The Project “IVGA: Conquista, articulación del territorio y explotación de recursos en el límite entre el conventus lucense y el de los astures” began in 2013 centering its objectives around the study of the Roman domination process in the Western sector of the Cantabric and Ancares Mountain Ranges. The conquest lead to the systematic exploitation of natural resources of the area, now under control of the Roman Empire, and the establishment of new settlement patterns. This is especially noticeable in the case of the development of gold mining, which left a deep and permanent mark in the landscape of this region.
From the starting point, we have been able to assess the richness of the local cultural heritage, not only of the gold mining remains belonging to the I and II centuries AD, but also belonging to different elements that have modified the landscape throughout history. This landscape´s environmental values have been recognized by having been declard Reserva de la Biosfera Os Ancares Lucenses y Montes de Cervantes, Navia y Becerreá, Reserva Natural Integral de Muniellos and the Parque Natural de las Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña e Ibias. Nonetheless, these landscapes are incomprehensible without taking into consideration human occupation, circulation or the acquisition of resources throughout history. All these activities have left tangible traces and memories that are an essential resource for the area.
The research and heritage proposals are being carried out in three different municipalities: Candín (Leon, Castilla and Leon), Ibias, in the Southwest of the Principality of Asturias, and Navia de Suarna (Lugo, Galicia). All three municipalities have actively collaborated with the project, proving their commitment to their cultural heritage and the search for sustainable resources in a rural area, with a scarce population density and outside of the main communication routs of the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula. The institutional participation has been articulated by means of an agreement of collaboration between the three town halls and the CSIC, where the participation of the local inhabitants is one of the largest assets of the project. Therefore, IVAGA responds to one of the objectives set by CHeriSCape: to achieve that scientific research regarding cultural landscapes, while being a source for the generation of new knowledge, also leads to the acquisition of new information that imply a social, cultural and economic development of local communities.
The project is under the direction of Alumdena Orejas, scientific researcher, and F. Javier Sánchez-Palencia, research professor, who both belong to the Research Group “Estructura Social y Territorio-Arqueología del Paisaje (EST-AP)” (Social Structure and Territoy – Lanscape Archaeology) of the Institute of History of the CCHS-CSIC.
For the development to the field work, we have had the collaboration the different General Directorates of Cultural Heritage of the three Autonomous Communities where the IVGA project carries out its work: The Junta of Castilla and Leon, The Xunta of Galicia and the Principality of Asturias.