The transformation of a cultural landscape : the Emporda , northeast Spain

T he Emporda is a rich agricultural region that occupies a privileged geographical position because it lies astride the main inland route linking France with Spain, is open to the Mediterranean and is largely shut off from the interior (Fig. 1 ) . Through­ out its history, the Emporda has been an area of passage and contact, and this has generated a rich archaeological and histor­ ical record that spans the past 6000 years from the first neolithic colonizations, through the later Bronze Age, Iberian, Roman and medieval periods to the present day. The region thus presents a particularly well developed sequence of changes in­ volving conquest, colonization and migra­ tion at the hands of Greeks, Romans, feudal lords, and a succession of preand post­ industrial entrepreneurs. The main aim of the Emporda project, 1 begun in 1996, is to examine the evolution of social space in the region and to dem­ onstrate how the present-day landscape is a consequence of processes contingent on historical events, thus underlining the fact that past decisions form the initial con­ ditions of what are often perceived as present-day crises. An additional aim is to provide social and environmental data relevant to contemporary debates on the sustainable future of the Mediterranean generally. In particular, the research seeks to examine the role of social and political

T he Emporda is a rich agricultural region that occupies a privileged geographical position because it lies astride the main inland route linking France with Spain, is open to the Mediterranean and is largely shut off from the interior (Fig. 1). Through out its history, the Emporda has been an area of passage and contact, and this has generated a rich archaeological and histor ical record that spans the past 6000 years from the first neolithic colonizations, through the later Bronze Age, Iberian, Roman and medieval periods to the present day. The region thus presents a particularly well developed sequence of changes in volving conquest, colonization and migra tion at the hands of Greeks, Romans, feudal lords, and a succession of pre-and post industrial entrepreneurs.
The main aim of the Emporda project, 1 begun in 1996, is to examine the evolution of social space in the region and to dem onstrate how the present-day landscape is a consequence of processes contingent on historical events, thus underlining the fact that past decisions form the initial con ditions of what are often perceived as present-day crises. An additional aim is to provide social and environmental data relevant to contemporary debates on the sustainable future of the Mediterranean generally. In particular, the research seeks to examine the role of social and political power structures in directing the historical evolution ofland-use conflict in the region. Issues of conflict -frequently centred around the management of river systems and wetland areas -are seen as a key thread linking the chronological trajectory of land scape evolution.

Human ecodynamics and the cultural landscape
Cultural landscapes are human creations. They constitute the results of long-term interaction between people and the natu ral environment. They should be regarded as historical constructions that can be properly understood only in terms of the conjunction of evolutionary biophysical processes and social, political and ideo logical events. It is this interdependence, linking human agency and environmental dynamics (human ecodynamics) acted out over the long term, that defines the land scape.2 This implies that contemporary issues relating to agricultural production, industry, tourist expansion and the natural and cultural heritage should be seen in a long-term perspective as the latest in a sequence of changes brought about by past economic and political decisions that have intended and unintended consequences. And to adopt a human ecodynamic approach3 is to acknowledge that research on the inherent complexity of cultural landscapes is best undertaken through an integrated interdisciplinary methodology.

Aims and methods of the Emporda interdisciplinary project
The primary research aims of the project are being addressed through an approach to land-use conflict based on data fr om archaeology, historical ecology, geomor phology, hydrology, medieval history, human geography and sociology.4 Meth odologically, aerial photography, satellite imagery and geographical information sys tem (GIS) technologies, are proving valua ble, together with the development of a multiscale framework for dynamical mod elling. These research methods provide the context within which the interaction of social and natural dynamics can generate viable futures for the Emporda. These methods can be summarized under two main headings:  (Table 1)? These investigations aim to achieve a useful definition of sustainability and to construct qualitative measures of resil ience for individual locations in the study area that reflect the welfare needs of the community and the requirements for the

The Emporda landscape as long term history
Viewed in a long-term perspective, the evolution of the landscapes can be con ceived as a succession of eco-historical periods, articulated by specific social political regimes and broadly defined by changes in the natural landscape that have occurred as a result of human modifica tion. Our research is focused on the man ner in which these changes have been produced, with respect to specific politi cal, economic and ideological criteria. Over the long term a series of major structural transformations in the organiza tion of political space have occurred in the Emporda; for example, the emergence of urbanization, with the development of the first towns in Iberia, such as the Greek city of Em porion and its Iberian counterparts, Ullastret and Mas Castellar de Pont6s; the subsequent Romanization of the land scape, and with its decline the new feudal kingdoms with their contested territorial jurisdiction, leading in turn to a sequence of early modern and contemporary appro priations of the land. These transforma tions represent an historical sequence of extractive economic strategies that have sought to appropriate the land for political or economic gain. Thus, the history of the Emporda can be viewed as the history of land-use conflict, frequently related to water, because the region contains many natural lagoons and wetlands. We are also therefore involved in research on the reconstruction of palaeo-landscapes, the superficial hydrology having changed dra matically during the past 10,000 years.

