Niall Brady is the founding director of the Archaeological Diving Company, Ireland’s premier maritime archaeological consultancy, and between 2002 and 2010 he was project director of the Discovery Programme’s Medieval Rural Settlement Project. Main research fields: landscape archaeology, medieval settlement, agrarian economy and technology, maritime archaeology, industrial archaeology. Prof. Claudia Theune is Professor for Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna with a special/great/deep interest in contemporary archaeology. She studied Prehistoric and early medieval Archaeology, social Anthropology, Christian Archaeology and geology at the Universities in Marburg and Bonn, Germany (1979-1988). She worked as a scientific researcher at the University of Marburg. In 1994 she became Assistant Professor at the Department of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. Since 2007 she was appointed Full Professor for Medieval and Historical Archaeology at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna.

• PrefaceNiall Brady, Claudia Theune IntroductionNiall Brady, Claudia Theune Mountain communities in the Catalan Pyrenees: 25 years of archaeological researchWalter Alegría-Tejedor, Marta Sancho-Planas, Maria Soler-Sala Endogenous and exogenous characteristics of settlement development of an early medieval settlement at Sursee (Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland)Christian auf der Maur Not so dark centuries: changes and continuities in the Catalan landscape (6th-12th centuries)Jordi Bolòs Rural settlement in later medieval Ireland through the lens of deserted settlementsNiall Brady Rural settlement and economy in Campania (South Italy) between Late Antiquity and Middle AgesNicola Busino Deciphering transformations of rural settlement and land-use patterns in central Adriatic Italy between the 6th and the 12th centuries ADFrancesca Carboni, Frank Vermeulen Change and continuity in rural early medieval Hispania. Comparative multidisciplinary approach to the countrysides of Egitania (Idanha-A-Velha, Portugal) and Emerita (Mérida, Spain)Tomás Cordero Ruiz Beyond the Borders: transformations, acculturation and adaptation between Latium and Campania during the Lombard Period (6th – 8th c.)Cristina Corsi Silent witness: the deserted medieval borough of Newtown Jerpoint, Co Kilkenny, IrelandIan Doyle, Tadhg O’Keeffe Kopaniec in the Izera Mountains. An example of unusual transformation of a village after the Thirty Years’ War period in SilesiaPaweł Duma, Jerzy Piekalski, Anna Łuczak Counting heads. Post-Roman population decline in the Rhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands) and the need for more evidence-based reconstructionsBert Groenewoudt, Rowin J. van Lanen Land-organisational changes in rural Denmark from AD 200-1200Jesper Hansen Settlement abandonment in Dartmoor (England): Retreat of margins reassessed and difficult market accessibility as important factors of settlement vulnerabilityLukas Holata The mid-6th century crises and their impacts on human activity and settlements in south-eastern NorwayFrode Iversen, Steinar Solheim The transformation of rural settlements in Slavonia in the period from the 12th to the 15th centuriesAndrej Janeš, Ivana Hirschler Marić Socioeconomic Mobility and property transmission among peasants: the Cheb region (Czech Republic) in the Late Middle AgesTomáš Klír Mendicant friaries and the changing landscapes of late medieval Ireland: The foundations of the Augustinian friars in Co. Mayo and SligoAnne-Julie Lafaye Late medieval transformation of rural landscape – model of melioratio terrae on the examples of the land of Nysa-Otmuchów and the Kaczawskie Foothills, Silesia, PolandMaria Legut-Pintal New evidence for the transformative impact of depopulation on currently inhabited medieval rural settlements from archaeological test-pit excavation in EnglandCarenza Lewis One land, Two peasantries: Moriscos and old Christians in the Upper Genal Valley, Málaga (16th-18th C.)Esteban López-García, Ignacio Díaz, Félix Retamero Transformation and continuity in the Wexford countrysideBreda Lynch Rural landscapes of north-eastern Rus’ in transition: From the large unfortified settlements of the Viking Age to medieval villagesNikolaj Makarov The Anglo-Scottish western march: A landscape in transitionCaron Newman Change in rural settlement in Eastern Central Europe from the early to the later Middle AgesElisabeth Nowotny Assembling in times of transitions – the case of cooking-pit sitesMarie Ødegaard Post-roman land-use transformations: analysing the early medieval countryside in Castelo de Vide (Portugal)Sara Prata The Hungarian conquest and the contemporary settlement structures. Research into 9th – 10th century archaeological finds from the Pest PlainTibor Ákos Rácz Transformations of settlements for agricultural production between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in ItalyMarcello Rotili Settlements, communication and authority. Transforming spatial structure in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve Region in the 15-17th centuryEdit Sárosi Late medieval deserted settlements in Southern Germany as a consequence of long-term landscape transformationsRainer Schreg Crisis or transition? Risk and resilience during the late medieval agrarian crisisEva Svensson No smoke without fire. Burning and changing settlements in 10th-century central-northern PortugalCatarina Tente Climate change and economic development in the Alps during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern PeriodClaudia Theune Breaking old ties. Settlement relocation in North-Brabant (NL) at the dawn of the Late Middle AgesJohan Verspay The impact of the Christian conquest on the agrarian areas in the low Ebro valley. The case of Xerta (Spain)Antoni Virgili, Helena Kirchner Medieval settlement dynamics in peatland reclamations in the Western, Central and Northern NetherlandsJan van Doesburg

