Origen, localización y evolución de los «panares» del municipio de Gistaín

The aim of this paper is to study an agricultural system typical of the Pyrenean area, based on the example of Gistaín, a municipality located in a high valley of the Aragonese Pyrenees. In this enclave, the panar system endured until the 1980s, while in other valleys it disappeared much earlier. First, the panar model is approached from a general perspective using the limited literature available on the subject. The focus then shifts to the study area and the Gistaín municipality is analysed in its mid-nineteenth-century configuration, based on three fundamental sources: a field study of the land, oral tradition collected from the older inhabitants and documentary records, mainly the amillaramiento of 1863. Some older documents, mainly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were also consulted in the Municipal Archive. In the conclusions, some ideas are provided about the origin and evolution of these spaces.