OCCUPATION AND LAND USE IN THE CENTRAL-SOUTHERN SECTOR OF THE DUERO BASIN BETWEEN ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (1ST TO 11TH CENTURIES AD)

The authors propose an overview of the dynamics of settlement and land use in the region between the Central System and the territory south of the Duero River The mile span is the period between the Roman establishment and the Early Middle Ages In order to study the settlement patterns. data from a field survey contained in the provincial inventories have been used In addition. information from recent excavations in rural and Urban sites has also been taken into account Based on this data, a quantitative evaluation of land use in the Ambles Valley (Avila) has been attempted To do so. Geographical Information Systems have been applied in order to measure land exploitation As a complement, palaeopalynological data both from peat bogs and from samples from archaeological sites have been added The paper focuses on the agro-pastoral transformations that took place from the Flavian colonization up to the Early Middle Ages The main aspects discussed following a diachronic point of view are the spread of the rural habitat. the increasing agrarian intensification and the growing specialization of production