L’objectif de cette thèse est la caractérisation technologique et typologique des industries lithiques du site de Proskynas en Grèce Centrale durant le Néolithique Récent (NR) et le Bronze Ancien (BA). En comparant ce corpus avec les industries lithiques régionales publiées jusqu’à présent et en contrôlant les techniques par l’expérimentation archéologique, cette étude révèle la contribution de l’industrie lithique dans la compréhension de la transition du Néolithique Récent au Bronze Ancien. L’approche méthodologique envisage une description analytique de tous les objets débités. L’analyse de la base de données ainsi constituée se fonde sur l’étude technologique et typologique approfondie par matière : obsidienne, silex chocolat et silex brun clair. Cette méthode permet de reconstituer mentalement les chaînes opératoires mises en œuvre et de reconnaître les gestes techniques appliqués. La composition des descripteurs analytiques et le croisement multi varié intra-situ et inter-situ des résultats obtenus révèlent une production de lames et d’éclats sur matières locales et importées. La variabilité régionale des chaînes opératoires et des supports débités caractérise le NR. Le BA affiche une grande homogénéité dans les conceptions opératoires et une remarquable standardisation des lames débitées surtout sur obsidienne. L’analyse typologique privilégie la description détaillée des produits confectionnés en outils (supports et retouche). La typologie des outils retouchés, la morphométrie des produits exploités bruts de débitage et sans traces d’utilisation macroscopiques sont des facteurs qui varient aussi bien entre les trois matières principales qu’entre les deux périodes (NR et BA). / The objective of this thesis is the technological and typological characterization of the lithic industries at the site of Proskynas in Central Greece during the Late Neolithic (LN) and the Early Bronze Age (EBA). By comparing this corpus with the regional lithic industries published to date and by verifying manufacturing techniques through archaeological experimentation, this study elucidates the contribution of the stone industry to the understanding of the transition from the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age.The methodological approach envisages an analytical description of all the produced objects. The analysis of the database so constituted is based on the technological and typological study deepened by material: obsidian, chocolate silex and light brown silex. This method allows to reconstitute mentally the chains operating implemented and to recognize technical gestures applied. The composition of the analytical descriptors and the intersection multi-varied intra-situ and inter-situ of the obtained results reveal a production of blades and flakes on local and imported materials. The regional variability of operating chains and of debited supports characterizes the LN. The EBA shows a great homogeneity in the operational conceptions and a remarkable standardization of blades produced especially on obsidian. The typological analysis emphasizes the detailed description of tools manufactured (supports and retouch). The typology of the retouched tools, the morphometrie of the products exploited raw debited and without macroscopic traces of use are factors which vary between the three major materials and the two periods (LN and EBA).

<p> The BAR CLAIM GROUP is located on the western margin of the Selwyn Basin geologic province in south central Yukon. The rock sequence is eugeosynclinal in nature, belonging to the Englishman's Group of the Mississippian. Chronologically, these rocks include massive limestone, white to red chert breccia, dark grey chert breccia, chert pebble conglomerate, lithic wacke, massive barite, grey green chert, and hornblende microdiorite. The elastic units in particular appear to be correlative with the units on the eastern margin of the Selwyn Basin. </p> <p> The barite is light grey, bedded, massive, and contains rare relic rosette structures. Associated minerals include pyrite, galena and minor sphalerite. Extensive recrystallisation and mobilization has occurred, probably as a result of regional compression and faulting. The barite may have had an exhalative origin along fault or extensional zones; however, sedimentogenic sources, such as the redistribution of pre-existing barite, cannot be precluded. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

