Archéologie et paléoenvironnement dans les Alpes méridionales françaises, Hauts massifs de l'Argentiérois, du Champsaur et de l'Ubaye, Hautes-Alpes et Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Néolithique final -début de l'Antiquité

Abstract

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Multiproxy analyses of Lake Allos reveal synchronicity and divergence in geosystem dynamics during the Lateglacial/Holocene in the Alps

“…On slopes, increasing grass pollen percentages and the continuous occurrence of Urtica suggest the presence of domestic livestock and grassland in the close vicinity of the lake (Fig. 8), in agreement with the continuous record of pastoral artifacts in high-altitude environments in the Southern Alps during the Late Bronze Age (Mocci et al, 2008). This more open landscape is concomitant with an increase in eutrophic diatoms (P. radiosa, G. acuminatum, S. medius) and the appearance of a new ostracod species Cypria ophthalmica, suggesting enrichment of the lake waters.…”

“…Lake Long Inf erieur (Ponel et al, 2001), Lake Vens (Brisset et al, 2015)), an argument in favour of the presence of domestic livestock at these altitudes by that time. Even though there are no archaeological excavations in Lake Allos catchment, archaeological studies in the Ecrins and Champsaur massifs (~60 km north of Lake Allos) attest to human frequentation of the high-altitude valleys from the Late Mesolithic onwards (Walsh et al, 2007;Mocci et al, 2008), but without any evidence of pastoral activities. The oldest circular enclosure characteristic of pastoral activities has been dated at 6000-5000 cal.…”

“…The oldest circular enclosure characteristic of pastoral activities has been dated at 6000-5000 cal. BP (Mocci et al, 2008). Obviously, the earliest evidence of human activity in these environments is still difficult to access.…”

Mobility in the Mountains: Late Third and Second Millennia Alpine Societies' Engagements with the High-Altitude Zones in the Southern French Alps

“…at lower altitudes. We have demonstrated elsewhere that many of the environmentally determinist discourses associated with Alpine archaeology are flawed (Mocci et al 2006(Mocci et al , 2009Walsh 2005a). However, it is interesting to note that climatic deterioration and the concomitant reduction of forest cover may have actually been one of the reasons for the development of high-altitude pastoralism rather than a decrease in such activity.…”

Non-reversible geosystem destabilisation at 4200 cal. BP: Sedimentological, geochemical and botanical markers of soil erosion recorded in a Mediterranean alpine lake

“…Indeed, since c. 5000 cal. BP in both the Northern (Curdy, 2007;Krause, 2007) and Southern Alps (Mocci et al, 2008;Walsh et al, 2007), abundant archaeological evidence of repeated seasonal pastoral activities (enclosures for herds with adjacent smaller domestic living areas) has been found at altitudes exceeding 2000 m ( Figure 6). Lake Petit recorded between 4770 and 4300 cal.…”