La région liguro-provençale s’étend des Apennins septentrionaux à la moyenne vallée du Rhône et des Alpes du Sud à la Méditerranée. Dans cette zone, l’avènement puis le développement des économies de subsistance basées sur l’agriculture et l’élevage, à partir du début du VIe millénaire av. n. è., a conduit à la modification à la fois du couvert forestier préexistant et de la relation entre les sociétés et le milieu qu’elles exploitent. Dans ce travail, nous précisons les modalités de ces évolutions par l’analyse anthracologique de six sites archéologiques bien documentés, occupés (de manière générale) entre la fin du Mésolithique (Castelnovien) et le Néolithique final, c’est à dire de ca 6500 à 2000 av. n. è. : la Font-aux-Pigeons (Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, 13), l’abri Pendimoun (Castellar, 06), « RD 560/RD 28 déviation de St-Maximin » et « le Clos de Roques/Route de Barjols » (Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, 83), la Grotte de Pertus II (Méailles, 04), Ponteau (Martigues, 13) et le Limon-Raspail (Bédoin, 84). Ils sont localisés dans des contextes environnementaux variés, du littoral jusqu’à 1000 m d’altitude dans l’arrière-pays, et documentent des occupations ponctuelles à sub-permanentes. Les résultats obtenus sont venus combler des lacunes chronologiques, géographiques et sitologiques qui existaient jusque-là. Ainsi, ils permettent, par l’analyse d’un large corpus intégrant des données anthracologiques préexistantes et polliniques (78 séquences botaniques, en contexte archéologique ou naturel, ont été considérées au total), de proposer des scénarios nuancés de l’évolution des paysages et des pratiques à l’échelle de la région liguro-provençale.Si les dynamiques de végétation semblent relativement similaires et synchrones de part et d’autre de cette région, leur traduction en termes de paysages est beaucoup plus variable. Au Castelnovien et à l’Impressa (6500-5600/5400 av. n. è.), notre approche révèle la prépondérance des taxons forestiers comme les chênes caducifoliés (Quercus f.c.), l’orme (Ulmus sp.), le tilleul (Tilia sp.) et l’expansion du sapin (Abies sp.), ce qui appuie l’importance de futaies denses, diversifiées et sub-matures, sur un large gradient altitudinal. Dans les basses terres et en altitude, préexistent des milieux ouverts (respectivement à sclérophylles et à conifères héliophiles). Ces milieux semblent plus attractifs en tant que lieux d’implantation que les formations à sapins, peut-être car ils sont plus propices aux activités de subsistance de chaque groupe (chasse, pastoralisme, agriculture). À partir de la seconde moitié du VIe mill. av. n. è., des étages méditerranéens aux étages alpins, l’augmentation discrète des végétaux les plus compétitifs en contexte d’ouverture du milieu et le recul des taxons qui y sont plus sensibles renvoient aux premières atteintes anthropiques du couvert forestier. Puis, cette tendance se renforce, les futaies s’ouvrent et sont remplacées par des formations de dégradation, plutôt en taillis. Ce processus se déroule sur fond de diversification de l’exploitation du territoire et de ses ressources ligneuses, des basses terres jusqu’aux très hautes terres. Cependant, malgré le parallèle entre le développement des systèmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux et l’augmentation de l’anthropisation du milieu et de son exploitation étagée, des séquences anthracologiques attestent du maintien des chênaies caducifoliées dans l’arrière-pays, jusqu’au Néolithique final, par exemple au Limon-Raspail et à Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Ainsi, au fil du Néolithique, l’ouverture anthropique du milieu se déploie probablement sous forme d’éclaircies, de plus en plus répandues mais qui demeurent localisées. Ces évolutions du couvert forestier, caractérisées, d’une part, par un recul des formations forestières et une baisse de leur diversité et, d’autre part, par l’essor des taxons de milieux ouverts, soulignent la contribution des pratiques néolithiques à la genèse du paysage végétal actuel. / The Liguro-Provençal region extends from the Northern Apennines to the Rhone River and from the Southern Alps to the Mediterranean Sea. In this region, the emergence and the development of agro-pastoral subsistence economies, at the beginning of the VIth mill. BCE, led to changes in pre-existing forest cover and in interactions between societies and the landscapes they exploited. This work specifies the modalities of these transformations through charcoal analyses of remains from 6 well-documented archaeological sites that were occupied from the end of the Mesolithic (Castelnovian) to the late Neolithic (6500-2000 cal. BCE), including la Font-aux-Pigeons (Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône), l’abri Pendimoun (Castellar, Alpes-Maritimes), « RD 560/RD 28 déviation de St-Maximin » and « le Clos de Roques/Route de Barjols » (Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, Var), la Grotte de Pertus II (Méailles, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), Ponteau (Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône) and Limon-Raspail (Bédoin, Vaucluse). These sites occupied a variety of environments ranging from the coast to regions reaching 1000 m a.s.l, and include occupations that were temporary to sub-permanent. As a result, this research has filled previously existing chronological, geographical and settlement pattern lacunae. Examination of a broad corpus of charcoal and pollen data (78 botanical sequences from archaeological and natural contexts) permits us to propose nuanced scenarios on landscape evolution and its relation to practices carried out across the Liguro-Provençal region.While vegetation dynamics seem relatively synchronous across this zone, their translation in terms of landscape is more variable. During the Castelnovian and Impressa (6500-5600/5400 cal. BCE) periods, our study reveals the predominance of forest taxa such as deciduous oak (Quercus deciduous), elm (Ulmus sp.), lime (Tilia sp.) and the expansion of fir (Abies sp.), which supports the importance of dense, diversified and sub-mature forests, on a broad altitudinal gradient. Open landscapes (evergreen taxa and light-demanding conifers) also prevailed in the lowlands and at high altitudes. These open landscapes appear to have been more attractive for settlement than fir forests, maybe because they are more favourable for the main subsistence activities of both groups (hunting, farming, pastoralism). From the mediterranean to alpine stages, there was a discreet rise in plant-types that are more competitive to the opening up of the canopy, and a decrease of taxa that are more sensitive to open conditions as a response to the first anthropogenic disturbances of the forest cover, from as early as the second half of the VIth mill. BCE. This trend increased with time as forests opened up and were replaced by more disturbance-adapted formations that grew in the form of coppices. This process unfolded in parallel with the diversification of territorial exploitation (lowland to upland) and of its woody resources. However, despite concordance between the development of the staged exploitation of the environment and anthropogenic pressures related to the expansion of agro-pastoral systems, the maintenance of deciduous oak forests in the hinterland is attested by charcoal sequences from sites such as Limon-Raspail and Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume until the late Neolithic. Thus, over the course of the Neolithic, the anthropogenic opening of the forest cover probably unfolded in the form of increasingly widespread thinning but which remained limited in space. These landscape transformations are characterized by a decline of forest cover and by a decrease of their diversity on the one hand, and by the rise and the diversification of taxa related to open landscapes on the other hand, highlighting the contribution of Neolithic practices to the genesis of the current vegetal landscape.

