Exploring the Complexity of Roman Agrarian Landscapes. State of the Art and a Study Case from the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula

The aim of this paper is to contextualise recent efforts to characterise Roman rural life in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, more specifically in the present-day region of Extremadura (Spain). Firstly, we offer a critical review of how this subject has been addressed in the research agenda of the last 30 years, highlighting the main contributions and theoretical and methodological approaches. From this point, we attempt to offer new directions and launch new challenges through a specific study case, the hinterland of the Roman town of Contributa Iulia (Medina de las Torres, Badajoz). We can offer this experience as a reference for assessing the potential of an intensive surface survey strategy as the primary source for studying of the way in which the agrarian landscapes of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula were formed. We describe a multi-stage working process for the high-resolution exploration of a large area. Spatial analysis of these data allows the detection of both areas of concentrated activity and more general patterns of land exploitation from Prehistory to the most recent past. On the one hand, we evaluate how this study case can provide us greater in-depth knowledge of the interpretative limits and methodological refinement of the surface survey; and on the other, we analyse the transformations undergone by this type of landscape to enhance our understanding of its present day configuration and identity.