The iron industry in the eastern half of the Pyrenees from Antiquity to the 17th century: new data and research perspectives

International audienceThe eastern half of the Pyrenees has been involved in the iron industry since ancient times, from the Roman Antiquity to the modern era. This mountainous area contains very large deposits of high-grade iron ore and enormous timber resources. It is also a component of trade networks linking the Iberian Peninsula and Gaul on the one hand, and the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean basin on the other. Despite high-quality archaeological and historical studies led previously on the Roman Antiquity (Dubois 2000) on one hand and the late medieval (Verna 2001, Téreygeol & Gauthier 2016) and modern periods (Cantelaube 2005) on the other hand, the long-term dynamics of iron production remained imperfectly known, due to numerous chronological gaps. This concerns especially the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages periods. In addition, certain aspects of the siderurgic economy needed to be studied more thoroughly, in particular ore supply strategies and the distribution of metal products.The aim of the FERMAPYR (2019-2022 – FEDER L’industrie du FER dans le MAssif des PYRénées) and FERAPO (2021-2026- PCR Le FER en Ariège et dans Pyrénées-Orientales) programs is to draw up a synthesis of new data on iron industry based on interdisciplinary research. This is done at the scale of the eastern half of the Pyrenees over the long term: from Ariège to the Pyrénées-Orientales departments; from Antiquity to the middle of the 17th century. The work is based on the interdisciplinary collection and processing of data: fieldwork (prospecting, test pits, field surveys, etc.); examination of archive collections and extraction of unpublished documentation; laboratory work (typological and archaeometric studies of artefacts: ceramics, slag, iron bars, charcoal, ore, C14 dating, etc.); recording of data in a shared computer database with the support of the Huma-Num Paris Time Machine Consortium.After more than 5 years of research, we would like to present these interdisciplinary and diachronic projects and their archaeological and archaeometric results

National survey of indigenous primary healthcare capacity and delivery models in Canada: the TransFORmation of IndiGEnous PrimAry HEAlthcare delivery (FORGE AHEAD) community profile survey

Background: There is a significant deficiency of national health information for Indigenous peoples in Canada. This manuscript describes the Community Profile Survey (CPS), a community-based, national-level survey designed to identify and describe existing healthcare delivery, funding models, and diabetes specific infrastructure and programs in Indigenous communities. Methods: The CPS was developed collaboratively through FORGE AHEAD and the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada. Regional and federal engagement and partnerships were built with Indigenous organizations to establish regionally-tailored distribution of the 8-page CPS to 440 First Nations communities. Results were collected (one survey per community) and reported in strata by region, with descriptive analyses performed on all variables. Results were shared with participating communities and regional/federal partners through tailored reports. Results: A total of 84 communities completed the survey (19% response rate). The majority of communities had a health centre/office to provide service to their patients with diabetes, with limited on-reserve hospitals for ambulatory or case-sensitive conditions. Few healthcare specialists were located on-site, with patients frequently travelling off-site (> 40 km) for diabetes-related complications. The majority of healthcare professionals on-site were Health Directors, Community Health Nurses, and Home Care Nurses. Many communities had a diabetes registry but few reported a diabetes surveillance system. Regional variation in healthcare services, diabetes programs, and funding models were noted, with most communities engaging in some type of innovative strategy to improve care for patients with diabetes. Conclusions: The CPS is the first community-based, national-level survey of its kind in Canada. Although the response rate was low, the CPS was distributed and successfully administered across a broad range of First Nations communities, and future considerations would benefit from a governance structure and leadership that strengthens community engagement, and a longitudinal research approach to increase the representativeness of the data. This type of information is important for communities and regions to inform decision making (maintain successes, and identify areas for improvement), strengthen health service delivery and infrastructure, increase accessibility to healthcare personnel, and allocate funding and/or resources to build capacity and foster a proactive chronic disease prevention and management approach for Indigenous communities across Canada. Trial registration: Current ClinicalTrial.gov protocol ID NCT02234973. Registered: September 9, 2014