A Mediterranean Mountain Landscape: The Transformation of the Frailes-Velillos Valley

Abstract

Recent works, especially the archaeological excavation in the castle of Moclín (García 2011: 167-84) and the Mozarab necropolis of Tózar (Mattei 2014: 181-96), have set the historical focus on the, hitherto neglected, Frailes-Velillos Valley during the Middle Ages. In addition to these excavations, several survey campaigns have contributed not so much to increase the number of known sites but to gain a better understanding of the settlement dynamics and its transformation over time, from the consolidation of the Andalusi model to the changes introduced by the Castilian conquest in the early modern period. The present work will focus on the evolution undergone by the settlement pattern between the 6th and the 15th centuries.