Environment and firewood management in southern France during the Mesolithic: anthracology, ethnoarchaeology and experimentation.

• Main Author: Henry, Auréade
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen-Age (CEPAM), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Nice Sophia Antipolis, Frank Braemer([e-mail])
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: archaeobotany; charcoal analysis; ethnoarchaeology; firewood; Mesolithic; anthracologie; ethnoarchéologie; charbons de bois; expérimentation; Mésolithique; [SHS.HIST]Humanities and Social Sciences/History; Athabascan; Evenk; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-00726927; https://theses.hal.science/tel-00726927/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-00726927/file/These_Henry_opt.pdf

This study raises the question of the relationship between woody vegetation, human practices and the nature of the charcoal deposit. Adopting a palaeo- economical approach in anthracology aims at contributing to the development of more general archaeological models for the Mesolithic. According to the current theories and methods in anthracology, three approaches are conducted. The first one focuses on the anthracological study of four archaeological sites in southwestern France (Causses of the Lot and the Aveyron) dating from the early Sauveterrian to the late/final Mesolithic: the caves of Fieux and Escabasses and the rock shelters of Cuzoul de Gramat and Clos de Poujol. Globally, the Causses appear to follow specific vegetation dynamics and are characterised by a great stability of the tree cover. The second approach consists in an ethnoarchaeological survey conducted among nomadic Evenk reindeer herders of southern Siberia and sedentary athabascan communities from south-western Alaska living in boreal forest environments. Our aim was to consider human practices as potential biases occurring between the vegetation and the contents of the anthracological deposit. Like most technic subsystems, fire wood management is culturally significant. Nevertheless, strong similarities exist between the groups we have worked with. The last approach aims at characterising experimentally anatomical signatures (deformation and fusion of cell walls) that were observed on archaeological charcoals. It led principally to the creation of an alteration index that allows evaluating the initial phenological state of softwoods. Finally, we discuss the relevancy of these approaches, all of which have potentialities and limits. Their complementarity highlights the complexity of firewood management systems and of human-environment interactions during the Mesolithic. Cette étude soulève la question des relations entre la végétation ligneuse, les pratiques anthropiques et la nature du dépôt anthracologique. L'adoption d'une démarche ...