This thesis summarizes the knowledge obtained by a research on the part of the Neolithic site in Chotěšov, District of Pilsen - South. The main objective of the thesis was to comment on the structure of this site, to describe particular objects, to determine and interpret mutual relations and try to ascertain their dating. The thesis concludes with a comparison of the results of this site's analysis with neolithic sites of broader West Bohemian region, primarily of those adjacent to the locality described in this work. All this should contribute to a better understanding of a way, intensity and a process of the colonization of West Bohemia in the neolithic period. Drawings and photographs of selected objects along with a completed set of typical earthenware and a neolithic stone industry of the given locality are included in the appendixes.

The thesis is about exploitation of groundwater in the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze age in the Central Europe. Important part of work is catalog gathering findings of wells to the year 2016. All gathered data from literature are applied to the database and evaluated. Findings, evalution of structure and environment are followed up. The table of the most common types of construction is also done. Interpretation of finds is final part of work. The part of work are also map data and illustrated appendix. Key words: Central Europe; Neolithic; Eneolithic; Bronze Age; water management; water use; well; groundwater

The subject of the thesis is the description, analysis and interpretation of rock art. The first, theoretic, part is dedicated to the research strategy, documentation, dating, conservation and presentation of rock art. It also analyses the relation between rock art and landscape, since differences in how different cultures perceived the landscape led rock art creators to different perception of the environment and to different forms of creative expression. The first part of the dissertation presents approaches rock art and methods of its interpretation from the landscape, historic, sociologic, ritual, artistic and aesthetic perspective. The second part of the dissertation discusses African rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley, set in the central part of the High Atlas in Morocco. The dissertation focuses on particular archaeologic sites, art techniques applied, distinguishing features and other specificities of the local rock art. Special attention is paid to the motifs, development changes and dating of rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley. Rock art first appeared there in the Late Neolithic and was further developed in the Bronze Age and continued until the Libyan-Berber period. The dissertation also presents interpretation of rock art motifs including analysis of their function and meaning of their positioning...

