Au Sud-est du Massif Central, le Languedoc oriental englobe les trois départements français de l’Ardèche, du Gard et de l’Hérault. Avec près de 1600 dolmens répertoriés, en majorité localisés sur les petits causses calcaires, ce territoire recèle la seconde concentration mégalithique du pays, derrière la région des Grands Causses. L’étude des dolmens y est ancienne, puisque les premières hypothèses relatives à leur fonction remontent au début du 19e siècle. Dans le Midi de la France, elles ont abouti au classement des tombes en trois grands groupes typologiques. Aux prémices de notre réflexion, figurent un certain nombre d’interrogations relatives à la pertinence de cette typologie et à l’état des connaissances. La problématique centrale de notre travail a donc été, d’une part de mettre en évidence un savoir-faire mégalithique et d’autre part de tenter de résoudre les questions de chronologie relative et d’appartenance culturelle des tombes languedociennes. Dans cette optique, nous avons exploré les monuments au travers de trois axes principaux. Le premier a pris la forme d’une analyse morphologique et comparative des dolmens, débarrassée du présupposé typologique. Le second nous a conduits à porter l’interrogation dans le domaine des techniques, permettant ainsi de retracer une chaîne opératoire mégalithique. Le troisième point de vue est celui des implications symboliques, liées notamment au choix de l’orientation de la tombe. / To the southeast of the Massif Central, East Languedoc encompasses the three French departments of Ardèche, Gard and Hérault. With nearly 1,600 listed dolmens, mostly located on small limestone plateaus, the area contains the second megalithic concentration in the country, behind the Grands Causses region. The study of dolmens is ancient, since first hypotheses concerning their function back to the early 19th century. In the south of France, they have led to the classification of graves in three typological groups (Arnal 1963; Chevalier 1984). It appears, from recent publications, an embarrassment to adhere fully to the three main types, without questioning them. Therefore, the first fruits of our reflection included a number of questions regarding the adequacy of the current type and the state of knowledge in the west of the Rhone. The central issue of our work has been on the one hand to demonstrate expertise megalithic and secondly to try to resolve issues of chronology and cultural affiliation of Languedoc graves. In this context, we explored the monuments through three main axes. The first took the form of morphological and comparative analysis of dolmens, freed of typological presupposition. The second led us to bring the interrogation in the field of techniques. The recognition of the choices made by the builders can trace megalithic operating chain and identify possible differences in cultural. The third view is the symbolic implications of the choice of the orientation of the grave. The reasons which led to favor a particular orientation seem indeed related to worship or environmental factors, or a combination of these factors.

Après deux années d'études sur les dolmens du Languedoc-Roussillon, nos recherches se sont orientées vers la reconnaissance des tumulus qui enserrent les chambres funéraires mégalithiques. Comment sont-ils construits, avec quels matériaux et quels moyens? Quelles sont leurs fonctions ? Peut-on dégager une typologie, des disparités/ressemblances géographiques et/ou culturelles ? Peut-on cerner leur évolution chronologique à travers la dynamique architecturale ? Au-delà de la reconnaissance des tumulus, il s’agit également d’étudier la périphérie de ces monuments, leur implantation dans le paysage et dans l’espace humanisé. Le peu d'informations scientifiquement utilisables sur ces structures implique la réalisation de nouvelles fouilles selon une méthodologie adaptée. Le cadre géographique global de cette recherche est le bassin ouest méditerranéen avec plusieurs fenêtres d'étude spécifiques recoupant les grandes zones de concentration du phénomène mégalithique : l’est des Pyrénées, les Garrigues héraultaises, le bassin du Salagou, la bordure méridionale des Grands-Causses. Huit dolmens ont été fouillés dans le cadre spécifique de ce travail. Nous proposons ainsi un modèle de compréhension de ce type de sites, du choix de leur implantation jusqu’à leur abandon en passant par leur construction et leur évolution. Ces nouvelles informations permettent de s'interroger sur les fonctions multiples qu’ont pu avoir ces monuments pour les sociétés de la fin du Néolithique et du début de l’âge du Bronze. / After two years of studies on Languedoc-Roussillon’s dolmens, our research is directed towards the recognition of tumuli which enclose the megalithic burial chambers. How are they built, with what materials and how? What are their functions? Can we identify a typology, differences / similarities geographical and/or cultural? Can we identify their chronological evolution through architectural dynamics? Beyond the recognition of the tumulus, it is also to investigate the periphery of these monuments, their location in the landscape and in the humanized space. The few scientific information usable on these structures involves the realization of new excavations with an appropriate methodology. The overall geographical framework of this research is the western Mediterranean basin with several specific study windows cutting across large areas of concentration of the megalithic phenomenon: the eastern Pyrenees, the Herault Garrigues, the Salagou basin, the southern edge of the Grands-Causses. Eight dolmens were excavated in the specific context of this work. We propose a model of understanding of sites of this type, from the choice of their location until their abandonment via their construction and development. This new informations allow to consider the multiple functions that these monuments have had for the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age societies

