Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the research carried out by the Landscape Archaeology Research Group (GIAP-ICAC) in the Puigpedrós Massif and the Duran Valley (La Cerdanya) in order to investigate human occupation in these highland areas throughout history. This research has been conducted from an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates various fields, including landscape archaeology, archaeomorphology, palaeoecology, anthracology and geoarchaeology. We have documented that one of the human activities which has most modified the high mountain landscape throughout history, and which has influenced the land-use and settlement patterns of these spaces at altitudes of more than 2000 meters, has been the practice of seasonal livestock activities, evidenced as far back as the Neolithic and continuing to modern times. Therefore, these cultural landscapes represent a fundamental historical and environmental legacy and constitute a first-rate heritage resource, at serious risk of disappearing. To prevent it, we hope the results of our research will contribute to sound environmental planning and management and confer value on all this heritage as a means to disseminate and preserve a thousand-year-old practice.