La diversité historique et substantielle de l’Acheuléen d’Europe occidentale est perceptible d’un point de vue phénoménologique. Chacune des 36 séries lithiques de France, d’Angleterre, d’Italie et d’Espagne étudiées dans ce travail présente une production originale. Le phénomène bifacial peut être dissocié des autres manifestations de l’Acheuléen : les pièces bifaciales sensu stricto apparaissent massivement dans le nord de l’Europe autour de l’OIS 11 puis sur le pourtourméditerranéen vers l’OIS 9 mais sous une forme différente, engendrant des modifi cations majeures de toute la production. L’analyse critique des contextes lithostratigraphiques et la prise en compte des diversités technique, technologique ou chronologique des industries permettent de reconsidérer le paradigme de la diffusion « Out of Africa ». Tout conduit à proposer l’hypothèse d’une invention locale de la pièce bifaciale et de son évolution sur place. Le terme a trop longtemps masqué la véritable diversité du Paléolithique inférieur tout entier. C’est vers l’analyse de la pluralité des comportements humains et des sociétés qu’il faut se diriger maintenant. / The historic and substantial diversity of the Western European Acheulian can be perceived from a phenomenological standpoint. All of the 36 lithic assemblages studied in France, England, Italy and Spain provide an original production. The bifacial phenomenon can be separated from other expressions of the Acheulian. Indeed, bifacial pieces, in the strict sense, appear in great numbers in northern Europe around the OIS 11 and in the Mediterranean region around the OIS 9. However, the latter are found under different forms, which imply major modifi cations of all the production. The critical analysis of lithostratigraphic contexts and the consideration of technical, technological and chronological diversities, allow reconsidering the paradigm of the « Out of Africa » diffusion. The hypothesis of a local invention and evolution of bifacial pieces can be put forward. The use of this term has limited our perception of the Lower Paleolithic as a whole. One should now focus on analyzing the diversity of human behaviors and societies.

In the archaeological literature, mountains are often portrayed as the boundaries between inhabited spaces. Yet occupying high elevations may have been an adaptive choice for ancient peoples, as rapidly changing elevations also offer variation in climate and resources over a relatively small area. So what happens, instead, if we put mountain landscapes at the center of our analyses of prehistoric seasonal rounds and ecological adaptation? This Ph.D. argues that, in order to understand any landscape that includes mountains, from the Alps to the Andes, one must include the ecology and archaeology of the highest elevations. Specifically, I base my findings on new fieldwork and lithic collections from the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) of the Rocky Mountains, which was a vital crossroads of prehistoric cultures for more than 11,000 years. I include five interlocking analyses. First, I consider the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on high elevation cultural resources, focusing on the diminishing resiliency of ancient high elevation ice patches and the loss of the organic artifacts and paleobiological materials they contain. Second, I create a dichotomous key for chronologically typing projectile points, suggesting a methodological improvement for typological dating in the GYE and for surface archaeology more broadly. Third, I use obsidian source data to consider whether mountain people were a single, unified group or were represented by a variety of peoples with different zones of land tenure. Fourth, I consider high elevation occupation in both mountain ranges as part of the seasonal round, using indices of diversity in tool types and raw material to study how the duration of those occupations changed through time. And, finally, I test the common contention that ancient people primarily used mountains as refugia from extreme climatic pressure at lower elevations. Ultimately, I find that, in both mountain ranges, increased high elevation activity is most highly correlated with increased population, not with hot, dry climatic conditions. In other words, the mountains were more than simply refugia for plains or basin people to occupy when pressured by climatic hardship. In addition, between the Absarokas and the Beartooths the evidence suggests two different patterns of occupation, not a monolithic pan-mountain adaptation. These results demonstrate the potential contributions of surface archaeology to our understanding of prehistory, and have important implications for the way we think about mountain landscapes as peopled spaces in relation to adjacent lower-elevation areas.

