Apports récents de l’anthracologie a la connaissance des paysages passés : performances et limites

Abstract

Lucie Chabal. Apports récents de l'anthracologie à la connaissance des paysages passés : performances et limites. En anthracologie, les interprétations paléo-écologiques reposent entièrement sur les méthodes utilisées. La méthode d'échantillonnage et l'analyse de l'état de fragmentation des charbons de bois archéologiques sont la base d'une nouvelle argumentation concernant la signification paléo-écologique des taxons identifiés. Des principes d'interprétation sont proposés. Des exemples sont pris parmi des sites de plein air protohistoriques et antiques dans le sud de la France.

Small preys and plant exploitation by late pleistocene hunter–gatherers. A case study from the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula

“…Fragments of charcoal are scattered in the layers associated with the rest of the artefacts. The study of plants from archaeological assemblages yields information on environment and human behaviour and is based on a methodological and theoretical framework that permits interpretation by both approaches (Chabal et al 1999;Asouti and Austin 2005;Allué and García Antón 2006).…”

Natural woodland composition and vegetation dynamic during the Linearbandkeramik in north-western Europe (central Belgium, 5200–5000 b.c.)

“…These objects where rejected in the pits with other refuse such as charcoals after some time and one or several recycling phases (Bosquet et al, 2010). Thus, the detritic sublayers may represent several events of fuel collection and the charcoal assemblages may be assumed to represent the wood vegetation in the fuel supplying area (Chabal, 1994). In such a context, charcoal studies are useful for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions (Chabal, 1994(Chabal, , 1997Bosquet et al, 2010).…”

Firewood of the Napoleonic Wars: the first application of archaeological charcoal analysis to a military camp in the north of France (1803–1805)

“…In anthracology, it is generally assumed that the greater the range of species represented in a sample, the more complete the image of exploited woodland will be (Chabal 1994, 1997). At Étaples, up to 13 species were identified, of which 10 taxa did not come from the army's official stock.…”