Im Vergleich mit anderen steinzeitlichen Kulturen sind die des Mittelneolithikums in der breiteren Öffentlichkeit wenig bekannt. Gerade für Rheinhessen sind die Kulturen Hinkelstein, Großgartach und Rössen von besonderem Interesse, denn es spielte zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts durch die großen Grabungen von Carl Koehl eine zentrale Rolle in der Forschung zur Steinzeit. Diese hat es zwar inzwischen eingebüßt, wird aber durch eine Dissertation von 2001 wieder an den aktuellen Forschungsstand angeschlossen. Die darin erarbeitete stilistische Entwicklung der Keramik wird anhand einiger Beispiele demonstriert. Dagegen kann die Entwicklung des Hausbaues nach wie vor am besten durch Befunde aus Westfalen und dem Niederrheingebiet nachvollzogen werden. Die Gräberfelder der Hinkelstein-Kultur bei Worms ließen schon früh Beobachtungen zum Totenritual zu. Das Gräberfeld von Trebur auf der rechten Rheinseite ermöglicht nun erstmals den direkten Vergleich zwischen den Bestattungssitten der Kulturen Hinkelstein und Großgartach an demselben Platz. / In comparison with other Stone Age cultures, the Middle Neolithic is not well known by the public. The archaeological cultures Hinkelstein, Großgartach und Rössen are of special interest to Rheinhessen, because it was a central region in the history of research about the Neolithic as a result of the excavations of Carl Koehl in the early 20th century. Meanwhile it has lost this position, but due to a phd. thesis in 2001 it is possible to connect it with modern research. The development of style of ceramics which was established by this study is demonstrated with some examples. In contrast the development of house building can still be best understood by results form Westphalia and the Lower Rhine Area. Long time ago, the huge burial grounds nearby Worms have permitted observations about the ritual of death. The necropolis of Trebur on the right bank of the river Rhine is the first archaeological site that allows direct comparisons between funeral customs of the two cultures Hinkelstein and Großgartach at the same place

Von 1983 bis 1993 wurden im Rahmen des DFG-Schwerpunktprogramms „Siedlungsarchäologische Untersuchungen im Alpenvorland“ spätneolithische und bronzezeitliche Ufersiedlungen am westlichen Bodensee untersucht. Botanische Untersuchungen an den archäologischen Fundplätzen und Pollenprofile aus nahegelegenen Seen und Mooren ergaben große Unterschiede zwischen spätneolithischer und bronzezeitlicher Landnutzung. Das Landnutzungsmodell für das Spätneolithikum, ein Wald-Feldbau-Verfahren mit Feuereinsatz, wird seit 1994 experimentell überprüft. Darüber hinaus wurde 2003 ein neues Projekt begonnen, in dem mehr und bessere Daten zur spätneolithischen und bronzezeitlichen Landnutzung erhoben werden sollen. Das Untersuchungsgebiet ist das Südufer des Überlinger Sees mit mehr als zwölf prähistorischen Ufersiedlungen. An diesem Seeufer und auf dem südlich anschließenden Bodanrück wurden fünf Pollenprofile entnommen. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse bestätigen die Resultate vom Untersee und aus dem Hegau. / In the years 1983-93, the „Schwerpunktprogramm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft ‚Siedlungsarchäologische Untersuchungen im Alpenvorland’“ studied Late neolithic and Bronze Age lake shore dwellings in the western Lake Constance region. Botanical investigations at the sites and of long-term sediment and peat profiles nearby reveal big differences between Late Neolithic and Bronze Age land use. The favoured land-use model for the Late Neolithic, a slash-and-burn system with shifting cultivation, was tested experimentally since 1994. In 2003, a new project was initiated to collect consistent environmental data about Late Neolithic and Bronze Age land use. As research area the southern shore of the Überlinger See with more than twelve Neolithic and Bronze Age lake shore dwellings was choosen. Five sites at this shore and at the adjacent Bodanrück were sampled for – offsite – pollen analysis. The preliminary pollen results seem to confirm the pollen data from the Untersee and Hegau region.

