The husbandry occupation of the western Pyrenees of Catalonia in Roman times and the beginning of the Middle Ages

Recent research on the highlands population of the western Pyrenees of Catalonia, specifically in the current National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, has allowed to document an extensive sequence of human settlement, exploitation and modification of the physical environment. The present work details the evolution of this population from the end of Prehistory until the first centuries of the Middle Ages; a settlement that intensifies from the imperial era, especially during the Late Antiquity. The description of the archaeological information is combined with the summary of the evidence of this occupation affecting the vegetal environment mainly, as a result of various activities carried out: husbandry, agriculture, mining and metallurgical production.