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 309-331). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

xvi, 341 p. : ill. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT GN855.K6 R6 1997 / The primary purpose of this dissertation is to reconstruct sociocultural development in the North Han River Valley in Korea during the prehistoric and proto historic periods ( ca 6000 B .C.-A.D. 300). Based on theoretical ideas about the close relationship between cultural behavior and the natural environment as well as synthetical observation of archaeological data in the North Han River Valley, I have proposed the following testable hypothesis in regard to 'sociocultural development in the North Han River Valley : that its unique ecosystem brought about a subsistence pattern unique to the region. The North Han River Valley's specific geographical formation, connected with the Lower Han River Basin by way of the river system, brought it under the crucial influence of the latter's more advanced cultural elements. The circumscribed environment derived from the distinctively developed geomophological formation of the North Han River Valley influenced autochthonous sociocultural development in the region. Enumerating the most basic factors, the affluent riverine resources of the Valley enabled Chiilmun period inhabitants be heavily dependent on riverine fishing supplemented by the hunting and gathering of wild vegetation. Riverine fishing as well as hunting and gathering richly supplemented the agrarian economy which became dominant in the Valley after the appearance ofMumun people in later prehistoric times. Due to population saturation of limited arable lands, Mumun agrarian people became increasingly circumscribed and could not evolve into a state-level society. In association with this factor, the geographical proximity of the Valley to the Lower Han River inevitably brought it under the influence of advanced cultures emerging in the Lower Han River Basin. This process, which began in the later Mumun period, actually has continued to the present, passing through the protohistoric State Formation period and Paekche kingdom. / Committee in charge: Dr. C. Melvin Aikens, Chair; Dr. Song Nai Rhee; Dr. William S. Ayres; Dr. William G. Loy; Dr. Philip Young

