A study which examines the use of space and changing settlement patterns in the area of Luca in Northern Tuscany in the early Middle Ages. Based on historical and archaeological records, Juan Quiros studies four different areas within Luca, revealing the history of the formation of dioceses between the 10th and 12th centuries and tracing the social, geographical and settlement changes that took place. This study is then placed within a Tuscan and then within an Italian context.

This book presents an overview of the results of the research project DESPAMED funded by the Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness. The aim of the book is to discuss the theoretical challenges posed by the study of social inequality and social complexity in early medieval peasant communities in North-western Iberia. Traditional approaches have defined these communities as poor, simple and even nomadic, in the framework of a self-sufficient economy that prioritised animal husbandry over agriculture. This picture has radically changed over the last couple of decades as a result of important research on the archaeology of peasantry and the critical analysis of ninthand tenth-century documentary evidence that show the complexity of these rural societies. These new records are discussed in the light of a new research agenda centred on the analysis of the emergence of villages, the formation of local elites, the creation of socio-political networks and the role of identities in the legitimation of local inequalities. The nine chapters of this book explore the potential and the limits of the archaeological record to tackle social inequality in rural communities. Those considerations have a wider theoretical and methodological potential and are applicable to other regions and chronologies. The different chapters explore local societies through different methodologies and approaches such as food, settlement patterns, social exclusion, consumption patterns and social practices. In addition, the book introduces some of the most relevant topics studied currently by Iberian Medieval archaeologists, which are not always accessible to an international audience.

Post-medieval archaeology is currently going through a critical phase of consolidation and disciplinary redefinition across Europe, where mere proposals or ambitions are becoming tangible scientific and disciplinary realities. This renovation is most evident in Southern Europe, where, until recently, these studies have been treated as somewhat marginal. The convergence of new actors and disciplines (historical archaeology, archaeology of the post-medieval centuries, professional archaeology, ethnoarchaeology or archaeological sciences), the promotion of new patrimonialization initiatives, and the creation of new action frameworks as a result of the deep economic crisis of the years 2007-2008 are some of the factors that have shaped current approaches to the archaeology of the Modern Age. Focussing on archaeological studies of the Modern Age located in the Basque Country, Arqueologia de la Edad Moderna en el Pais Vasco y su entorno recognises the main themes investigated (cities, rural spaces, funeral spaces, consumption and production, communications systems, maritime archaeology), detects some of the strengths and weaknesses, and proposes new lines of action and disciplinary consolidation. In short, this volume aims to provide a summary of the current archaeological framework for investigations of the Modern Age in the Basque Country, and to make proposals for developing these practices in the future.

This book presents, in sixteen papers, recent developments and some of the main topics seen in academic Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain. The papers explore some of the emergent and consolidated topics of the discipline, such as landscapes, cities, rural spaces, bio-archaeological records, archaeology of architectures, agrarian archaeology, post-Roman archaeology, colonial archaeology in the Canary Islands and the archaeology of religious minorities, opening new lines of enquiries and providing new theoretical and methodological approaches. An overview of Medieval Archaeology studies in Spain is offered, proposing a wide range of topics for discussion. Finally, the book explores the connections between Spanish Medieval Archaeology and other European traditions, specifically, English, Italian and Portuguese Medieval Archaeology.