Arqueología de las identidades locales. La producción de localidades en el noroeste peninsular en la Alta Edad Media

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study of early medieval European localities and local identities has previously been approached from the perspective of the later emergence of 'classic' medieval towns and cities; the post-Roman centuries have been considered a formative, transitional, period in the emergence of the stable and well-organized settlements of the High Middle Ages. However, new findings and conceptual contributions have been made in recent years, allowing for a redefinition of the mechanisms involved in the creation and transformation of local identities. Drawing on concepts of the production of locality and communities of practice, this study aims to analyze some processes observed in northwestern Iberia to argue that local societies resorted to multiple mechanisms for aggregating and negotiating spatialized identities.