César Parcero-Oubiña

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio

The chronology of the Inka Empire is poorly resolved, with most scholars utilizing a post hoc ethnohistoric reconstruction of imperial expansion as a common reference point. Radiocarbon-based analyses can now accomplish sufficient resolution for meaningful independent estimates of Inka chronology, however, and it is incumbent upon archaeologists to...

Iron Age landscapes in most of temperate Europe are characterised by the spatially dominant and persistent presence of fortified sites. Built as landmarks to organize the landscape, their imposing visibility has made them the prevalent focus of archaeological research for some time. However, Iron Age landscapes consisted of much more than that. Adv...

The significance of local spatial choices and memory and their impact on mobility networks is scarcely recognised in Mongolian archaeology. Here, we present a mapping strategy aimed at disentangling the landscapes of movement and investigating the materiality that accumulated in the palimpsest of the Ikh Bogd Uul Mountain (Bayankhongor, Mongolia)....

The recent availability of a systematic airborne LiDAR coverage for England in the scope of the Environment Agency's 'National LiDAR Programme' has enabled the mapping of a new Roman road network system in South West Britain, an area where there was little solid evidence for a system of long-distance roads. To understand the rationale behind their...

This paper describes the analysis of the Late Prehispanic rock-art site of Villavil 2 (Catamarca, Argentina). Despite its modest and inconspicuous nature, this is one of the few examples of rock-art sites known in the area to date. The relationship of the site with the surrounding landscape and the distribution of rock art throughout the site are a...

Sourcing of high-quality toolstone is considered a paramount task in the study of lithic procurement among hunter-gatherers due to the key role that it played in their technological and social organization. Provenance research of artifacts made of high-quality cryptocristalline silicates (e.g. chert, chalcedony, flint, and jasper) faces the challen...

Several reasons explain why in Galicia aerial archaeology has been rarely practiced in the past. Nowadays, the increasing availability of open access datasets (aerial orthoimages, satellite imagery, Lidar data) is beginning to change this picture. In this paper those reasons are reviewed before presenting the multiple traces of potential archaeolog...

Northern Chile is home to the world’s largest copper ore deposits, which have been exploited for thousands of years by different groups, at varying scales and for different purposes. In this context, it is important to develop new protocols to characterise the mineralogical variability of archaeological copper ores. A comprehensive and representati...

Several reasons explain why in Galicia aerial archaeology has been rarely practiced in the past. Nowadays, the increasing availability of open access datasets (aerial orthoimages, satellite imagery, Lidar data) is beginning to change this picture. In this paper those reasons are reviewed before presenting the multiple traces of potential archaeolog...

In the Central Atacama Desert (22-24 S; henceforth CAD), around 3700 cal yrs BP, human economies begin to transition from relying mostly on hunting and gathering to increasingly incorporating horticulture and pastoralism became more intensive during the Late Intermediate Period (LIP; beginning at ca. 1050 cal yrs BP/900 AD). In this extreme environ...

Hay varios factores que explican que la llamada “arqueología aérea” haya tenido un desarrollo muy escaso en Galicia. Hoy en día, la creciente disponibilidad de conjuntos de datos de acceso público (ortofotografías, imágenes de satélite, Lidar) está cambiando este panorama. En este artículo repasamos esos factores y presentamos múltiples indicios de...

The Atacama Desert is among the driest places on Earth, yet ancient agricultural systems are present in the region. Here, we present a study of terraced agricultural soils in the high‐altitude eastern margin of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, mainly dating to the Late Intermediate Period (ca. 950–1400 AD) and Inka period (ca. 1400–1536 AD). T...

Architecture has always been a privileged arena for the negotiation and contestation of social and political positions, identities and hegemony. The mechanisms through which architecture is used within these contexts are an essential part of the political economy of a group or a larger polity. However, such mechanisms are often resistant to quantit...

This paper presents an experience developed in the Hualfín Valley (Catamarca, Argentina), aimed at testing the utility and suitability of non-invasive methods for documenting and analyzing sites of inconspicuous nature. The documentation of architectural remains and of archaeological materials with reference to them has been common fieldwork practi...

Este trabajo trata sobre el desarrollo de la complejidad y la desigualdad social en la Prehistoria del Noroeste de la Península Ibérica (Galicia) entre el Neolítico medio y el fin de la Edad del Hierro, aproximadamente entre el entre 4500 BC y el cambio de era. En vez de entender la emergencia y extensión de las sociedades complejas como el resulta...

Sculpted stone models or maquetas are a distinctive material expression of the inca occupation of the Atacama Desert. In this paper, we characterize a site with stone maquetas located along the Loa River above the town of Chiu-Chiu. Based on its formal attributes, the site can be dated to the Inca period. We consider the site’s internal spatial org...

