Summer Farms: Seasonal Exploitation of the Uplands from Prehistory to the Present

This book provides the first archaeological overview of Summer Farms in Europe, from the Black Sea to Spain and Iceland, concentrating on the Alps.

Summer farms exploit rich upland pastures that cannot be used or accessed in the winter. The best known summer farms are in the Alps, but they are also found in other mountain areas such as Iceland and Spain.

The uplands are now being abandoned and the last summer farms are gradually disappearing, so that archaeologists are now taking over from ethnographers and anthropologists in their study, and documenting the history of summer farms, which goes back at least to the Bronze Age in many areas. 

This book collects twelve case studies, with a concentration on the Alpine area.

Full book details on Equinox Publishing website