From the Iberian Iron Age to the Romans
In chronological terms, our research begins in the Iberian Iron Age (650-50 BC), before the first period of Greek coloniza tion. Analysis of over 400 archaeological sites of all periods suggests that the land scape was orchestrated by a series of opp ida (small towns) that functioned as nodal points around which groups of dependent smaller sites clustered. The oppida were situated in easily defended locations and were generally constructed with fortifica tions (Fig. 2). On the plains adjacent to these sites we have found many clusters of silos (pits) that were used for grain storage. We are investigating the location of all the sites in relation to specific kinds of resources, and also their spatial relation ships with other sites. Preliminary analy sis of the known sites shows that there are clusters concentrated in the Ter and Flu via valleys and on the coastal fr inge (Fig. 3). In addition, it appears that the number of sites increased during the Middle Iberian period (fifth to fourth centuries BC), and that this change represents a pattern of more intensive territorial exploitation.
Around 580 BC, the colony of Emporion was founded by the Greeks as part of the expansion of their commercial interests. From their capital, Massilia (Marseilles), Greek merchants established a chain of small ports and fa ctories around the Gulf of Lyon and along the northeast coast of the Iberian peninsula. Em porion was situated at a strategic point on the Gulf of Roses, between the rivers Fluvia and Ter (Fig. 3), which provided ideal communication with the landscapes of the interior. When the Greeks arrived in the Emporda, the local populations already had commercial relations with the Phoenicians and, on a smaller scale, with the Etruscans. Ulti mately, however, Greek commerce was to dominate the coastal zone between Mas silia and Emporion. During the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Emporion developed as an urban centre with an important com mercial network that reached the French Midi, Rousillon, the entire southeast coast of Spain and the Balearic Islands. Most of this influence can be traced from the pres ence of Greek imports, especially of Attic pottery (Fig. 4). It has also been suggested that, in return, Emporion exported cereals to Athens and through this connection consolidated its position as a redistribu tion centre of Attic pottery in the northeast Mediterranean. 5•6 During the summer of 218 BC, a Roman army commanded by the consul Scipio landed in the port ofEmporion. This action marked the start of the Second Punic War and, for the Iberian population, the begin ning of a systematic conquest quite distinct from that of the previous Greek colonial administration. During the first phase of the Roman occupation, Em porion acted as the base of the conquerors' army, whence they quelled a revolt of the indigenous tribes in 197 BC. This was the last revolt of the Iberian population of the Emporda. It also marked the beginning of the complex processes of colonization that were gradu ally to transform both the landscapes and the patterns of land use, and ultimately lead to the incorporation of the indigenous Iberian population. Collectively, these changes -and particularly the superimpo sition of a network of roads centred on the Via Augusta (Fig. 3) -produced a set of constraints upon which the future evolu tion of the landscape was to be based.

The end of Roman rule
Our research is already revealing new in formation on settlement history and chang ing patterns of land use. This shows that these changes have been correlated with discontinuous shifts in the organization of social space, which together can be de fined as distinct eco-historical periods. 7 One such period separates late antiquity from early medieval times. The invasions and movements of Germanic peoples in Iberia during the fifth century AD separated late Roman from early medieval Iberia politically. In AD 415, at the invitation of Rome, the Visigoths crossed eastern Tarra conensis in an attempt to bring the prov inces back under Roman control. This was the first phase in the long and confusing process whereby Rome gradually lost all influence in Iberia. However, Tarraco , the capital of the province of Tarrconensis, remained in Roman hands until invaded by the Visigothic King Euric between AD 470 and 475, just before the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire. As a con sequence, the distant and disputed Roman imperial power was replaced by a new

The medieval period
The establishment of Catalan feudalism marks the next major bifurcation in the his torical trajectory. At the beginning of the ninth century AD a frontier was created, west of the Llobregat River, south of present-day Barcelona, between the Chris tians (under the initiative of the Frankish troops) and Islam. The Catalan territories were organized in the Marca Hispanica, under the dominion of the Carolingian Empire, and divided into five regions. The peripheral location of the Marc a Hispanica allowed the Catalan nobility to be largely independent. In fa ct, it has been suggested that this period (the tenth and eleventh centuries AD) was exceptional in Catalonia for the degree of freedom enjoyed by most of the population; it thus represents an im portant contrast between slavery imposed by the Greco-Roman colonists and the en suing feudalism of the later centuries. 8 A major crisis extending from the four teenth to the fifteenth century has also been recognized as a key period in the structuring of social space. This is largely a consequence of a combination of climatic deterioration, a sequence of bad harvests and the onset of the Black Death. We are studying the relationships that may have linked weather, demography, epidemiology and agricultural production in an effort to expose the combination of variables most sensitive to change.

