{"id":6957,"date":"2025-04-24T06:52:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T06:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/?page_id=6957"},"modified":"2025-04-25T00:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T00:53:10","slug":"t14-s14-papers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/t14-s14-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"T14\/S14: Living Roots in Community: Past & Present (and Future) of Rural Areas from a Socio-ecological Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Format: Paper presentations with discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convenors:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jos\u00e9 Alberto Delgado Arcos, University of Oviedo, Spain,\u00a0delgadojose@uniovi.es<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pablo L\u00f3pez G\u00f3mez, Independent researcher, Spain, pirilpez@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patricia Aparicio Mart\u00ednez, University of Toronto, Canada, sanchezpaloma@uniovi.es<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paloma S\u00e1nchez-Broch, University of Oviedo, Spain, sanchezpaloma@uniovi.es<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

El\u00edas Carballido Gonz\u00e1lez, University of Oviedo, Spain, carballidoelias@uniovi.es<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margarita Fern\u00e1ndez Mier, University of Oviedo, Spain, margarita.mier@uniovi.es<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the context of global capitalism, rural communities are forced towards models of hyper-productivity\u2014extractivism, monocultures, agribusiness\u2014or tourism-gentrification, land speculation and landscape commercialisation. Both cases create unsustainable systems that exacerbate current demographic and climatic challenges. But is there an alternative? Is a \u2018return to the land\u2019 based on principles of sustainability and resilience viable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study of local communities throughout history provides a very interesting research framework in terms of self-sufficient economies, bidirectional relationships with the environment and sustainability. But is this a common feature of all past societies? Have we idealised the rural world? Do these communities serve as a model to apply to the present world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archaeology emerges as a useful tool to provide scientific knowledge in this regard, which highlights past resilience experiences of rural socio-ecological models. From the perspective of the \u2018Western world\u2019 rural areas have been interpreted as an extinct or exotic reality. However, research in this region demonstrates that these territories provide relevant knowledge with real implications for the present, knowledge that has often been silenced. Our experience has shown that these spaces function as living laboratories. They allow us to understand both their historical characteristics and contemporary issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This session welcomes theoretical and methodological approaches to agro-pastoral practices, adaptation strategies to political, social or climatic changes, collective resource management models, agro-biological knowledge systems or spaces of significance for local communities. Additionally, we encourage case studies where archaeology has served as evidence in rural communities\u2019 struggles for land rights, territorial claims or identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, we seek to create a space for dialogue on the role of archaeology in the co-construction of knowledge with rural communities from a comparative and transdisciplinary perspective. We aim to challenge hegemonic narratives about rurality and reaffirm its relevance in shaping sustainable and equitable futures from \u2018below\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Papas, Simientes y Cosechas de Pasados Continuos: Saberes Ancestrales y Resiliencias en la Comunidad de Canta (Per\u00fa)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potatoes, Seeds and Crops of Continuous Pasts: Ancestral Knowledge and Resilience in the Community of Canta (Peru)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hern\u00e1n Iv\u00e1n Hurtado Castro, Programa de Posgrado de Antropolog\u00eda, Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, Brasil; Departamento de Etnobot\u00e1nica y Bot\u00e1nica Econ\u00f3mica, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Per\u00fa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