Sculpted stone models or maquetas are a distinctive material expression of the inca occupation of the Atacama Desert. In this paper, we characterize a site with stone maquetas located along the Loa River above the town of Chiu-Chiu. Based on its formal attributes, the site can be dated to the Inca period. We consider the site’s internal spatial org...

The interpretation of the archaeological record of the Later Prehistory in the NW Iberian Peninsula in terms of social and political complexity has witnessed a significant leap in the recent years. As in many other parts of Western Europe, two particular topics have been at the centre of the discussion: the relevance of the notions of social resist...

Remote sensing archaeology in recent years has emphasized the use of high-precision and high-accuracy tools to achieve the detailed documentation of archaeological elements (drones, LIDAR, etc.). Satellite remote sensing has also benefited from an increase in the spatial and spectral resolution of the sensors, which is enabling the discovery and do...

Visibility analysis has become extremely popular in landscape-oriented archaeology in recent decades and has become even more widespread with the popularization of GIS tools, which have multiplied the ways in which visual perception can be analysed and digitally modelled. Visibility has been used as a proxy for different archaeological approaches,...

GIS-based digital modelling tools, such as the well-known least cost paths (LCP), have been widely used in archaeology in recent years as ways of approaching forms of mobility in the past. Roman roads are among the best-known examples of ancient networks of paths and have been widely studied using such approaches. In this paper, we shall make a gen...

Se presentan los resultados de los trabajos realizados en el marco de este proyecto durante el año 2015, último año dentro de la convocatoria Proyectos Arqueológicos en el Exterior, del Ministerio de Cultura. A partir de los resultados de los años anteriores, resumidos en distintas publicaciones dentro de esta misma serie, y del plan de trabajo pro...

Los estudios relacionados a la tecnología lítica de sociedades tardías en el Noroeste Argentino han aumentado considerablemente en los últimos años y se han desarrollado diferentes estudios para reconstruir las diversas estrategias empleadas. En el caso del sector norte del valle de Hualfín se han llevado a cabo hasta el momento numerosos trabajos...

Se presentan los resultados a la fecha de una estrategia de investigación interdisciplinaria para la reconstrucción del paisaje lítico del desierto interior de Taltal-Paposo. Esta estrategia integra herramientas SIG, teledetección satelital y trabajo de campo arqueológico para el rastreo de áreas fuente de materias primas silíceas/silicificadas en...

La contribución que aquí presento pretende aportar algunas ideas acerca de la discusión sobre la naturaleza necesariamente determinista de las Tecnologías Geoespaciales en arqueología. Se argumenta en favor de la posibilidad de superar las condiciones originarias de estas tecnologías para producir con ellas un conocimiento arqueológico no necesaria...

The analysis of the nature and strategies of the Inka expansion in the peripheral areas of the empire, NW Argentina among them, has long been a subject of interest for researchers. In recent years, new perspectives have started to focus on an alternative view of the Inka expansion in this area. Among these, the processes of symbolic appropriation,...

The interpretation of the archaeological record of the Later Prehistory in the north-western Iberian Peninsula in terms of social and political complexity has witnessed a significant leap in the recent years. As has been the case in many other parts of Western Europe, two particular topics (among others) have been at the centre of the discussion: o...

The Atacama Desert has been historically an area with a very low density of human settlement, basically due to its extreme environmental conditions (aridity, altitude). But these environmental conditions have also permitted an extraordinary degree of both preservation and visibility of the ancient constructions in the landscape. Taking advantage of...

The aim of this paper is to dig deeper in order to gain a better understanding of the territorial logic of Roman roads, following some recent approaches based on the use of digital modelling tools. Taking the case of the so-called via XVII (a ca. 330 km itinerary which joined Bracara Augusta and Asturica Augusta, NW Iberian Peninsula), the paper ex...

Digital technologies have numerous applications in archaeology ranging from the documentation of the archaeological evidence and the analysis of research data to the presentation of results for a wider audience. This volume consists of various studies on the use of methods such as LiDAR (light detection and ranging), archaeological prospection, vis...

A paisaxe é un produto das formas de ser, de estar, de pensar e de actuar de cada sociedade. A paisaxe galega de hoxe é o resultado das nosas formas de ser, estar, pensar e actuar, mais tamén das daqueles que nos precederon no tempo. Moitas das cousas que consideramos máis características da paisaxe de Galicia son o produto ou o efecto da acción hu...

En este capítulo trataremos de sintetizar algo de lo que hoy sabemos acerca de esa "periférica" y "menos importante" Edad del Hierro del Noroeste. Con suerte, conseguiremos que al lector le parezca al final un poco menos periférica y un poco menos secundaria. El relato histórico que presentamos, construido sobre numerosas aportaciones realizadas en...

