Evolución del paisaje y del poblamiento del territorio de Emporion-Emporiae entre el Bronce Final y la Antigüedad Tardía

Abstract

The progress in the archaeological excavations undertaken at Empúries in the last years has allowed us to broaden and deepen our knowledge of the ancient Greek and Roman cities that occupied this territory centuries earlier. This archaeological activity has been accompanied by other investigations aimed at understanding the setting in which these urban centres developed with the aim of determining, from a historical perspective, the relationship that existed between these societies and the natural environment, where there is a convergence between factors that are specific to the natural dynamic and those derived from human activity. The objective of this paper is to analyse, from four large ›windows‹ or periods, the main patterns that govern the evolution of the landscape and its settlement. The first period studied corresponds to the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the first Iron Age, followed by a period associated with the foundation of the greek emporion in the 6th century BC; after this, the period between the first Roman presence and the creation of the municipium Emporiae, around the change of Era; and, finally, Empúries during the Late Antiquity. In presenting the settlement patterns that characterise each of these long periods, the main elements that define the paleo landscape of Empúries have been considered: the fluvial, lagoon, wetland and estuary environments.