To better understand how people, as individuals and groups, responded and contributed to the social and environmental changes of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of the Iberian Peninsula, we investigated archaeological evidence at different scales of space and time. Specifically, we excavated a burial site – Bolores, in the Sizandro River Valley of Portugal, which was primarily used between 2900 and 2500 BCE. We also carried out studies of burials and settlements in the area surrounding the Sizandro River Valley that date to between 3800 and 2000 BCE. And, we analyzed human populations throughout the Iberian Peninsula that lived between 4000 and 1000 BCE. This kind of research is multiscalar. Multiscalar analyses encourage archaeologists to consider how changes at the local site level are related to changes at the larger regional scale, and vice-versa.
Think about how your home tells us something about you and your life, but also how it is shaped by larger social and economic forces in your community and country. Think also about how what you do in your home impacts your community and people beyond your community.