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Paper short abstract:

We analyse the transformations of two mountainous areas of the Iberian North (in Asturias and Álava) from the Modern Age to the present day. In both cases there was an exploitation of the same resources, but the different management practices have affected the tree mass in very different ways.

Paper long abstract:

The mountains of the northern Iberian Peninsula were characterised during the Modern Age by the presence of multi-productive communal areas. Through the TemPa and Antigone projects, we have analysed two case studies (Ayande, in Asturias, and Entzia, in Álava) in which the material evidence of the production of firewood, timber or livestock (stall and transhumant) can be recognised. However, today the landscapes of each area show notable differences. In Alava, the spatial distribution of woodland, wooded pasture and open pasture has hardly changed. On the other hand, in Asturias we detected a strong decline of woodland and the advance of scrubland. This has led us to consider the existence of a more complex scenario at the local level, where possibly differences in the management of natural resources have generated very different landscapes. On the other hand, we wonder to what extent these differences depend on previous landscape dynamics, local community strategies or larger-scale production policies.

Finally, we want to highlight the importance of applying a multidisciplinary methodology (integrating archaeology, history and environmental sciences) to understand the complexity of the historical transformations of mountain areas at small and large scales.