In the north‐western Mediterranean area, the first Iron Age is characterized by intense contacts and cultural interactions between populations. Archaeological remains such as ceramic vessels or metal and glass objects are usually good indicators of the nature and the intensity of these exchanges, but can also be used to determine the way in which these populations were living at their time. In contrast, organic substances, despite their importance in a wide variety of activities, are rarely investigated due to their low degree of preservation. The recent discovery of a series of amorphous organic residues with adhesive properties at the site of Cuciurpula provided a unique opportunity to address questions related to the types of natural substances exploited, their provenance, their uses and their informational input to intercultural relationships. Our results, based on GC and GC–MS analysis of organic residues preserved at the site of Cuciurpula, provide strong evidence for the most southern use of birch bark tar in Western Europe, and also for the simultaneous use of this substance with pine resin. Beeswax was also identified in some samples. The combined study of residue composition, aspect and location on ceramic sherds reveals a variety of uses, highlighting a complex technical system.

b s t r a c tThe upper Durance valley contains the largest silverelead mines of the French Southern Alps. We investigated the characterisation and impact of these mining activities and associated forestry in the Argentière (L'Argentière-La Bessée) and Faravel (Freissinières) districts using a multidisciplinary approach that includes archaeological, palynological, geochemical, anthracological and dendrochronological studies applied to mining remnants and a peat bog (Fangeas, in the Faravel district). More specifically, we studied the occurrence of lead contamination episodes, the chronology of mining activities and their link to the evolution in woodland cover. Our chronology is based on mining archaeology, radiocarbon dating of about thirty charcoal samples and the dendrochronological analysis of more than 170 specimens of exhumed waterlogged wood. The anthracological analysis was established with more than 10,000 charcoals from firesetting. The main geochemical approach was based on the analysis of lead and its stable isotopes in sediment fractions from a peat core. The combination of palynological records and lead isotope imprints were used to characterise (i) a Roman contamination episode unknown to archaeology, (ii) the development of medieval mining activities and (iii) the reactivation of mining during the Modern period and the Industrial Revolution. Medieval mining coincides with an extension of the high mountain agropastoral areas. The in situ continuous human activities in the same industrial territory led to rational communal management of subalpine forests, but also to their parcelling that reached its peak in the High Middle Ages. Mining during the Modern period coincides with significant stress on woodland areas that also appears to be related to lumber and fuel timber production for shipyards (French Royal Navy) as well as the functioning of several military fortresses. The mining reactivation during the 19th c. matched public measures of forest protection that took shape in the afforestation programme of the uplands.

International audienceThis anthracological study of fuel wood used in the Faravel mines is part of a doctorate research pro-gramme conducted on the interrelationship between mines and forests of the Southern Alps during the Middle Ages. The study area is situated in the upper Durance valley, a major mining region from the 11th to the end of the 13th century. Man sought and extracted silver-bearing ore from the valley bottoms to the summit of the mountains. He employed firesetting to attack the hard gneiss bedrock. The study of residual charcoal has been used to measure the impact of the mining economy on the development of mountain forests. The example of the small district of Faravel situated in an upper mountainous region (1900e2150 m altitude), illustrates a supply anchored at subalpine level with a gradual extension of the source area towards the timberline. The anthracological spectra document extinction of Pinus cembra L. at subalpine level and the lowering of the upper limit of the dense forest dominated by Larix decidua Mill. These changes are the result of agropastoral and mining pressure, as testified by both surviving man-uscripts and archaeology

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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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