Cette thèse étudie la dynamique de la végétation Holocène pour Burmarrad dans le NW Malte et fournit une reconstruction paléoclimatique quantitative à base de pollen pour cet archipel méditerranéen situé au centre. Le record de pollen donne un nouvel aperçu l'échange végétation 7280-1730 cal BP qui correspondent bien avec other régional dossiers. La reconstruction du climat fournit également forte corrélation avec les sites du sud (en dessous de 40oN) de la Méditerranée. L'interprétation suggère un paysage initialement ouvert au début du néolithique, se développer en un dense Pistacia brousse ca. 6700 calBP. Depuis environ 4450 calBP le paysage devient de nouveau ouvert, coïncidant avec le début de l'âge du bronze sur l'archipel. Cette période coïncide avec une instabilité accrue du climat (entre 4500 et 3700 calBP) qui est suivie par une diminution progressive de la disponibilité de l'humidité de l'été à la fin de l'Holocène. Durant la période romaine début de l'occupation (1972-1730 calBP) le paysage reste généralement ouvert avec une augmentation modérée de Olea. Cette augmentation correspond à des preuves archéologiques pour la production de l'huile d'olive dans la région, avec l'augmentation des taxons cultivés des cultures et des espèces rudérales associés, ainsi que d'une hausse des cas d'incendies. Cette thèse propose également une synthèse des résultats d'un autre noyau (BM1) provenant de la même zone de chalandise, ainsi que les résultats d'une étude préliminaire de la pluie de pollen de surface moderne. L'archipel fournit des indications sur la végétation, les impacts humains et les changements climatiques dans un contexte de l'île au cours de l'Holocène. / This thesis investigates the Holocene vegetation dynamics for Burmarrad in north-west Malta and provides a pollen-based quantitative palaeoclimatic reconstruction for this centrally located Mediterranean archipelago. The pollen record from this site provides new insight into the vegetation changes from 7280 to 1730 cal BP which correspond well with other regional records. The climate reconstruction for the area also provides strong correlation with southern (below 40oN) Mediterranean sites. The interpretation suggests an initially open landscape during the early Neolithic, surrounding a large palaeobay, developing into a dense Pistacia scrubland ca. 6700 cal BP. From about 4450 cal BP the landscape once again becomes open, coinciding with the start of the Bronze Age on the archipelago. This period is concurrent with increased climatic instability (between 4500 and 3700 cal BP) which is followed by a gradual decrease in summer moisture availability in the late Holocene. During the early Roman occupation period (1972 to 1730 cal BP) the landscape remains generally open with a moderate increase in Olea. This increase corresponds to archaeological evidence for olive oil production in the area, along with increases in cultivated crop taxa and associated ruderal species, as well as a rise in fire events. This thesis also provides a synthesis with the results from another core (BM1) taken from the same catchment area, as well as results of a preliminary modern surface pollen rain study. The Maltese archipelago provides important insight into vegetation, human impacts and climatic changes in an island context during the Holocene.

No description available.

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.

Parmi les représentations animales gravées qui apparaissent en Afrique du Nord au cours de la Préhistoire, le bubale antique, omniprésent dans tout l'Atlas saharien tout au long du Néolithique, occupe une place prépondérante.Notre étude a porté sur 141 gravures du bubale antique, réparties dans les différents chaînons composant l’Atlas saharien dont 79 ont été étudiées par nous-même sur le terrain. Cette étude a permis de regrouper et d’analyser les données dispersées dans de multiples travaux, auxquelles se sont ajoutées nos découvertes qui ont enrichi l'inventaire et ont élargi la répartition spatiale de ces gravures. Cette richesse n'est pas seulement quantitative, elle est aussi qualitative. Il en ressort d'importantes variations stylistiques, thématiques et techniques permettant de mettre en lumière les écoles régionales et les influences sahariennes. Nos recherches ont permis une meilleure compréhension des traditions stylistiques et iconographiques de la figuration de cet animal et nous ont permis de mieux les situer dans leur contexte chronoculturel et géographique.Les représentations du bubale antique dont certaines formes élaborées participent à la définition de provinces culturelles, révèlent l'investissement et le choix des artistes au sein d'un bestiaire varié qui a été différemment représenté selon les régions et les écoles atlasiques. / Among the carved animal figures that appeared in North Africa during prehistory, the antique buffalo, omnipresent throughout the Saharan Atlas during the Neolithic, features prominently.Our study focused on 141 of these hartebeest engravings, spread over the various links constituting the Saharan Atlas of which 79 have been studied by us on the spot. This study consolidates and analyses data scattered in multiple works, to which are added our discoveries which have enriched the record and expanded the spatial distribution of these engravings. This wealth is not only quantitative, it is also qualitative. This important spring stylistic, thematic and technical highlights the regional schools and Saharan influences. Our research has allowed a better understanding of the stylistic and iconographic traditions of figuration of this animal and allowed us to situate them in their chrono-cultural and geographical context.The representations of the antique buffalo whose developed some forms, involved in defining cultural provinces, reveal the investment and the choice of artists in a varied bestiary that was represented differently depending on the region and atlasiques schools.

