The assessment of the important changes that occurred in late third and second millennia societies across Europe often emphasizes changes in technology and the emergence of associated objects and art forms, changes in burial rites, and developments in economic practices. Notions relating to the evolution of homo economicus dominate many of the discourses, and the evidence for increased long-distance trade / contact across Europe is used to bolster this assessment. These themes are underpinned by an obsession with ever-refined chrono-typological phases. In an attempt to present a more socially embedded perspective, this paper considers the changes that occurred in the uses of the high-altitude, sub-alpine, and alpine zones in the southern French Alps during the third and second millennia BC. From c. 2500 BC onwards, there was a fundamental change in the use of and engagement with this landscape. The first substantial stone-built pastoral structures at high altitude (2000 m and above), appear at this time. This departure in the use and structuring of the alpine space would have included concomitant changes in the nature of mobility, notions of territory, and memories associated with this area.
Since 1998 an archaeological research programme (directed by K Walsh) has taken place in the Freissinières commune (05). This work is part of a wider collaborative and multidisciplinary project: Settlement and Pastoralism from the Prehistoric Period Through to the Middle Ages in Southern Alps. Between 1998 and 2001 prospection in high altitude zones has allowed us to identify more than 100 sites dating from the Neolithic through to the modern period. Following this field survey a number of sondages and excavations took place, in particular on the Faravel plateau and the Faravel Mountain, between 2000 and 2500m asl. This area produced prehistoric sites as well as a series of pastoral structures of different forms and different periods. Traces of human activity from the early Mesolithic through to the medieval period were consequently excavated.
International audienceThe Roman and early medieval Richeaume XIII necropolis in Provence (France) was systematically studied using magnetic prospection and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Remains of a limestone‐made building are embedded in a reddish clay formation bearing iron oxides. This produces an interesting negative magnetic anomaly, whereas the wall itself is resistive. Other dipolar magnetic anomalies are correlated with the location of sepulchres, either covered by roman, strongly magnetized tegulae, or corresponding to burnt layers of cremations. After normal data processing, filtering and modelling are applied to the magnetic field data in order to more precisely define the sources. Constraints using ERTsoundings, magnetic property measurements, archaeological and geological data help to build such a source model. This study particularly emphasizes that magnetic prospection combined with ERT profiles should be suitable and sufficient on other necropolis sites in the same geological environment
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Archéologie et paléoenvironnement dans les Alpes méridionales françaises, Hauts massifs de l'Argentiérois,
Des programmes de recherche pluridisciplinaires sur l'occupation du sol et le pastoralisme de la Préhistoire au Moyen Âge dans le sud du massif alpin sont menés, depuis 1998, sur les massifs du Haut Champsaur, de Freissinières et de l'Argentièrois (Hautes-Alpes). Des dix phases d'occupation et d'activité agropastorale mises en évidence (prospections pédestres et fouilles), entre 1600 et 2700 m d'altitude, trois se distinguent: la fin du Néolithique, l'âge du Bronze et la période médiévale. Au travers des premières données archéologiques et environnementales, cet article présente, depuis le milieu du III e millénaire au début du I er millénaire, les grandes caractéristiques de l'occupation du sol mais aussi l'originalité et l'importance de l'activité humaine dans cette zone alpine. La fin du Néolithique et l'âge du Bronze correspondent à une multiplication des gisements archéologiques marquant de façon évidente une rupture dans la gestion de l'espace montagnard. Les paysages sont largement façonnés par les activités humaines et l'entretien des terres cultivées, des prairies et des alpages, paraît continu. À la lumière des données de terrain, l'une des évolutions qui apparaît sur les sites d'altitude durant cette période concerne l'apparition de structures pastorales bâties entre 2 067 et 2 303 m d'altitude (datation 14 C).
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