En un mundo globalizado contempor\u00e1neo de cambios acelerados en los paisajes agrorurales andinos, esta ponencia indaga sobre los saberes ancestrales en la construcci\u00f3n hist\u00f3rica de modos de vida resilientes como sostenibles. A trav\u00e9s del estudio etnoarqueol\u00f3gico de la Comunidad Campesina de Canta, dedicada hist\u00f3ricamente al cultivo de papas y a la gesti\u00f3n tradicional del territorio, se analizan pr\u00e1cticas agr\u00edcolas y formas de organizaci\u00f3n comunal que han permitido una relaci\u00f3n llevadera con el entorno. Se discute c\u00f3mo estos conocimientos han hecho frente a transformaciones econ\u00f3micas y sociales, como los procesos de extractivismo, la agroindustria y los conflictos por despojo y control de tierras como fuentes de agua, y c\u00f3mo hoy se reactivan en clave de defensa territorial, soberan\u00eda alimentaria y patrimonio cultural. La ponencia propone a la comunidad campesina de Canta como agentes activos en el tejido de futuros alternativos, teniendo consideraci\u00f3n del potencial de la resiliencia cultural para articular di\u00e1logos entre memorias sociales locales y discusiones contempor\u00e1neas sobre factibilidad y sostenibilidad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a contemporary globalised world of accelerated changes in Andean agro-rural landscapes, this paper investigates ancestral knowledge in the historical construction of resilient and sustainable ways of life. Through the ethnoarchaeological study of the peasant community of Canta, historically dedicated to the cultivation of potatoes and the traditional management of the territory, agricultural practices and forms of communal organisation that have allowed a bearable relationship with the environment are analysed. It discusses how this knowledge has faced economic and social transformations, such as extractivism processes, agribusiness and conflicts over the dispossession and control of lands as sources of water, and how today it is reactivated in terms of territorial defense, food sovereignty and cultural heritage. This paper proposes the peasant community of Canta as active agents in the fabric of alternative futures, taking into account the potential of cultural resilience to articulate dialogues between local social memories and contemporary discussions on feasibility and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Memory and Materiality: Archaeological Readings of Rural Change in the Ligurian Hinterland (Italy)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Maria Stagno, Laura Gago-Chor\u00e8n, Laura Moro, Caterina Piu, University of Genoa, Italy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the context of environmental crisis and rural depopulation in southwestern Europe\u2019s mountainous areas, archaeological research offers tools for understanding historical territorial transformations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper presents a comparative analysis of two rural communities in the Ligurian hinterland (Italy)\u2014Velva and Rovegno\u2014through the study of historical practices to activate and manage environmental resources. Both territories have been historically built through agro-silvo-pastoral systems that ensured long-term environmental sustainability, supported by local knowledge and central to social organization and relationships. The evidence of these systems and their complex networks, now largely abandoned, are still materialised in the landscapes as ecofacts, artefacts, historical terrestrial and hydraulic paths. Starting from their identification, this paper aims to reconstruct the changes in the historical management practices of environmental resources and to contextualise their economic and social aspects. The approach is multidisciplinary, integrating landscape and rural archaeology, historical ecology, cartographic analysis and oral history. The study also examines how local communities are creating new interpretations of their rural heritage. An active demand for historical knowledge arises from a search for belonging and future-making. In this context, archaeological research can contribute to documentation and also to mediating between a disrupted past, a fragile present, and sustainable futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contested Spaces: Social History and Rural Reappropriation Through Archaeology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arturo Garc\u00eda-L\u00f3pez , Daniel Moreno Rodr\u00edguez , Pablo Gonz\u00e1lez Zambrano , Araceli Cristo Ropero , Manuel Abelleira Dur\u00e1n , Andr\u00e9s Mar\u00eda Adroher Auroux, University of Granada, Granada, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper offers a socio-ecological interpretation of rural settlement in the Guadalquivir Valley (southern Iberian Peninsula) from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman conquest, based on archaeological research conducted by the PROMETEO Research Group at the University of Granada. The analysis focuses on sites where social organisation was structured around systems of environmental exploitation adapted to diverse ecological conditions, and articulated through historically specific and unequal social relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast to narratives that have portrayed these areas as peripheral or subordinate, we argue for their role as active centres of production, social reproduction, and community identity for over a millennium. The mountain is not understood here as a boundary, but as a socially constructed space shaped by practices of occupation, subsistence and territorial control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper also presents recent initiatives linking archaeological research with local communities, conceived not merely as heritage management strategies, but as frameworks for recovering social memory and reclaiming the territory. From this perspective, the study of rural pasts not only illuminates long-term processes of inequality and resistance, but also