Habitat rural romano en el valle del río Caramel-Alcaide (Almería)

Abstract

The Hoya del Marqués and the valley of the river Caramel-Alcaide are part of the natural pass between Levante and the South of the Península. At the beginnig of the Roman conquest, the lberian territorial organization, based on the settlement, was transformed, with the abandonment of the settlements and the growing of disperse habitat throughout the territory. The breaking of the Iberian balance and the influences of the new economic organization promoted by Rome can be considered the base of this transformation in the spatial organization of the habitat. It seems evident that during the Roman period the perspectives of economic exploitation of the region become wider, as can be seen if attention is paid to the situation of the settlements mentioned above. Because of their situation near the Levante region we should relate this group with those, and for that same reason with similar economic, organizative and administrative tendencies.