Session: #1102

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
4. Persisting with Change: Theory and Archaeological Scrutiny
Session format:
Regular session

Title & Content

Title:
Strategies to Rule Them All. A Transnational Analysis of Landscape Control and Scales of Power Between 5-16th Centuries
Content:
Regarding the different theoretical perspectives formulated in recent times about territorial control and the exercise of power in pre-capitalist societies, there is one indisputable idea: there is no unique and simple strategy that allows such control. In order to understand those phenomena, in this session we will seek to analyse the strategies of landscape control and its archaeological records between the 5th century and the 16th century, adopting a worldwide comparative perspective.
Most societies express their landscape power through the application of many coercive measures ranging from punitive actions to less obvious ones, such as tax control or the creation of an ideological control system. All these tools are used in a multiscale way by
the different social groups of a community which leaves a remarkable archaeological footprint (i.e. fortifications, agricultural exploitation, religious buildings, burials…)
Having this in mind, how do these actions affect the rest of the community? How do the dominated classes face these strategies of territorial control? Do the strategies of local or supralocal powers change or adapt to deal with active or passive resistance? And above
all, how can we report all these changes through Archaeology?
Keywords:
Landscape, Social strategies, Power, Resistance, Comparative perspective, Pre-capitalist societies
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:

Organisers

Main organiser:
Laura Blanco Torrejón (Spain) 1
Co-organisers:
Mario F. Pereiro (United Kingdom) 2
Mario Ramos Soriano (Spain) 3
Leonor Baeza Gomariz (Spain) 4
David Sánchez Serrano (Spain) 5
Affiliations:
1. Universidad de Salamanca
2. Institute of Archaeology (University College London)
3. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
4. University of Salamanca
5. Rey Juan Carlos University