contributes to reimagining alternative ways of inhabiting, producing, and sustaining life in contemporary rural contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past Environmental Management and Adaptation Practices in West Africa: Insights from the Sukur Cultural Landscape for Sustainability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustakim Habibu Sulaiman, Centre for Dryland Agriculture, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The West African subcontinent\u2019s diverse geographic and cultural regions are homes to various environmental management and adaptation practices that are rooted in the age long experiences of the Indigenous populations. This study explores the past environmental management and adaptation practices in the Sukur Cultural landscapes, a UNESCO world heritage site that is located in the Mandara Mountains of northeastern Nigeria as a case study. The aim of the research is to bring to the fore those practices and analyse them to inform contemporary environmental management and adaptation practices as well as understand the sectors of those practices that needs overhauling to conform to the ever-evolving global social and environmental challenges. The study employs a multidisciplinary research design that incorporates archaeological and ethnographic fieldworks, ecological assessment and consultation of secondary sources of data in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the human-environmental dynamics in the region both in the past and present. The findings exemplifies the nature of human-environmental interactions in the area in terms of resource use, management practices and adaptation strategies to overcome myriad of harsh environmental realities. The study has a bearing to inform contemporary policy frameworks on environmental management and adaptation practices to facilitates and enhance sustainable livelihood, and strengthen community adaptive capabilities across the vast West African Sub-region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landscapes in Action: Historical Strategies of Social Resilience in Mountain Territories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jos\u00e9 Alberto Delgado Arcos, University of Oviedo, Spain<\/em>
Pablo L\u00f3pez G\u00f3mez, independent researcher, Spain<\/em>
Patricia Aparicio Mart\u00ednez, University of Toronto, Canada<\/em>
Paloma S\u00e1nchez-Broch, University of Oviedo, Spain<\/em>
El\u00edas Carballido Gonz\u00e1lez, University of Oviedo, Spain<\/em>
Margarita Fern\u00e1ndez Mier, University of Oviedo, Spain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper offers a comparative reflection on the social resilience strategies developed by rural communities in socio-ecological mountain contexts. The experience of the LLABOR-LANDS research group in regions with diverse historical trajectories\u2014northern and southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) and the Central Andes (Peru)\u2014within the framework of an archaeology engaged with contemporary rural challenges, enables the correlation of landscapes historically shaped by complex agro-pastoral practices, collective management systems, and adaptive local knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through integrated methodologies \u2014archaeological survey, excavation, GIS-based territorial analysis, paleoenvironmental studies, and participatory approaches\u2014 we document long-term processes that reveal sustainability models grounded in dynamic relationships between communities and their environment. These projects, carried out in collaboration with local actors and within frameworks of knowledge transfer and social innovation, allow us to rethink mountain landscapes as active spaces of knowledge, practice, and transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far from being relics of the past, these territories function as living laboratories from which to address current challenges such as climate change, depopulation, and the loss of territorial sovereignty. The dialogue of knowledge between academia and communities fosters the co-construction of alternative, sustainable, and equitable models, and reaffirms the value of agrarian and communal heritage in shaping possible rural futures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Format: Paper presentations with discussion Convenors:\u00a0 Jos\u00e9 Alberto Delgado Arcos, University of Oviedo, Spain,\u00a0delgadojose@uniovi.es Pablo L\u00f3pez G\u00f3mez, Independent researcher, Spain, pirilpez@gmail.com Patricia Aparicio Mart\u00ednez, University of Toronto, Canada, sanchezpaloma@uniovi.es Paloma S\u00e1nchez-Broch, University of Oviedo, Spain, sanchezpaloma@uniovi.es El\u00edas Carballido Gonz\u00e1lez, University of Oviedo, Spain, carballidoelias@uniovi.es Margarita Fern\u00e1ndez Mier, University of Oviedo, Spain, margarita.mier@uniovi.es In the context of global capitalism, rural communities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1157,"featured_media":276,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-6957","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"pmpro-has-access","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7397,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6957\/revisions\/7397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}