Reconstructing past terrace fields in the Pyrenees: Insights into land management and settlement from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern era at Vilalta (1650 masl, Cerdagne, France)

© Trustees of Boston University 2015. The building of a solar power station at Thémis, at 1650 masl on the south-facing slope of the Carlit massif in the eastern Pyrenees, led to an archaeological evaluation from April-June 2009. This evaluation covered a surface of 10 ha that included a medieval village as well as the surrounding agricultural land in terraces. Non-destructive archaeological methods were used for the village. A detailed study of the 6 ha of terraces began with a fieldwalking survey, mapping every visible feature, followed by systematic trial trenches. Fifty-five trenches, 11 in the village and 44 in the fields, were opened. The stratigraphies were then compared with a series of 22 radiocarbon dates and eight relative dates provided by ceramic typologies. This combination of surface and buried evidence supported our preliminary hypothesis about the dynamics of the slope. The results suggest the existence of agrarian features beginning in the Bronze Age and reveal that the field patterns were frequently transformed, both in the Medieval and Early Modern periods. The transformations in the terrace fields after the village was abandoned are as interesting as those during occupation because, contrary to the idea of a fixed, unchanging landscape after the end of the Middle Ages, they challenge the idea that mountain zones are marginal spaces by nature, or were marginalized later.Peer Reviewe

Archéologie pastorale et histoire de l'environnement en haute montagne : l'apport des datations radiocarbones

International audienc

Glucosinolates and Polyphenols of Colored Cauliflower as Chemical Discriminants Based on Cooking Procedures

The impact of mild oven treatments (steaming or sous-vide) and boiling for 10 min, 25 min, or 40 min on health-promoting phytochemicals in orange and violet cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) was investigated. For this purpose, targeted ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis of phenolics and glycosylates, combined with chemometrics, was employed. Regardless of cooking time, clear differentiation of cooked samples obtained using different procedures was achieved, thus demonstrating the distinct impact of cooking approaches on sample phytochemical profile (both, compound distribution and content). The main responsible components for the observed discrimination were derivatives of hydroxycinnamic acid and kaempferol, organic acids, indolic, and aromatic glucosinolates, with glucosativin that was found, for the first time, as a discriminant chemical descriptor in colored cauliflower submitted to steaming and sous-vide. The obtained findings also highlighted a strict relationship between the impact of the cooking technique used and the type of cauliflower. The boiling process significantly affected the phytochemicals in violet cauliflower whereas orange cauliflower boiled samples were grouped between raw and either steamed or sous-vide-cooked samples. Finally, the results confirm that the proposed methodology is capable of discriminating cauliflower samples based on their phytochemical profiles and identifying the cooking procedure able to preserve bioactive constituents

No quedaron al margen. Nuevas evidencias sobre la neolitización de las zonas altas de los Pirineos

En lo últimos años las intervenciones arqueológicas en zonas altas de los Pirineos se han multiplicado, tanto cualitativa como cuantitativamente. Este hecho ha comportado un incremento del conocimiento de la historia y una mejor caracterización del poblamiento humano de la cordillera a lo largo del tiempo. Una parte de la nueva información procede de yacimientos de la primera mitad del Neolítico y, muy especialmente, del último tercio del VI Milenio cal ANE y de todo el V Milenio cal ANE. Las evidencias en el Pririneo axial central, procedentes del norte de Aragón (tanto en Sobrarbe como en el Valle de Benasque), de Catalunya (Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici) y del sur de Andorra (Vall de Madriu-Perafita-Claror) sugieren la presencia de comunidades plenamente neolíticas, no solamente en los fondos de valle sino también en áreas de media y alta montaña, ya desde finales del VI milenio cal ANE. La información procedente de algunos yacimientos excavados por encima de los 1500 metros de altitud (Cova del Sardo, Coro Trasito, Els Trocs, etc.), además de una detallada resolución cronológica, presentan interesantes datos sobre las formas de vida de estas comunidades con economías agrícolas y ganaderas plenamente desarrolladas, no marginales. En particular, los datos de los abrigos de la Cova del Sardo (Vall de Boí, Catalunya) y Coro Trasito (Sobrarbe, Aragón) así como de algunos contextos andorranos (Can Colomeró, Feixa del Moro de Juberri, etc.) evidencian no sólo las prácticas pecuarias, sino también la presencia de prácticas agrícolas (almacenamiento de grano, utilización de industria lítica en tareas de siega, etc.). Este trabajo compila la información más reciente y replantea la premisa, muchas veces asumida acríticamente, de que las zonas de montaña fueron áreas resilientes o marginales ante los procesos de neolitización.Peer reviewe