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 documentation of new archaeological features and sites worldwide. While there can be no doubt that a great deal is being gained via such “site detection” approaches, there still remains the possibility of further exploring remote sensing methods to analyse archaeological problems. In this paper, this issue is discussed by focusing on one common archaeological topic: the mapping of environmental resources used in the past and, in particular, the procurement of lithic raw material by hunter-gatherer groups. This is illustrated by showing how the combined use of Landsat 8 images and “ground-truthing” via focused field studies has allowed the identification of a number of potential chert sources, the major lithic resource used by coastal groups between 11,500–1,500 cal. BP, in a vast area of the Atacama Desert covering 22,500 km². Besides discussing the case study, the strength of remote sensing techniques in addressing archaeological questions comprising large spatial scales is highlighted, stressing the key role they can play in the detection and study of specific environmental resources within challenging physical settings.

Se realiza un detallado análisis locacional de los poblados cástrenos de un área de Galicia según una propuesta metodológica apoyada en el empleo de Sistemas de Información Geográfica. Con ello se distinguen dos modelos de situación de los yacimientos, que se corresponden con diferencias en los rasgos formales de los propios castros. Esto permite establecer una secuencia de 'desarrollo cultural' alternativa a las tres fases tradicionales, articulada en una Primera Edad del Hierro bien diferenciada de la aparente continuidad entre la Segunda Edad del Hierro y la época de ocupación romana. Para terminar, tomando como eje argumental datos del yacimiento de Alto do Castro, se discute la opción alternativa de la larga continuidad en la ocupación de un mismo punto y se muestra que no es contradictoria con la secuencia histórica propuesta. Esto permite además valorar la representatividad de los resultados obtenidos en el área elegida.

The article reviews the usefulness of the historical–anthropological models of peasantry and Germanic Mode of Production applied to the analysis of the Castro culture (Cultura Castrexa, the Iron Age of the north-western Iberian Peninsula). A historical reconstruction of the period is developed, in which the strain between local community and familial units constitutes one of the most important agents in the process of change, according to a discourse largely based on the proposals of P. Clastres on ‘societies against the state’. A relevant role is given to different forms of violence and conflict; initially they are understood as active mechanisms in inter-community relations although later they would rather become virtual and latent elements that allow the development of a model of social relations that can be defined as a non-class ‘heroic society’.