L'industrie lithique du Néolithique final provençal demeure relativement insaisissable si elle est n'est abordée que d'un point de vue technique et selon une typologie établie à partir d'observations effectuées à l'oeil nu. Ses caractéristiques, c'est-à-dire une dichotomie représentée par des productions laminaires standardisées issues d'ateliers spécialisés, et une production domestique techniquement peu investie dont la finalité n'est pas évidente à déterminer, nécessitent que l'on augmente l'échelle des observations des objets de silex. Ces dernières, alors d'ordre pétrographiques et tracéologiques, permettent de reconstituer les chaînes opératoires avec davantage de fiabilité, et d'identifier les outils qu'elles visent à produire. lI est alors possible de proposer une typologie plus adaptée à partir de l'ensemble de l'outillage et de percevoir les normes existantes. La comparaison des données issues de trois sites complémentaires permet d'illustrer les avantages de la méthode d'étude développée dans ce travail de doctorat et de proposer une ébauche de caractérisation des industries lithiques de cette période. / The lithic industry from the Late Neolithic of Provence stays quite imperceptible if studied by a classic technique and typology approach. Its caracteristics, a dichotomy represented by standardized long blade productions coming from specialized workshops on one hand, and a technically simplified domestic production of wich standards aren't easy to find on the other, need a higher resolution improvement in the observations that are made. Those ones, then of a petrographical and traceological nature, allow a better understanding of the operating chains as well as to identify the tools they are destinated to produce. It then is possible to propose a more adapted typology and to show the existing standards. The comparison of the lithic industries of three complementary occupations illustrates the advantages of the methodology developped in this work and suggests, at last, a sketch of the caracteristics of the lithic industry from this period.

This work assesses the evolution of textile production in the Czech lands during the Eneolithic, a period that is the earliest source of broader archaeological information for the study of textile manufacturing. The basis for the study is provided above all by archaeological finds of textile tools (spindle whorls, weights, spools and awls) that are evaluated within individual archaeological cultures in terms of quantity, shape, size and function, archaeological context and chronological development. This is supplemented by a survey of fragmentary textiles and their imprints dating from the Stone Age in the Czech Republic. Another important source of information is provided by findings from research into Eneolithic pile-dwelling settlements around Alpine lakes that have provided numerous finds of archaeological textiles as well as textile-making tools and tool fragments that have not been found in the Czech lands. An interesting comparative set of artefacts is provided by the objects found in the possession of the mummy of Ötzi dating from the Middle Eneolithic Period. The second part of the work focuses on the experimental testing of several hypotheses formulated on the basis of the study of archaeological materials. The experiments focused on the potential of working bast fibre from trees as an...

Denna studie undersöker relationen mellan landskap, miljö och placeringen av boplatser från neolitikum och bronsålder i Ystadområdet. Uppsatsen åstadkommer detta genom maximal entropi modellering av boplatsernas placering i relation till flera variabler i landskapet och miljön. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk utgår från en antagen koppling mellan variabler i miljön och placeringen av boplatser. Resultatet av modelleringen översätts till tabeller som visar vilka variabler i miljön och landskapet som är viktiga i relation till placeringen av boplatser under dessa perioder, och till kartor som visar vilka delar av Ystadområdet som har rätt kombination av dessa variabler. Dessa används sedan för att besvara frågeställningarna. Resultaten av studien visar en stark koppling mellan kvartärsjordarten kärrtorv och närvaron av boplatser. Variablerna som föredrogs vid placeringen av boplatser visar också en viss variation mellan tidsperioderna. Utöver detta bedömdes modellen av historisk miljö från Ystadprojektet vara användbar. / This study examines the relationship between landscape, environment, and the placement of settlements during the neolithic and bronze age periods in the Ystad area. The study accomplishes this through maximal entropy modeling of the placement of settlements in relation to several variables in the landscape and environment. The theoretic framework of this study centers around a presumed connection between variables in the environment and the location of settlements. The results are translated into tables that show which of these variables were important in relation to the placement of settlements during the above-mentioned periods. The results are also translated into maps that show which areas of Ystad have the right combination of variables that were determined to be important by the model. These tables and maps are then used to produce an answer to the main questions of this paper. The results of this study show a strong connection between the quaternary soil type bog peat, and the presence of settlements. The preferred conditions also show some variation between time periods. Furthermore, the model of historic environment from the Ystad project was deemed to be useful.

