The Pyrenees are a Franco-Spanish Mountain range, oriented from west to east, from the Low Basque mountains up to the Catalan Pyrenees, long 430 km and wide from 65 to 150 km, approximately. This mountain range is characterized by a high degree of variety and complexity in ecological, economical and social terms.  Within this big region we focus the attention in the Cerdagne, a particular region located in the French Pyrenees. The area known as Cerdanya stretches out across the border between France (Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie) and Spain (Catalunya) and can be seen as a historical-geographical entity encompassing a large plateau, situated at 1200m asl, enclosed by mountains. Cerdanya has been partitioned between France and Spain ever since the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Antigone case studies are located within the French border, where research has been carried out in cooperation with the Université Toulouse Jean Jaurés (GEODE, FRAMESPA). Previous studies have highlighted the centrality of transhumance routes and pastoralism for the area, investigating structures and material traces of pastoral practices across prehistorical times as well as the Middle Ages and the post-Medieval period. Especially for the Medieval and Modern periods, the relationships between agropastoral practices and common lands have been explored, and how these were involved in broader socio-economic systems. The project focuses especially on the municipalities of Llo, Eyne and oSaillagouse, where common lands have been historically present and where agropastoral activities and practices can be further investigated to examine how uses, access rights and the organisation of space has changed until recent times and how social interactions have modified over the last three centuries.
Furthermore, the Project aims to delve into the observation and study of the extensive network of irrigation channels that characterizes this region and that, for many centuries, has been managed and maintained by local actors through shared management practices that involved a high degree of conflict among parties. Through this specific example, ANTIGONE intends to demonstrate, following the suggestions proposed by Arjun Appadurai and Ian Hodder, how objects, particularly irrigation canals, act as true catalysts of social relations, in which conflicts play a crucial role in their maintenance.