SOPAST
Territories and societies of the past
Territories and societies of the past
Our societies: What impact do they have on territory?
This SOPAST research area brings together archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, geoarchaeologists, and historians who seek to describe the impact of societies on the appearance, management, and change of ‘territory,” understood here as a geographic space transformed by human use. The research conducted and projects underway address the following questions:
1. Investigation of how the creation of a monumental landscape in both rural and urban areas leads to a permanent “denaturalization” of the natural landscape; this question is closely related to issues of urban landscape more broadly, concerning the appearance of cities in transitional periods (early history/ancient, ancient/late antiquity, early mediaeval/mediaeval/ modern).
2. Exploring the complex issue of the abandonment, permanence, and eventual transformation of places of power, and the ways in which these places played a role in the management of natural resources and the creation of communication routes over medium and long distances.
3. Analyse the place of places of worship and power in society and their impact on settlement (polarisation of habitat), spatial organisation, and the establishment and management of communication routes (sea routes, passes, rivers, etc.), all of which are closely linked to the continuation and/or creation of networks.
4. Clarify the nature of interactions between rural and urban areas. By analysing rural settlement patterns in conjunction with the evolution of the urban system, it will be possible to characterise more precisely the common development paths of settlement patterns. In this context, the question of the role of elites in society and their position in territories seems to touch on all the above issues.
