Salavert, Aurélie

Repositori d'Objectes Digitals per a l'Ensenyament la Recerca i la Cultura

Archaeological charcoal: natural or human impact on the vegetation  Environment and forest edges exploitation in northern France and Belgium during the Neolithic    Aurélie Salavert1  1 Dpt. Paléontologie, Institut Royal de Sciences naturelles de Belgique, rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium; salavert@mnhn.fr   Summary: This synthesis of charcoal studies brings together 24 neolithic occupations in northern France and Belgium. The woody environment is quite similar all along the period. However, the variation of the percentage of Rosaceae species will be discussed even though in Hesbaye, their sudden arrival during the second part of the LBK has been interpreted as a consequence of human activities and forest edges management.  Key words: Neolithic, northern France, Belgium, forest edge, Rosaceae  INTRODUCTION  This work proposes a synthesis of charcoal analyses carried out in northern France and Belgium (Fig. 1), in order to study the woody environment during the Neolithic period (5500-2500 BC), as well as the development and the composition of forest edge.  Twenty four occupations, mostly habitat settlements, are taken into account (Table 1, Fig. 1). Charcoal fragments result mainly from domestic firewood. The unbalance between chronological periods and studied geographical areas reflects the lack of research on neolithic sites in northern France and Belgium (Table 1).   FIGURE 1. Location of the neolithic sites studied. See table 1 for abbreviations.  RESULTS AND PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION  The observation of the charcoal diagram (Fig. 2) shows the dominance of Quercus whereas the Fraxinus percentage is variable probably depending on the regional edaphic conditions. Hazelnut is present in all sites. Ulmus and Tilia appear more frequently during the Early Neolithic. This could be related to the decline of both species in the pollen diagram of the Hesbaye region, which has been correlated with the activities of the Bandkeramik people (Bakels, 1992: 16).   Fagus appears at the end of the Final Neolithic, which is a little bit earlier than the first mention in the synthetic pollen diagram of the Paris basin where the presence of Fagus is recorded since the second part of the Subboreal, around 3270±80 BP (Leroyer, 2006: fig. 4; see Leroyer et al., in this volume).    TABLE 1. List of sites and cultures studied, number of charcoal fragments identified and main bibliographical references consulted for each of them.   The Rosaceae taxa (Maloideae, Prunoideae) appear at the second LBK period. The developing of such heliophilous species could be related to the opening of fields or pasture lands by the first farmers of Central Belgium and thus to human activities (Pernaud, 1997; Salavert, 2010). However, their absence in the pioneer charcoal assemblages and their brutal appearance may correspond to a particular exploitation and maybe the management of the edge forest for firewood, fruit gathering and fodder (Kreuz, 1992; Salavert, 2010). The percentage of Rosaceae varies and could indicate a difference in the degree of anthropization of the environment from site to site, and thus, the economic status of neolithic settlements (conclusions have to be SAGVNTVM EXTRA - 11 143Archaeological charcoal: natural or human impact on the vegetation  taken cautiously considering the preliminary nature of this work).  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  I would like to thank A. Dufraisse for making available the Corbehem results, as well as F. Damblon and C. Buydens for the Darion data.  REFERENCES  BAKELS, C., 1992. The botanical shadow of two early Neolithic settlements in Belgium: carbonized seeds and disturbances in a pollen record. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 73, 1-19. KREUZ, A., 1992. Charcoal from ten early Neolithic settlements in Central Europe and its interpretation in terms of woodland management and wild wood resources. In: Vernet, J.-L. (Dir.) Les charbons de bois, les anciens écosystèmes et le rôle de l’homme. Bulletin de la Société botanique de France 139 (2/3/4), 383-394. LEROYER, C., 2006. L'impact des groupes néolithiques du Bassin parisien sur le milieu végétal: évolution et approche territoriale d’après les données polliniques. Impacts interculturels au Néolithique moyen (25e suppl. à la R.A.E.), S.A.E., 131-149. PERNAUD, J.-M., 1997. Paléoenvironnement végétaux et sociétés l’Holocène dans le nord du Bassin Parisien. Anthraco-analyses des sites archéologiques d’Ile-de-France et de Picardie: Méthodologie et Paléoécologie. Ph.D. Thesis, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.  SALAVERT, A., 2010. Apport de l'archéobotanique à la compréhension des sociétés néolithiques. Analyses anthracologiques et carpologiques de neuf sites rubanés de Moyenne-Belgique (5200-5000 av. J.-C.). Ph.D. Thesis, Université de Paris 1 and Institut Royal de Sciences naturelles de Belgique.     FIGURE 2. Simplified charcoal diagram of 24 neolithic occupations in northern France and Belgium (dots: <1%). Only main species identified are mentioned. Each colored stripe corresponds to a different chronological period. Inside the colored stripes, sites are potentially contemporaneous.   SAGVNTVM EXTRA - 11 144

Environment and forest edges exploitation in northern France and Belgium during the Neolithic

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Repositori d'Objectes Digitals per a l'Ensenyament la Recerca i la Cultura