La recherche de doctorat ici présentée porte sur l’histoire et sur l’évolution du paysage végétal montagnard nord-apenninique et de son lien avec les activités anthropiques qui l’ont façonné au fil du temps. Notre idée de thèse est née grâce au projet international AGRESPE (réseAu Gestion de Ressources Environnementales passéeS et Patrimonialisation paysagèrE), dirigé par Marie Bal du laboratoire de Géographie GEOLAB UMR/CNRS 6042 de l’Université de Limoges. Le travail de thèse a été mené en cotutelle avec l’Université de Modena et Reggio Emilia (Italie).Le paysage végétal des Apennins du Nord a fait l'objet de nombreuses recherches scientifiques sur le paléo-environnement, représentées surtout par des études polliniques (ex. Cruise 1990a, 1990b ; Lowe, 1992 ; Watson, 1996 ; Vescovi et al, 2010a, 2010a, 2010b ; Branch, 2013), mais il présente encore des lacunes sur les recherches paléoenvironnementales et paléoécologiques de haute résolution spatiale. À cause de facteurs liés aux conditions physiques de la montagne et aux intérêts des chercheurs, la recherche archéologique (notamment celle pastorale) n’est pas très développée par rapport aux études de la plaine (Fontana, 1997 ; Cardarelli et Malnati, 2006 ; Ferrari et al., 2006). Ce manque d'études sur les relations entre les sociétés et leur environnement dans les Apennins nous a donc encouragés à en découvrir davantage. Au sein de ce secteur montagnard nous avons choisi deux montagnes clés : le Monte Cimone et le Corno alle Scale. Faisant partie de deux parc régionaux, ces zones d’étude sont caractérisées par des hêtraies qui, jusqu’au milieu du XXe siècle, ont été gérées en taillis pour la production de bois de chauffage et de charbon. La limite altitudinale de la forêt est plus basse que celle écologique potentielle. Au Monte Cimone elle est localisée à 1700 m, tandis que dans la zone du Corno alle Scale elle est située à environ 1600 m. Au-dessus de la limite forestière il y a des bruyères à myrtille et des prairies qui, à l’instar du passé, sont aujourd’hui destinées au pâturage. / This PhD thesis concerns the reconstruction and the development of the Late Holocene plant landscape of two mountain areas of the Northern Apennines: the area of Monte Cimone and the area of Monte Corno alle Scale, located in the two regional parks. Previous research in the two study areas consists of quite numerous pollen analyses at regional scale while studies at local-scale, such as archaeoanthracology and pedoanthracology, are scarce.We have therefore decided to study these two mountain areas through pedoanthracology that is the taxonomic identification of wood charcoals contained in soils. Moreover, archaeoanthracology was applied to charcoal platforms and consists in the analysis of charcoals contained in the platforms which were used until the mid-20th century to produce charcoal. In the methodology used in this thesis are also included field surveys with the aim of locate and geolocalize ancient pastoral structures, witnesses of pastoral activities at high elevations.The main objectives of this research were: - to reconstruct the plant landscape; - to understand how human activities (e.g. pastoralism and forest exploitation) have transformed the landscape; to study the fire history; - to identify the variations of tree and timberline in the past.In the Monte Cimone area, nine pedoanthracological trenches were cut between 1650 m and 2078 m of elevation, and about 4000 charcoals were analyzed; moreover, 10 pastoral structures were found and georeferenced. In the Corno alle Scale area, eight pedoanthracological trenches were cut between 1600 m and 1860 m of elevation, and more than 2000 charcoals were analyzed; no pastoral structure were identified here. In each study area, four charcoal platforms were sampled with a total of 1200 charcoals analysed. Overall, 33 C14datings were performed on charcoals. Almost all C14 dates of soil charcoal are concentrated in the Late Holocene and only two are from the Early Holocene. The anthracomass of the low elevation sampling points (e.g. 962.8 mg/kg) is higher than the anthracomass of the high elevation sampling points (e.g. 1.6 mg/kg). The charcoals are evidence of the past presence of Ericaceae, Fabaceae, Juniperus sp., Abies alba, Quercus sp./Castanea sp., Prunus sp., Betula sp., Taxus baccata, Fagus sylvatica, Fraxinus sp. And Acer sp.The main results of this research show a plant landscape during the last 3000 years that is very similar to the current one with little variations in the tree and timberline. Charcoal platforms analysis has shown a beech charcoal production during the centuries between the 15th and mid-20th centuries. Estimation of the wood size used suggest a well-run exploitation of the timber resource. The two main activity in high mountain, pastoralism and charcoal production, seem to have played an important role in the shaping the current plant landscape.

