An interdisciplinary investigation of the longterm provencal and alpine livestock management: the intersection of bioarchaeology, palaeoecology and cultural archaeology
Abstract
From ritual, commercial to pastoral activities, domestic animals have played a major role in the use and trajectories of mountain landscapesover the last seven millennia in the Alps. However, for two decades, alpine archaeological research has rarely moved beyondthe simple identification of past human activities, rather than their characterisation and the concomitant assessment of practicesand techniques. The reasons for this are many; perhaps most significant is the relative dearth of archaeological and zooarchaeologicalevidence in the high-altitude zones.The European research project PATHWAy (A*MIDEX-France and ARHC-UK) focuses on studying the diversity of past livestock managementstrategies and their impacts on landscapes from the Iron Age to medieval times, from the Western Alps to the Provençalplains. In this interdisciplinary study, the intersection of bioarchaeological (studies of fauna, isotope analyses) and paleoenvironmental(sedDNA, palynology) methods, combined with cultural archaeology, aims to highlight: (1) the animal resources exploited, (2)the mobility patterns of domesticated species (3) the high altitude areas exploited as mountain pastures and the responses (e.g.degradation, resilience, resistance, adaptation) of the vegetation communities and erosion dynamics in these grazing areas andfinally, (4) the farming techniques and practices of the agro-pastoral communities of transalpine Gaul to the societies of Medievaltimes. This communication will present our analytical and integrative frameworks and the first results obtained, with a view to contributingto the history of Alpine pastoralism; a productive strategy that is a significant keystone agricultural undertaking of centralimportance not only for the Alps but for abutting European regions.