L'Ardèche est un des départements les plus riches en monuments mégalithiques. La densité exceptionnelle des dolmens en son sud, est inégalée dans le reste de la France et même en Europe. L'édification de ces monuments à la fin du Néolithique (aux environs de 3500 av.J.-C.) se poursuivra jusqu'au Bronze ancien (aux environs de 2000 av. J.-C.). La position de l'Ardèche, à proximité du Massif Central, des Causses, du Languedoc et du couloir rhodanien lui confère un rôle de "carrefour" où circulent et s'échangent les idées culturelles et les biens matériels. Si ces diffusions sont particulièrement visibles au niveau des corpus céramiques par exemple, elles ont également touché et bouleversé les pratiques funéraires, que ce soit dans les gestes accomplis envers le ou les défunts mais aussi dans le choix des lieux sépulcraux. L'inhumation disparaît peu à peu pour laisser la place aux dépôts en grottes et dans les chambres funéraires des dolmens. Plus de 800 dolmens sont inventoriés à travers le département dont la majorité dans le sud calcaire. Cependant, la conservation n'est pas excellente pour tous ces monuments et l'étude ainsi présentée s'appuiera sur un peu plus de 500 dolmens. Nous étudierons ainsi ces monuments à travers les trois types architecturaux reconnus (languedocien, bas-rhodanien et caussenard), leur implantation en fonction des influence naturelles et humaines. Nous essaierons d'établir une chronologie d'utilisation de ces monuments à partir du mobilier funéraire mais également par les transformations qu'ont pu subir les dolmens par les réutilisations par des sépultures secondaires plus ou moins tardives. Nous nous attarderons également sur leur devenir (transformation par l’architecture vernaculaire du XIXe siècle…) et les moyens de sauvegarde et de valorisation à notre disposition pour transmettre ce patrimoine aux générations futures. / Ardèche is one of the richest departments in megalithic monuments. The outstanding density of dolmens in the south of this area is unique in France and even in Europe. Erection of these monuments occurred from late Neolithic (around 3 500 years BC) until early Bronze Age (around 2 000 years BC). Given its location in the vicinity of Massif Central, Causses, Languedoc and the Rhône valley, Ardèche appears as a crossroad where ideas and artefacts may have circulated and been exchanged. If these spreadings are particularly clear from potteries, they also have disrupted burial rites, from attention paid to dead people to the choice of burial places. By late Neolithic, inhumation fades away and finally makes way to deposits of dead bodies in caves or within the chamber of the dolmens. More than 800 dolmens have been accounted throughout the area. Most of the monuments are located in Southern Ardèche, on limestone plateaus. However, some dolmens suffer a bad preservation which compelled us to work on 500 monuments.We study these monuments through three architectural features previously identified (Languedocian dolmens, Causse dolmens and lower Rhodanian dolmens), and their location that may be linked to natural or anthropic influences. We are able to set up a chronology of use of these dolmens from grave goods and transformations of the monuments caused by secondary burials. We also focus on the evolving of the monuments and the means we have to safeguard, emphasize and to hand down these dolmens to future generations

xix, 331 p. : ill., maps. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT GN855.K6 K56 2002 / This dissertation explores the development of sociopolitical complexity in southwest Korea's Boseong River Valley. One of the main archaeological tasks currently being pursued in Korea is charting the emergence of complex society there. This dissertation comprehensively reviews the issues and history of research on the subject, then embarks on an analysis of the trajectory towards complexity in a selected region of southwest Korea. A large scale archaeological project in the Boseong River Valley during the 1980s rescued a huge corpus of data threatened by the construction of the Juam Dam project, which has remained undigested, never sufficiently organized or analyzed. I draw on this corpus, organizing and analyzing the data it yields on burial practices and settlement distribution, because these categories of information are particularly useful in examining key research issues. The burial excavations were of unprecedented scope, with 38 1 dolmen graves identified and investigated in 23 locations. Many dolmens have been observed and investigated in Korea, but an excavation sample of this size is unique and presents a rare analytical opportunity. A quantitative analysis of burial furnishings from these dolmens identifies five categories that reflect differing social statuses. Charting the distribution of such burials within the region allows the mapping of zones differentially occupied by persons of varying social status, and the places on the landscape where elite personages were situated. Comparing these patterns with the occurrence of large and small settlements strengthens a picture of a class-differentiated society within the region. Based on this analysis, I conclude that the dolmen period society of the Boseong River Valley had advanced to an intermediate level of sociopolitical complexity. In conclusion, the archaeological evidence is discussed with reference to historical events in the region, as these are known from ancient Chinese and Korean chronicles, to propose an interpretation of the growth of cultural development in the Boseong River Valley in relation to broader developments in southern Korea. / Committee in charge: Dr. C Melvin Aikens, Chair; Dr. Song Nai Rhee; Dr. William Ayres; Dr. Hao Wang