Exploring the landscape dimension of the early medieval churches. A case study from A Mariña region (north-west Spain)

Despite the long tradition of studies on early medieval churches, little is still known about the reasons behind the selection of specific places for building churches between the fifth to tenth centuries a.d. Thanks to some rich historical documents, the region of A Mariña (Galicia, north-west Iberia) represents an exceptional case study in order to analyse the spatial logic behind the creation of the early medieval ecclesiastical landscapes. This objective is pursued by means of the application of GIS and spatial statistics for the study of the locational patterns of these first Christian buildings. As this is a first attempt, we started from the formal analysis of topographic variables; then a settlement model for the churches was defined, and next used to analyse specific trends on their locational dynamics. The results allow us to propose that the location of the early medieval churches should be related to visual and territorial control over some specific areas of the landscape (mainly settlements and natural resources). This suggests that, despite the variety of church founders, some kind of collective planning of the church network did happen during the early Middle Ages. This fact can be historically explained as a key part of power strategies aimed at the creation of a new territorial articulation during this period.