Early modern times
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a period of economic and polit ical crises. Profound changes occurred in the landscape, as a consequence of the peasant revolt of 1640 and the establish ment of a treaty that created a new fr ontier between France and Spain, and, with it, the loss of Rousillon to France. These events represent another major bifurcation in the historical trajectory because they define a new political reality for Catalonia, from which new relations of production: land use and agricultural production emanated.
This transformation of the social and political landscape continued through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was accompanied by steady demographic growth. At the same time we see the begin nings of significant intervention in the wetland areas of the Emporda. We are examining all available historical sources of information on these processes, in a geographical, social and historical per spective. An important part of this is to try to establish when wetland resources such as rice fields, wetland plants, salt and fish were first used and when their use was abandoned. Our ultimate aim is to account for the human alterations to these wetland areas during this period and to assess their implications for the long-term climatology of the region and in relation to social and demographic factors.
It is these processes -particularly the recurring conflicts over water -that col lectively have created the context within which resource dilemmas in the contem porary landscapes must be viewed; the competing perceptions of farmers, conser vationists and the tourist lobby who vie for control of the landscape, are ineluctably the product of history.

The communication landscape
The importance of a long-term perspective can be clearly seen in the "communication landscape" ofthe Emporda, and the way in which it has both enabled and constrained settlement. Thus, the primary structuring of social space during the Neolithic and Bronze Age was made possible by the initial communication arteries -the rivers, roads. and trackways that dissect the land scape. principally on an east-west axis. This orientation dictated the initial loca tion of settlements and defined the pri mary mode of passage through the wetland areas to the coast.
The importance of initial conditions in structuring processes is a fundamental property of complex dynamical systems, 3 and it has been described as "historical path dependence".9 Thus, initial loca tional choices frequently determine future patterns of change, sometimes irreversi bly. For example, we can see how the Roman establishment of a north-south axis, the Via Augusta, supplanted the primary east-west attractor represented by the river systems of the Emporda. This produced a "lock-in" effect that acted as the controlling force, defining the space of all social, economic and political inter action and dictating the ensuing settle ment pattern. The establishment of this axis of passage persists to the present day, with the Via Augusta transformed into the modern motorway route that connects the Iberian peninsula with France and the rest of continental Europe.

Futures: archaeology and the contemporary landscape
The research methodology described here is particularly valuable because it provides us with a set of tools that can be applied to issues of archaeological heritage and, more generally, to the management of the natu ral and cultural landscape. Conventional approaches to resource management are based on concepts of risk and impact and on predictive models, and pay little atten tion to archaeological and palaeoenviron mental data. In contrast, the Emporda project demonstrates the crucial impor tance of understanding long-term palaeo hydrological regimes and prehistoric wet land dynamics, because this knowledge tells us much about the sensitivity of these systems to change. Such data are a vital component in predicting possible future directions of change in the present-day landscape. Beyond this, the human eco dynamic perspective focuses on particular social-political outcomes observable in the past. Observing the manipulation and man agement of plant-soil-agriculture regimes within different types of political and ideological regime is perhaps the most in tructive outcome we can achieve. Al though prehistoric and early historic data cannot be mapped directly onto present da�· conditions, they nevertheless demon -rrate evolutionary pathways to which human ecodynamic systems are prone. 10 In conclusion, it is worth noting that current theoretical orientations within ar chaeology mean that questions relating to environmental sustainability are usually ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL treated as marginal and are often viewed as the preserve of other academic disciplines. This is especially problematic because it implies that current environmental debates are essentially separate from the social and cultural contexts discussed by most ar chaeologists. The challenge of getting to grips with the dynamics of environments modified by humans -one of the key issues for future archaeological research -can best be approached within a framework that combines social, cultural and environ mental knowledge. Such an integrated approach to the cultural landscape can and should establish archaeology as a key element in the contemporary discourse on environmental issues.