Despite increasing concern about the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and other toxins in indoor environments, very little is known about the physical and chemical composition of ordinary household dust. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the mineralogical composition of indoor dust in residential housing in Canada. Specimens of dust were obtained from homes in six geographically separate cities in the Province of Ontario: two located on the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (Thunder Bay and Sudbury), the other four located on Palaeozoic limestone and shale dominated bedrock (Barrie, Burlington, Cambridge, and Hamilton). Forty samples of household vacuum dust were obtained. The coarse fraction (80 – 300 µm) of this dust was subjected to flotation (using water) to separate the organic components (e.g. insect fragments, dander), natural and synthetic materials (e.g. fibres, plastics) from the mineral residue. The mineral fraction was then analyzed using quantitative point counting, polarizing light microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Despite the great distances between the sampling localities and the distinct differences in bedrock geology, the mineral fraction of dust from all six cities is remarkably similar and dominated by quartz and feldspar, followed by lithic fragments, calcite, and amphibole. Some evidence of the influence of local geology can nevertheless be found. For example, a relatively higher proportion of sulphide minerals is observed in the two cities on the Canadian Shield where these minerals are clearly more abundant in the bedrock. Specimens from Sudbury, Canada’s largest mining centre located atop a nickel-sulphide mineral deposit, showed the highest sulphide contents. Quartz is the dominant mineral in all cities. All quartz grains have internal strain features and fluid inclusions that are indicative of a metamorphic-igneous provenance. In all cities, sand is used on the streets as an abrasive for traction during the icy winter season. This sand is obtained in all cases from local glaciofluvial deposits that were ultimately derived principally from the rocks of the Canadian Shield in the last Pleistocene glaciations that affected all of Ontario. Thus, tracking in sand is the most plausible mechanism by which quartz was introduced into these homes since sampling was done, in all cases, in the winter season. The results indicate that glacial deposits dominate the mineral composition of indoor dust in Ontario cities and that nature of the bedrock immediately underlying the sampling sites is relatively of minor importance.

Despite increasing concern about the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and other toxins in indoor environments, very little is known about the physical and chemical composition of ordinary household dust. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the mineralogical composition of indoor dust in residential housing in Canada. Specimens of dust were obtained from homes in six geographically separate cities in the Province of Ontario: two located on the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (Thunder Bay and Sudbury), the other four located on Palaeozoic limestone and shale dominated bedrock (Barrie, Burlington, Cambridge, and Hamilton). Forty samples of household vacuum dust were obtained. The coarse fraction (80 – 300 µm) of this dust was subjected to flotation (using water) to separate the organic components (e.g. insect fragments, dander), natural and synthetic materials (e.g. fibres, plastics) from the mineral residue. The mineral fraction was then analyzed using quantitative point counting, polarizing light microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Despite the great distances between the sampling localities and the distinct differences in bedrock geology, the mineral fraction of dust from all six cities is remarkably similar and dominated by quartz and feldspar, followed by lithic fragments, calcite, and amphibole. Some evidence of the influence of local geology can nevertheless be found. For example, a relatively higher proportion of sulphide minerals is observed in the two cities on the Canadian Shield where these minerals are clearly more abundant in the bedrock. Specimens from Sudbury, Canada’s largest mining centre located atop a nickel-sulphide mineral deposit, showed the highest sulphide contents. Quartz is the dominant mineral in all cities. All quartz grains have internal strain features and fluid inclusions that are indicative of a metamorphic-igneous provenance. In all cities, sand is used on the streets as an abrasive for traction during the icy winter season. This sand is obtained in all cases from local glaciofluvial deposits that were ultimately derived principally from the rocks of the Canadian Shield in the last Pleistocene glaciations that affected all of Ontario. Thus, tracking in sand is the most plausible mechanism by which quartz was introduced into these homes since sampling was done, in all cases, in the winter season. The results indicate that glacial deposits dominate the mineral composition of indoor dust in Ontario cities and that nature of the bedrock immediately underlying the sampling sites is relatively of minor importance.

