Mountains: an Ethnoarchaeological View on Mobility and Settlement Patterns

Abstract

In this work we study, from an ethnoarchaeological perspective, the different ways of live in the traditional communities of pastoralists in the mountain areas ofAsturias (Northern Spain). Different solutions are documented on settlement patterns and residential mobility in a very small geographic space. Rural communities in these mountainous areas have preserved, until very recently, some traditional ways of life in which livestock have had a major influence on their livelihoods. The domestic animals have been exploited with an interesting variety of specialized formulas, involving different settlement patterns and residential mobility systems. It is very interesting to contrast the coincidence of different groups of shepherds - with different ways of life - in a limited mountainous space, and the strong geographical and environmental constraints of Asturian mountains. This creates a research context where we can reflect on the great variability of social and cultural aspects within Pastoralism.We will try to understand the construction of identities in a frontier area and to discuss about the use of labels like “nomads” or “transhumants” in prehistoric archaeology.