Pyrenees

In recent decades, the traditional paradigm of modernization, which took an exogenous, sectorial approach to developing rural areas, has been replaced by a new rural development paradigm of a more local, endogenous, integrated nature. The objective of the present article is to present a theory-based reflection on this new paradigm of rural development, with the goal of shedding a little light on the seemingly endless debate about the meaning and implications of rural development. Our methodology is based on a thorough review and synthesis of the most relevant literature on these new concepts of rural development, from which we developed a critical assessment of existing theory, highlighting the need to consolidate new theoretical frameworks such as the ‘rural web’ (van der Ploeg and Marsden, 2008). Finally, emphasizing the need to complement the theory behind the new rural development paradigm with new definitions that help us to more precisely understand what is meant by rural deve...

After years of intense fieldwork, our knowledge about the Neolithisation of the Pyrenees has considerably increased. In the southern central Pyrenees, some previously unknown Neolithic sites have been discovered at subalpine and alpine altitudes (1,000–1,500 m a.s.l.). One of them is Cueva Lóbrica, 1,170 m a.s.l., which has an occupation phase with impressed pottery dated ca. 5400 cal BCE. Another is Coro Trasito, 1,558 m a.s.l., a large rock shelter that preserves evidence of continuous occupations in the Early Neolithic, 5300–4600 cal BCE. Evidence of human occupation at higher altitudes has also been documented. In the Axial Pyrenees, at the Obagues de Ratera rock shelter, 2,345 m a.s.l., an occupation has been dated to around 5730–5600 cal BCE. At Cova del Sardo, in the Sant Nicolau Valley, at 1,780 m a.s.l., a series of occupations have been excavated, dated to ca. 5600–4500 cal BCE. These sites allow us to discuss patterns of occupation of the mountainous areas between the Lat...

Since at least the 1970s, the countryside of Western Europe has been the site of a myriad of "new" communal initiatives. Rural areas that were abandoned during the last century have witnessed the arrival of new inhabitants. These newcomers often flock to the mountains escaping urban lifestyles characterized by individualism, mass-oriented livelihoods, and isolation. Many of these individuals move to areas like the Catalan Pyrenees, where common property and communal institutions have had a strong historical presence. In embracing rural life, these new inhabitants are looking for a more integrated social life in which the commons are, on the one hand, a form of collective private property, and, on the other, represent a more egalitarian way of life in which contributing to the collective effort is not only an efficient way of dealing with particularly harsh ecological conditions, but also an ideological statement that defines the community as something different: an alternative to urban capitalism. Two definitions of the commons are colliding in these mountains; two longstanding lines of political thought are converging and establishing a dialogue that is not always easy: (1) traditional ideologies of land ownership that defined common property over the centuries, not based on economic equality, but on private property and locally shared responsibility on the economic base of the community; and (2) utopian anti-capitalism that views the commons as an alternative mode of social organization and ownership based on egalitarianism.

Pollen analysis of the sedimentary record of Lake Burg (Pyrenees, Spain) indicates a significant climatic oscillation during the Holocene, which, in addition to determining plant development, played a fundamental role in the development of anthropic activities and in human occupation of the High Pyrenees. This analysis has also been used to show how different degrees of human perturbation have repeatedly modified the environment. It is therefore not possible to study the current dynamics of the vegetation landscape without taking into account the combined effect of past human impacts responsible for its evolution. Consequently, when vegetation proxies, such as pollen or charcoal, are used to study climate change, it is also necessary to consider human influence as a distorting factor of the climate signal.L'anàlisi pol·línica del testimoni sedimentari de l'estany de Burg (Pirineus, Espanya) ha permès posar de manifest una important oscil·lació climàtica durant l'Holocè, ...

A new structural map of the Paleozoic crust of the Pyrenees based on an extensive compilation and new kinematic data allows for the evaluation of the mechanical coupling between the upper and lower crust of the abnormally hot foreland of the Variscan orogen of SW Europe. We document partitioning between coeval lower crustal lateral flow and upper crustal thickening between 310 and 290 Ma under an overall dextral transpressive regime. Partitioning also involved syn-convergence transtensional gneiss domes emplacement during this period. Late orogen-normal shortening of the domes and strain localization in steep crustal-scale transpressive shear zones reflects increasing coupling between the lower crust and the upper crust. The combination of dextral transpression and eastward flow in the Pyrenees results from the shortening and lateral escape of a hot buoyant crust along the inner northern limb of the closing Cantabrian orocline at the core of the Iberian-Armorican arc between ca. 305...