Despite increasing concern about the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and other toxins in indoor environments, very little is known about the physical and chemical composition of ordinary household dust. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the mineralogical composition of indoor dust in residential housing in Canada. Specimens of dust were obtained from homes in six geographically separate cities in the Province of Ontario: two located on the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (Thunder Bay and Sudbury), the other four located on Palaeozoic limestone and shale dominated bedrock (Barrie, Burlington, Cambridge, and Hamilton). Forty samples of household vacuum dust were obtained. The coarse fraction (80 – 300 µm) of this dust was subjected to flotation (using water) to separate the organic components (e.g. insect fragments, dander), natural and synthetic materials (e.g. fibres, plastics) from the mineral residue. The mineral fraction was then analyzed using quantitative point counting, polarizing light microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Despite the great distances between the sampling localities and the distinct differences in bedrock geology, the mineral fraction of dust from all six cities is remarkably similar and dominated by quartz and feldspar, followed by lithic fragments, calcite, and amphibole. Some evidence of the influence of local geology can nevertheless be found. For example, a relatively higher proportion of sulphide minerals is observed in the two cities on the Canadian Shield where these minerals are clearly more abundant in the bedrock. Specimens from Sudbury, Canada’s largest mining centre located atop a nickel-sulphide mineral deposit, showed the highest sulphide contents. Quartz is the dominant mineral in all cities. All quartz grains have internal strain features and fluid inclusions that are indicative of a metamorphic-igneous provenance. In all cities, sand is used on the streets as an abrasive for traction during the icy winter season. This sand is obtained in all cases from local glaciofluvial deposits that were ultimately derived principally from the rocks of the Canadian Shield in the last Pleistocene glaciations that affected all of Ontario. Thus, tracking in sand is the most plausible mechanism by which quartz was introduced into these homes since sampling was done, in all cases, in the winter season. The results indicate that glacial deposits dominate the mineral composition of indoor dust in Ontario cities and that nature of the bedrock immediately underlying the sampling sites is relatively of minor importance.

No description available.

No description available.

Despite increasing concern about the presence of heavy metals, pesticides and other toxins in indoor environments, very little is known about the physical and chemical composition of ordinary household dust. This study represents the first systematic investigation of the mineralogical composition of indoor dust in residential housing in Canada. Specimens of dust were obtained from homes in six geographically separate cities in the Province of Ontario: two located on the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Precambrian Canadian Shield (Thunder Bay and Sudbury), the other four located on Palaeozoic limestone and shale dominated bedrock (Barrie, Burlington, Cambridge, and Hamilton). Forty samples of household vacuum dust were obtained. The coarse fraction (80 – 300 µm) of this dust was subjected to flotation (using water) to separate the organic components (e.g. insect fragments, dander), natural and synthetic materials (e.g. fibres, plastics) from the mineral residue. The mineral fraction was then analyzed using quantitative point counting, polarizing light microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Despite the great distances between the sampling localities and the distinct differences in bedrock geology, the mineral fraction of dust from all six cities is remarkably similar and dominated by quartz and feldspar, followed by lithic fragments, calcite, and amphibole. Some evidence of the influence of local geology can nevertheless be found. For example, a relatively higher proportion of sulphide minerals is observed in the two cities on the Canadian Shield where these minerals are clearly more abundant in the bedrock. Specimens from Sudbury, Canada’s largest mining centre located atop a nickel-sulphide mineral deposit, showed the highest sulphide contents. Quartz is the dominant mineral in all cities. All quartz grains have internal strain features and fluid inclusions that are indicative of a metamorphic-igneous provenance. In all cities, sand is used on the streets as an abrasive for traction during the icy winter season. This sand is obtained in all cases from local glaciofluvial deposits that were ultimately derived principally from the rocks of the Canadian Shield in the last Pleistocene glaciations that affected all of Ontario. Thus, tracking in sand is the most plausible mechanism by which quartz was introduced into these homes since sampling was done, in all cases, in the winter season. The results indicate that glacial deposits dominate the mineral composition of indoor dust in Ontario cities and that nature of the bedrock immediately underlying the sampling sites is relatively of minor importance.