After the Villae. The transformation of the countryside in the northeastern Catalan from the example of Vilauba / Villa Alba (Pla de l’Estany) (sixth and seventh centuries)

Abstract

The Roman villa of Vilauba is a rural settlement located in a valley to the south of the Banyoles lake (Girona). Archaeological excavations have provided evidence of extended inhabitance running from the first century BC to the second half of the seventh century. In spite of this extraordinary continuity, the last phase, dated from the end of the fifth century, represented a radical change in the structure and organization of the settlement. Recent investigation of a small habitation, organized around three self-contained domestic units, has allowed for a reinterpretation of the agricultural remains from the same period, found some years previously, and has also provided evidence of the development of new forms of settlement, as a consequence of the transformation process and the extinction of the ancient villae.