In this paper we present an overview of the process of mapping and field surveying of an area of ancient fields and irrigation canals around the pre-Hispanic sites of Topaín, Paniri and Turi, in the Andean highlands of northern Chile. As opposed to the usual conditions for prospection in temperate or tropical regions, where the surface visibility o...

Resumen Durante el período Intermedio Tardío las comunidades del Loa Superior desarrollaron amplios proyectos agrohidráulicos orientados a la ampliación de la producción agrícola en un ambiente desértico. En este trabajo caracterizamos el sistema agrohidráulico del poblado de Topaín, el que habría estado en funcionamiento en el período Intermedio T...

Este texto ilustra un ejemplo de la utilidad y aplicación de tecnologías no invasivas para documentar, describir y comenzar a entender un conjunto de espacios de cultivo antiguos, de época prehispánica, situado en la periferia andina del norte chileno. Al contrario de lo que es habitual en las regiones templadas, donde la visibilidad del registro a...

The use of GIS tools to explore questions related to movement in archaeological contexts has been common in the last years. Least Cost Paths (LCP) have been especially successful among them, most often with the objective of predicting or reconstructing the layout of ancient routes. In this paper we propose an alternate use of those tools, aimed at...

Historical towns are among the most complex cases of heritage data management. As it may be the case in any other type of heritage site, knowing the spatial distribution of heritage elements is reason enough to support the development of GIS-based tools for information management. But, besides that, two factors add up to further encourage the adopt...

La fortificación de los espacios de asentamiento es un fenómeno ampliamente extendido en el registro arqueológico. Determinar la función y sentido de esa fortificación es a menudo un elemento clave en la caracterización social y política de los contextos en los que ocurre. En este trabajo se presenta un procedimiento de análisis basado en el empleo...

Cultural Heritage is a group of resources identified as a reflection of certain val-ues, beliefs, knowledge and tradition by a certain community. These resources are subject to management, preservation and diffusion through legislative and administrative means, which makes cultural heritage fall within the scope of Pro-tected sites, one of the spat...

We present a Cultural Heritage data model built under the European INSPIRE Directive. This model extends the Data Specification on Protected Sites –one of the reference spatial data themes of the INSPIRE Annex I– through the development of cultural issues by means of new classes and attributes. The aim is to achieve an interoperable schema that all...

In addition to its legal implications, INSPIRE represents the most important movement towards a true implementation of interoperable spatial data services. Cultural Heritage is a thematic field that is not considered separately within INSPIRE, although some portions of it do fall within the category of Protected Sites, listed in Annex I, and also i...

Obtaining models of cultural heritage that guarantee information interoperability and, at the same time, maintain a high degree of fitness to the problem at hand is not a trivial quest. This paper proposes a two-step approach to attain this, where particular models for each problem at hand are derived from a common, standardised Cultural Heritage A...

The paper makes an overview on the current state of GIS-based initiatives to share Heritage information in Spain, pointing at some of the issues that explain why this field is still greatly under developed, with the exception of a few regions: fragmentation or arguable policies about data sharing. Contrastingly, demands for a wider access to Herita...

The present volume consists of the peer-reviewed papers presented at the CAA2011 conference held in Beijing, China between April 12 and 16, 2011. The theme of this conference was -Revive the Past, which means retrieving our history and using it to help create a new civilization. It was a great honour to organize the conference where over 130 resear...

We try to offer a view of the Northwestern Iberian Iron Age from a Landscape Archaeology perspective, as a basis for further studies of the landscape of the Castro Culture. In that sense we adopt approaches 10 the landscape as a cultural construction and reconsider the usefulness of spatial analysis. We develop an operational distinction between th...

The aim of this paper is to extend the range of current analytical procedures that archaeologists use to understand movement. In particular, how a landscape becomes ordered by simply defining a destination. More specifically, this study proposes the derivation of a focal mobility network, i.e. the network of most likely paths towards a given destin...

[ES]En enero de 2010 el Consejo Rector del CSIC acordó la creación de un nuevo instituto de investigación, con sede en Santiago de Compostela, y la denominación de Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, con acrónimo Incipit – CSIC. El proyecto científico de este centro había sido elaborado por una comisión conjunta designada por el CSIC y la Xunta d...

Contribución a la caracterización de los espacios agrarios castreños: documentación y análisis palinológico de una posible terraza de cultivo en el castro de Follente (Caldas de Reis, Pontevedra) A contribution to the characterisation of Iron Age agrarian spaces: documentation and pollen analysis of a possible cultivation terrace in the castro of F...

A series of samples extracted from the stratigraphic profile of a possible cultivation terrace located in the surroundings of an Iron Age hillfort in Galicia were used for pollen analysis. The combined results of both the stratigraphic information and the pollen analysis allow the proposal of a sequence of landscape transformation where, rather une...

This poster displays the results of a spatial study relating networks of paths, settlement and territory, based on a GIS methodology.