The Key Results were:
1. The identification of the key trends in urban change in the period AD 300-700 in the study zone, chiefly in terms of loss and/or transformation of classical public monuments.
2. Determining the rate of such urban structural changes. I addressed how some towns lost their roles and how sites with elements of continuity (at least in occupation) were characterized by poorer buildings, a reuse of spaces and materials and the insertion of graves – sometimes, even burial grounds – within former lived and working spaces.
3. Generating a deeper unders(ng of rural settlement changes, marked first by the breakdown of Roman uillae and of the system of potentes or magnates controlling large estates, to be replaced by smaller, scattered landholdings. Strikingly, the classic Roman model of rural settlement disappears just as the first villages, hamlets, farms and hilltop settlements appear in many zones of the Hispanic Peninsula.
4. Interpreting impacts on the physical landscape. Besides settlement changes, key has been recognition of changes in the economic sphere as well as in the environment. Thus a tendency to cattle raising and pastoralism in this period may connect with the so-called ‘Early Medieval Cold Episode’, which scholars set to between c. AD 450 and 950, and characterized by a drop in temperatures and a great aridity, which potentially damaged the environment and marked changes in economic strategy.
5. Modelling the economic and social factors at play. The economy remained based on land ownership after the establishment of the Visigoths, if on a reduced scale while relying on the personal dependence of peasants. From the late 5th century until the arrival of the Islamic forces, we can recognised the Church and the domini as the main holders of political and social power.
6. Establishing a model of evolution of the post-classical landscape across the Iberian Peninsula: from an (often precocious) urban decay to the emergence of diverse rural landscape expressions in terms of new types of settlements and farms, with the creation of reconfigured economies and landscape organization.
Dissemination of the results was of course core to the project, and many papers, publications and conferences were given. Of principal importance were the two workshops organised by MED-FARWEST project: (i) 'Interpreting Transformations of Landscapes and People in Late Antiquity I: The Mediterranean' and 'II: North-West Europe', held in Rome, from 10-11 October 2016, and in November 2016 at the University of Leicester. In addition I can note the presentation of papers on the project and my research Sweden, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Portugal and also the preparation of many academic articles (most now in press) and a monograph (this hopefully to be published in late 2018).
