Archaeological Investigations at Alcaria Longa

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Following a preliminary season of NSF sponsored investigation, Dr. Boone and his colleagues will conduct an intensive archaeological investigation at the site of Alcaria Longa, an abandoned medieval village site in the Lower Alentejo region of southern Portugal. In addition to excavation, the team will also conduct limited survey to find other sites and examine comparative materials from other locations. The fundamental question Dr. Boone wishes to address is how rural communities respond socially and economically to cycles of economic and demographic growth and decline associated with succeeding regimes of conquest and administration. In Portugal, these include the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, and Christians and cover the period from approximately 100 to 1500 A.D. An ancillary issue to be addressed is the problem of ethnicity and the social organization of medieval populations inhabiting the dry upland areas of the Iberian Peninsula where irrigation was impossible. These populations are known to have been distinct from groups in better watered regions. This research is important because it will provide insight into how relationships develop and are changed over time between urban and rural areas. The conditions which held in medieval Portugal still apply today to many areas in the Third World, and the complex relationships which exist between rural inhabitants and the ruling urban elite (who are often culturally distinct) complicate regional politics and developmental efforts. Thus, the work may have practical relevance. Archaeology has a unique contribution to make in such studies because it can examine such relations over long spans of time.