Le Queyras est un territoire situé à la confluence d'influences climatiques océaniques continentales et méditerranéennes. Cette spécificité a permis le développement d'une biodiversité exceptionnelle mais particulièrement vulnérable aux changements globaux. Pour mieux comprendre leur dynamique actuelle, et afin de contribuer à élaborer des scenarii prédictifs de leur évolution basés sur leur dynamique passée, une approche paléoécologique pluridisciplinaire, associant pédoanthracologie et dendrochronologie, a été menée dans des forêts matures de mélèze (Larix decidua), de pin cembro (Pinus cembra) et de sapin (Abies alba). L'analyse des charbons de bois recueillis dans les sols de ces peuplements révèlent que la composition passée a pu être bien différente de l'actuelle. Le mélèze et le pin cembro sont présents dès la recolonisation postglaciaire (respectivement 8873-9014 cal. BP et 8702 – 9024 cal. BP). Les relations cernes-climat révèlent la sensibilité du pin cembro et du sapin aux conditions hydrologiques, confirmant le caractère xérique de ce massif. D'autre part, l'étude de la dynamique holocène des forêts subalpines et des variations de leur limite supérieure révèlent que les changements globaux semblent favoriser le mélèze. Alors que les résultats pédoanthracologiques montrent que le pin cembro et le mélèze se sont succédé à l'étage subalpin tout au long de l'Holocène, la dendrochronologie met en évidence les conséquences des changements globaux : le pin cembro devient de plus en plus sensible au réchauffement climatique tandis que le mélèze semble profiter des changements d'occupation du sol associés à une augmentation des températures. / The Queyras is a region located at the limit of oceanic, continental and Mediterranean climatic influences. This specificity led to a level of biodiversity exceptional but particularly sensitive to global changes. We used a pluridisciplinary paleocological approach by means of pedoanthracology and dendrochronology applied in old growth forests of Larch (Larix decidua), Stone pine (Pinus cembra) and Fir (Abies alba) to assess the present forest dynamics and to contribute to forecast the probable future forest dynamics. Wood charcoal analyses issued from natural soils sampled in these forests reveal past periods with vegetation composition sometimes quite different from the present one . Larch and Stone pine installed in the early Holocene (respectively 8873-9014 cal. BP and 8702 – 9024 cal. BP). Climate-growth relationship evidence the high sensitivity of both stone pine and fir to hydrological conditions which attests the dry conditions of this massif. In addition to that, the study of the upper limit dynamics of subalpine forests during the Holocene reveals that global changes seem to favour Larch. Whereas pedoanthracology results show permanent succession of Larch and Stone pine at the subalpine vegetation stage over the Holocene period, dendrochronology emphasizes the consequences of global changes: Stone pine gets more and more sensitive to climate warming while Larch seems to benefit of land use changes associated with temperature increase.

This thesis researches forest history and human impact on it in prehistory and early Middle Ages by means of soil charcoal analysis, i.e. pedoanthracology. It focuses on a site called "Roztocký háj" with long-term human settlement near Roztoky u Prahy in central Bohemia. Pedoanthracology brings information about past woody vegetation that is very local and without much anthropogenic influence. On the other hand, archeoanthracology focuses on charcoal originating from archeological excavations directly from human settlements. These charcoals are therefore formed by human behaviour and provide general view on woody vegetation in wider surroundings of the site. Comparing results of these two approaches in Roztoky is allowed by long-term archeological excavations. They provided previously analyzed and partially published charcoal dataset. Newly obtained pedoanthracological dataset brings finer spatial scale, allows to find out the effect of local conditions on the charcoal spectra and also allows identification of possible purposefully selected taxa in the archeoanthracological assemblage. Another part of this work describes present-day vegetation around the soil profiles and examines it's possible continuity with the past vegetation. 4 soil profiles provided quite species-rich (17 taxa) charcoal...