History and evolution of Mesolithic landscapes in the Haut-Quercy (Lot, France): New charcoal data from archaeological contexts

Abstract

Charred wood analyses have been performed on three Mesolithic sites located on the Causse de Gramat, a karstic plateau in southwestern France (Lot department): Les Fieux, les Escabasses and le Cuzoul de Gramat. The sites yielded occupations dating from the early to the late Mesolithic (9th to the 6th millennia cal. bc). In the absence of palynological data, charcoal analysis allowed us to characterise the woody environment exploited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. Our results point at the minor place of softwoods in the landscape and the local importance of Rosaceae prunoideae, marking an original type of pre-forest vegetation. In order to retrace the local vegetation dynamics, these results are synthesized and discussed thanks to a correspondence analysis, which includes previous anthracological data from Azilian and middle Mesolithic levels of two other sites of the Causse. The homogeneity of the results speaks in favour of the stability of the local environment and confirms the specific vegetation features of the area.

Reconstructing the heterogeneity of past woodlands in anthracology using the spatial distribution of charcoals in archaeological layers: Applied to the postglacial occupation of the Abeurador cave (Hérault) in the South of France

“…In some other areas in the south of France, palynology does not observe any expansion of Pinus during the Preboreal (Beaulieu et al, 1985). Such differences between sites in the representation of conifers during the Preboreal have already been noted by Henry et al (2013).…”

“…Several species of juniper were very well adapted to open and dry habitats. Prunus spinosa and other Rosaceae, which may represent the first cold-adapted bushes (Heinz and Barbaza, 1998), and then pioneer shrubs that precede deciduous Quercus in an ecological succession, remain at Abeurador the constant background to the development of the oak forest until the Neolithic, but in a rather discrete manner compared to other sites occupied from the Mesolithic period (Heinz and Barbaza, 1998;Henry et al, 2013).…”

“…ca. 9000 BP (Henry et al, 2013). In the Iberian Peninsula, Arbutus unedo is found early, at different periods depending on the region, e.g.…”