Den här studien är en utforskning av dubbeleggade miniatyryxor av bärnsten som hittas i neolitiska gravar. Tre gravplatser har presenterats: ett flatmarksgravfält i Borgeby, flatmarksgravar i Ajvide på Gotland, och tre gånggrifter i Danmark. Dubbeleggade miniatyrer av bärnsten hittas i alla. Genom att använda praktikteori och begreppet habitus är syftet att uppsatsen ska ge insikt i varför miniatyrerna uppträder i Borgeby, och vad de kan ha haft för betydelse i samhället. En komparativ metod har använts för att jämföra gravplatserna, för att undersöka om det finns några likheter eller skillnader mellan dem. Resultatet visar att människorna i Borgeby hade kontakter med omvärlden. Bärnstenen var importerad från Danmark eller inspirerad av den danska trattbägarkulturen, och gravskicket i sig är inspirerat av den gropkeramiska kulturens gravar. / The study is an examination of double-edged miniature amber axes found in neolithic graves. Three different gravesites stand at the center of the essay: a flat grave field at Borgeby in Skåne, flat graves at Ajvide on Gotland, and three different megalithic passage graves in Denmark. Double-edge miniatures in amber appear in all of them. Using practice theory and the conceptof habitus the essay aims to give an insight in why they appear at Borgeby, as well as what double-edged axes might have meant to the people depositing them in graves. A comparative analysis of the above-mentioned gravesites will also be made, to examine whether any obvious similarities or differences exist between them. The results show that people in Borgeby had connections to the surrounding world. The miniature amber objects seem to be imported from Denmark or inspired by Danish shapes, whereas the graves themselves seem to be inspired by pitted ware culture.

This study combines long-term settlement data with short-term excavation data to explore the conditions that led late prehistoric communities in Iberia’s southwest to aggregate during the Late Bronze Age [LBA]. This long-term approach involves the application of geographic information systems [GIS] to identify settlement patterns in the Central Alentejo from the Late Neolithic [LN]/Chalcolithic to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 3500 – 800 BCE). In the Serra d’Ossa microregion of the southwest there are 176 sites that date to the Neolithic/Chalcolithic, only two that date to the EBA/MBA, and 27 that date to the LBA. This shift is directly related to the Chalcolithic “collapse” that occurred in the mid/late third millennium BCE, influenced by both sociocultural and environmental factors. The LBA of the southwest has long been defined by the emergence of a new culture associated with a concern for defensiveness and warriorship, represented on stone stelae by warrior iconography, and by the emergence of large-fortified upland sites that appear during this period. A distinct lack of small-scale settlement data has previously led to insufficient interpretations and characterizations of the period. In turn, this thesis incorporates short-term data from excavation at the large-fortified upland site of Castelo Velho da Serra d’Ossa, the one excavated example of such a site in the Serra d’Ossa microregion and one of the few excavated LBA sites in the wider southwest. The short-term excavation data are discussed in the context of the long-term settlement patterns to better characterize the LBA of the Iberian southwest, a period previously underrepresented in the region. The central focus of study is to investigate the emergence of these settlements (up to 15 ha in size) and the communities that inhabited them; considering the processes underpinning place-making and aggregation both locally and within its broader prehistoric context. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The Covesea Caves are a series of later prehistoric sites that form a complex mortuary landscape. Previous excavations of the caves have provided evidence for the decapitation, disarticulation, and intentional deposition of human remains. Although there has been substantial analysis of the human remains, there has been little consideration of the significant number of faunal remains recovered during numerous excavations. This research represents the first focused examination of the extensive zooarchaeological record from the Covesea Caves, with an emphasis on investigating characteristics of the faunal bone related to taphonomy and processing in order to provide a proxy for the complex funerary treatments to which the human remains were subject. Analysis of Covesea Cave 2 revealed a narrative of ritual and funerary activities, from the Neolithic to the Post-Medieval Period. Zooarchaeological analysis has illustrated how certain species were significant in ritual activity, and thus utilised specifically in funerary rites. The results from this research shed more light on past cosmologies and the importance of non-human species to humans in both life and death. / Funding for fieldwork was provided by Historic Environment Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council. Lab work and species confirmation was funded by a generous grant from the British Cave Research Association. Funding for this [comparative] analysis was provided by the following organisations: The Prehistoric Society, The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, The Natural History Society of Glasgow