Patrones de asentamiento en la Bética romana: un estudio del proceso de romanización desde el análisis arqueológico espacial

This study presents a spatial analysis of two regions in southern Iberia (Western Sierra Morena and Lands of Antequera) as a means to deepen our understanding of the Romanisation of the province Ulterior Baetica. Its theoretical foundations rely on the belief that human communities modify and adapt to their surroundings according to their changing needs (functional and symbolic, amongst many others) through time in a continuous process known as territorialisation. Hence, the analysis of the archaeological evidence distributed over the landscape may provide yet another insight into the understanding of societies in the past. Specifically, techniques of spatial and statistical analyses were used in order to characterise the spatial and territorial organisation of Western Sierra Morena and Lands of Antequera in three different chronological periods (Second Iron Age, Roman Republic, and Early Roman Empire). Such approach has allowed performing a diachronic analysis of the territorial development of each of these areas, as well as a comparative, traversal analysis of their historic and territorial evolution. As results of this research, some conclusions must be highlighted:
- The suitability of the concepts of territory and landscape and of the methodologies of spatial analysis for achieving a deeper understanding of the processes of cultural change in Antiquity
- The acknowledgement of the diversity of meanings and interpretations included within the term Romanisation, and of processes and experiences that must have taken place in the different provinces of the Roman Empire as part of the process known as Romanisation.
- The verification of (i) the different historical and territorial developments of Western Sierra Morena and Lands of Antequera between the Second Iron Age and the Early Roman Empire, and (ii) of their emphasis on different geographic and physiographic factors, such as the existence of mineral or agricultural resources, or their connectivity to other regions
- The proposal of a new interpretative model for understanding the Romanisation process, based both on the results of the spatial analyses here presented, and on other archaeological evidence also analysed in this study.