Les bergeries romaines de la Crau d'Arles. Les origines de la transhumance en Provence

Abstract

La découverte de plusieurs dizaines de bergeries d'époque romaine dans la plaine steppique de la Crau (territoire de la cité d'Arles) permet d'aborder, pour la première fois, l'étude de l'élevage antique des ovins à partir des structures matérielles. La répartition des divers aménagements (bergeries, cabanes, puits, fours, réunis en groupes plus ou moins denses) et la chronologie de l'occupation suggèrent une organisation de ce territoire et une exploitation systématique de la plaine, depuis la création de la colonie d'Arles, jusqu'à la fin du IV s. et le début du Ve s. La variété des trouvailles donne un aperçu de la vie quotidienne des bergers et l'importance de cet élevage, dans une plaine inhospitalière l'été, pose le problème de la transhumance.

A comparison of different soil transfer strategies for restoring a Mediterranean steppe after a pipeline leak (La Crau plain, South-Eastern France)

“…The Mistral wind blows at more than 50 km h −1 for 110 days year −1 and the sun shines for more than 3000 h year −1 (Devaux et al, 1983). In addition, for more than 2000 years, traditional sheep grazing has structured this plant community that is unique in terms of its species richness, composition and diversity (Cherel, 1988;Badan et al, 1995;Henry, 2009). The vegetation covers between 50% and 80% of the soil surface.…”

“…In fact, this steppe vegetation is the result of a regime of particular stress and disturbance induced by the shallow red Mediterranean soil (red fersialitic soil) and by the Mediterranean climate interacting with centuries of sheep grazing and a succession of prairie fires (Devaux et al, 1983;Cherel, 1988;Badan et al, 1995;Henry, 2009). Although this environment is partly protected through the establishment of a National Natural Reserve in 2001 on 7400 ha, extensive areas today require active restoration Coiffait-Gombault et al, 2011;Jaunatre et al, 2014a) as recovery of the steppe vegetation after changes in land use is extremely slow (Römermann et al, 2005;Dutoit et al, 2013a,b).…”

Substrate Composition and Depth Affect Soil Moisture Behavior and Plant-Soil Relationship on Mediterranean Extensive Green Roofs

“…[53,54]. This plant community is particularly interesting in terms of species richness, composition and diversity [55][56][57].…”

Effects of ecological restoration on Orthoptera assemblages in a Mediterranean steppe rangeland

“…The steppe is characterized by an extremely flat topography, a soil surface 50 % covered by siliceous stones and a soil depth of 40 cm covering an impermeable calcareous conglomerate which does not allow plant roots access to groundwater (Colomb and Roux 1978). Finally, for several millennia there has been itinerant sheep grazing on the steppe (Badan et al 1995;Henry et al 2010), turning the plain of La Crau into the open landscape of a typical Mediterranean rangeland.…”