This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary study of the impact of climate change during the Little Ice Age on a medieval village in Asturias, Spain. The research focused on tracing evidence for a catastrophic flood that buried the village beneath a thick layer of debris, including examining the remains of structures and agricultural land sealed beneath the debris, and considering the social and economic implications of the event in the subsequent history of the area. First, a series of test pits was excavated within the area of the modern village to map the full extent of the damage. Following this, analysis of the stratigraphy, architectural remains, datable artefacts and radiocarbon dating contributed further details, while historical evidence revealed the privatisation of the agricultural land following the catastrophe. The findings offer a snapshot of climate change and its social contexts in a specific, under-studied area with possible implications for the study of risk behaviour and disaster response in currently inhabited areas.

This article examines the causes of the establishment and temporal evolution of a medieval village in the mountainous region of Asturias, in the north-western Iberian Peninsula. A variety of methods were used for this purpose, including landscape archaeology, rural history, the study of place names and written documents, combined with archaeolog ical excavation, paleo-environmental analysis and sedimentological studies. A priority research point included the village surroundings that had been used for agricultural production; the whole area was analysed as one single object of study. This approach provided the possibility of identifying the various moments of stability and change in the landscape along with a reconstruction of the histor y of this still inhabited village and its agr icultural milieu beginning in the Early Middle Ages (eighth to eleventh centuries). Further research along the lines developed here should provide data for comparison and connect this agricultural archaeology research with the broader European framework of discussion launched in past decades.

The aim of this paper is to approach the concept of agrarian archaeology, an epistemological framework that allows the investigation of agrarian landscapes favouring new historical narratives far from traditional paradigms and, at the same time, the proposal of innovative forms of cultural heritage management in rural areas. The working methodology and some examples of both empirical work (archaeology) and research-action approaches to cultural heritage are presented. As a result, agrarian archaeology opens up a perspective of experimental research, which permits the problematization of conceptual languages, questions historical narratives and causes the rethinking of personal practices, in addition to promoting an open science close to citizens. Cultural heritage here is to be understood as a social process of meaningful construction, a space of debate and transformation for social innovation.