Nos limites do Império: dinâmicas de povoamento na transição para a Antiguidade Tardia no Alto Alentejo

Between the fifth and sixth centuries, the territory of the «Alto Alentejo» suffered profound modifications in its human settlement network. The dense network of sites that had characterized the Roman Empire changed: some of the more peripheral spaces seemed to be completely emptied; other spaces allow us to see the inverse movement, i.e., population concentration phenomena. Throughout this territory, the population pyramid that characterized the sites’ hierarchy in Roman times became more simplified, due to the disappearance of the small production units and to the consolidation of properties, which had become progressively enlarged. Being a region where, in imperial times, the urban network had no strong consolidation (at this stage of research we have few urbes registered), the study of the dynamics of the rural population is particularly significant to evaluate the prestige and power of the landowning elites. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to examine specifically these phenomena in some of the large villae from Alto Alentejo.