Niall Brady is the founding director of the Archaeological Diving Company, Ireland’s premier maritime archaeological consultancy, and between 2002 and 2010 he was project director of the Discovery Programme’s Medieval Rural Settlement Project. Main research fields: landscape archaeology, medieval settlement, agrarian economy and technology, maritime archaeology, industrial archaeology. Prof. Claudia Theune is Professor for Historical Archaeology at the University of Vienna with a special/great/deep interest in contemporary archaeology. She studied Prehistoric and early medieval Archaeology, social Anthropology, Christian Archaeology and geology at the Universities in Marburg and Bonn, Germany (1979-1988). She worked as a scientific researcher at the University of Marburg. In 1994 she became Assistant Professor at the Department of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the Humboldt-University, Berlin. Since 2007 she was appointed Full Professor for Medieval and Historical Archaeology at the Department of Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Vienna.

• PrefaceNiall Brady, Claudia Theune IntroductionNiall Brady, Claudia Theune Mountain communities in the Catalan Pyrenees: 25 years of archaeological researchWalter Alegría-Tejedor, Marta Sancho-Planas, Maria Soler-Sala Endogenous and exogenous characteristics of settlement development of an early medieval settlement at Sursee (Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland)Christian auf der Maur Not so dark centuries: changes and continuities in the Catalan landscape (6th-12th centuries)Jordi Bolòs Rural settlement in later medieval Ireland through the lens of deserted settlementsNiall Brady Rural settlement and economy in Campania (South Italy) between Late Antiquity and Middle AgesNicola Busino Deciphering transformations of rural settlement and land-use patterns in central Adriatic Italy between the 6th and the 12th centuries ADFrancesca Carboni, Frank Vermeulen Change and continuity in rural early medieval Hispania. Comparative multidisciplinary approach to the countrysides of Egitania (Idanha-A-Velha, Portugal) and Emerita (Mérida, Spain)Tomás Cordero Ruiz Beyond the Borders: transformations, acculturation and adaptation between Latium and Campania during the Lombard Period (6th – 8th c.)Cristina Corsi Silent witness: the deserted medieval borough of Newtown Jerpoint, Co Kilkenny, IrelandIan Doyle, Tadhg O’Keeffe Kopaniec in the Izera Mountains. An example of unusual transformation of a village after the Thirty Years’ War period in SilesiaPaweł Duma, Jerzy Piekalski, Anna Łuczak Counting heads. Post-Roman population decline in the Rhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands) and the need for more evidence-based reconstructionsBert Groenewoudt, Rowin J. van Lanen Land-organisational changes in rural Denmark from AD 200-1200Jesper Hansen Settlement abandonment in Dartmoor (England): Retreat of margins reassessed and difficult market accessibility as important factors of settlement vulnerabilityLukas Holata The mid-6th century crises and their impacts on human activity and settlements in south-eastern NorwayFrode Iversen, Steinar Solheim The transformation of rural settlements in Slavonia in the period from the 12th to the 15th centuriesAndrej Janeš, Ivana Hirschler Marić Socioeconomic Mobility and property transmission among peasants: the Cheb region (Czech Republic) in the Late Middle AgesTomáš Klír Mendicant friaries and the changing landscapes of late medieval Ireland: The foundations of the Augustinian friars in Co. Mayo and SligoAnne-Julie Lafaye Late medieval transformation of rural landscape – model of melioratio terrae on the examples of the land of Nysa-Otmuchów and the Kaczawskie Foothills, Silesia, PolandMaria Legut-Pintal New evidence for the transformative impact of depopulation on currently inhabited medieval rural settlements from archaeological test-pit excavation in EnglandCarenza Lewis One land, Two peasantries: Moriscos and old Christians in the Upper Genal Valley, Málaga (16th-18th C.)Esteban López-García, Ignacio Díaz, Félix Retamero Transformation and continuity in the Wexford countrysideBreda Lynch Rural landscapes of north-eastern Rus’ in transition: From the large unfortified settlements of the Viking Age to medieval villagesNikolaj Makarov The Anglo-Scottish western march: A landscape in transitionCaron Newman Change in rural settlement in Eastern Central Europe from the early to the later Middle AgesElisabeth Nowotny Assembling in times of transitions – the case of cooking-pit sitesMarie Ødegaard Post-roman land-use transformations: analysing the early medieval countryside in Castelo de Vide (Portugal)Sara Prata The Hungarian conquest and the contemporary settlement structures. Research into 9th – 10th century archaeological finds from the Pest PlainTibor Ákos Rácz Transformations of settlements for agricultural production between Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in ItalyMarcello Rotili Settlements, communication and authority. Transforming spatial structure in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve Region in the 15-17th centuryEdit Sárosi Late medieval deserted settlements in Southern Germany as a consequence of long-term landscape transformationsRainer Schreg Crisis or transition? Risk and resilience during the late medieval agrarian crisisEva Svensson No smoke without fire. Burning and changing settlements in 10th-century central-northern PortugalCatarina Tente Climate change and economic development in the Alps during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern PeriodClaudia Theune Breaking old ties. Settlement relocation in North-Brabant (NL) at the dawn of the Late Middle AgesJohan Verspay The impact of the Christian conquest on the agrarian areas in the low Ebro valley. The case of Xerta (Spain)Antoni Virgili, Helena Kirchner Medieval settlement dynamics in peatland reclamations in the Western, Central and Northern NetherlandsJan van Doesburg