Abstract:

Since 2010, an integrated archaeological and paleoenvironmental research program has been developed in the Eastern Pyrenees (Catalonia), with the aim of studying the long-term landscape shaping of Mediterranean high-mountain environments. This program involved extensive surveying, geographical information systems, archaeological excavation and the integration of multi-proxy paleoenvironmental data. The results underline the incidence in these areas of grazing activities during the past millennia, from the first human occupation of the highlands, recorded in the Middle Neolithic, to the modern and contemporary periods. This activity has led to complex cultural landscapes in the high Pyrenean areas. Landscape history provides new data for the development of management tools for the sustainability of Mediterranean highlands.