Hydraulic Archaeology in South-East Spain Mountainous Landscapes

Abstract

The study of mountainous landscapes shows an image that detaches from statism pervading a part of the Andalusí history. Knowledge on productive areas is a source of key information to know more about settlements, territorial organization and their historical evolution. All of them conditioned by the use of water, the main natural resource since the intensive irrigated agriculture was spread. The importance of agrarian transformations that occurred on the Iberian Peninsula during the creation of al-Andalus is well known. The study area is located in Sierra Nevada, in southeast Spain, where a research project is being developed analyzing the historical landscape beginning from the most important element: the use of water and the irrigation systems.