Sacred landscapes, ecclesiastical landscapes: from necropolis to parish in central Iberia

Abstract

The rock dug graves are one of the few archaeological signs of the early medieval rural landscape in the central part of Iberia. This paper studies the evidence of that kind of tombs in a wide region, the central-western Iberian Peninsula, with an special focus in two specific areas, the territories of Ciudad Rodrigo and Sierra de Ávila. The role of the graves as spatial markers in order to enforce the social and economic control over some farming and pasture areas inside the territories of local communities is the most probable hypothesis, according to the results of the research. The tombs have been used by the members of these communities as a reference of the kin-group memory from 7^th to 10^th century, so they could be explained like a significant fragment of a sacred landscape, although they were placed in areas where there was not any ecclesiastical organization. The implementation of the parish system between 12^th and 13^th centuries, which was a consequence of the political integration of the Central-Western Iberia into the Christian monarchies (a process described by the traditional Spanish historiography as repoblación) broke the previous model of burial practices. The cemeteries were linked to parishes, which were built in new places, and it was imposed by the new ecclesiastical organization. Therefore an ecclesiastical landscape was created, and, as a consequence, a new local identity was shaped. However, the row-organised cemeteries of some central places related to the Leonese repoblación in 10^th century were an exception. The Church could use the symbolic capital of these ancient burials to shape the new ecclesiastical landscape. They were the places where some parishes were built during 12^th century.