This project aims to analyze changing social, economic and geographical relationships between towns and nucleated settlements in southern Spain between the Iron-Age and Roman periods between c.500 BC and AD 500. This is one of the most densely urbanized areas of the western Mediterranean, and its rich archaeological evidence makes it a very suitable area of study. This project is currently:

1. Adopting a multi-scalar approach to the analysis of key archaeological attributes of up to 400 settlements
2. Focussing upon the role of changing networks of connectivity in structuring the settlement pattern of the region

The project has created a new method for analyzing character, development and changing inter-relationships of Iron-Age settlements and Roman provincial towns. A key element of this has been integrating GIS techniques for modelling the landscape with network analyses of a range of different classes of material and attributes at settlement in the region. This methodology will provide archaeologists with a powerful analytical tool for better understanding the ways in which:

1. Iron-Age communities were integrated into the Roman Empire
2. Social hierarchies within the Roman provinces were articulated