Untersucht werden mitteldeutsche Gräber der Kulturen mit Schnurkeramik, die Artefakte aus organischem Hartmaterial enthalten. Die Artefakte werden typologisch gegliedert und Betrachtungen zu Technologie, chronologischer Stellung sowie Verbreitung im Arbeitsgebiet angestellt. Am Beispiel zweier ausgewählter Typen wird überprüft, ob Korrelationen zwischen deren Anordnung im Befund, Grabformen sowie Alter und Geschlecht der darin Bestatteten bestehen. / The author analyses graves of the Corded Ware in Central Germany, which are containing artefacts made of organic hard material. These artefacts were typologically classified and their technology are regarded as their chronological and spatial distribution. On the instance of two types the author tests the correlation between their positions in the graves, the grave-types and sex and age of the skeletons.

Les cavités artificielles funéraires sont à la fin de la Préhistoire en Méditerranée occidentale un type d’architecture privilégié. La compréhension de la chaîne opératoire de construction des hypogées est essentielle afin de déterminer quelles techniques et stratégies entrent en jeu dans la mise en place de ces architectures souterraines. C’est dans le cadre de cette thèse qu’une méthode a été développée sur le sujet. Celle-ci se présente en trois axes : l’étude technologique du macro-outillage de creusement, l’analyse à l’aide de la photogrammétrie des traces présentes sur les parois des hypogées et l’expérimentation permettant de confirmer ou d’infirmer les hypothèses émises. Ces trois axes ont été développés dans des contextes différents, en France dans les Bouches-du-Rhône avec l’ensemble monumental de Fontvieille et en Sardaigne avec notamment la nécropole à domus de janas de S’Elighe Entosu. Ces deux contextes offrent la possibilité d’étudier des hypogées possédant des caractéristiques différentes. La comparaison entre les divers contextes sélectionnés en Méditerranée occidentale permet d’entrevoir les différences et similitudes présentes dans les chaînes opératoires de creusement et les choix effectués par les différents groupes humains. Au-delà de la connaissance des techniques employées pour le creusement de ces architectures, cette étude permet également de s’interroger sur le rôle de celles-ci au sein de la communauté par l’investissement que leur mise en place engendre. / At the end of Prehistory in the Western Mediterranean, the rock-cut tombs are a privileged type of architecture. The understanding of the hypogea’s digging process is essential In order to determine which techniques and strategies come into play in the establishment of these structures. In the context of a PhD research work, a method has been developed on the subject. It is presented in three lines of reflection: the technological study of digging macro-tools, the analysis of the traces which are present on the walls of hypogea using photogrammetry, and an experimentation to confirm or refute the assumptions made during the first two axes of the study. These three axes were developed in different contexts, the monumental context of Fontvieille, located in the geographical area of the Bouches-du-Rhône administrative department in France and the necropolis of S'Elighe Entosu in Sardinia, Italy. These two fieldworks allows us to study the different characteristics of the hypogea. The comparison between the various contexts selected in the western Mediterranean allows us to glimpse the differences and similarities present in the digging process chains and the choices made by the different human groups. Beyond the knowledge of the techniques used for the digging of these architectures, this study also makes it possible to question the role of these in the community by the investment that their establishment generates.

The coastal regions in Greece have long been a topic of discussion, since vast regions of coast has changed drastically from the Neolithic period until our modern-day perception of them. Coastal reconstructions with data from drilling cores help geoarchaeologists get a better understanding of how the prehistoric settlements related the coast, and how the landscape and seascape around them looked. This thesis aims to better understand the coastal reconstructions of Asine, Peloponnese made by Eberhard Zangger and how archaeological finds can be used as a complementary material in creating these reconstructive maps. The insides of the drilling cores, their placement and the quantity of them are important factors for a geoarchaeological study, and this paper aims to better understand the quality of the coastal reconstructions of Asine. With new archaeological finds of Neolithic ceramics in the Asine area, together with early Helladic finds, this paper explores the possible uncertainty of the modern reconstructions. This paper reaches its natural conclusion in the Hellenistic Asine, where the theory of a harbor in the area is discussed from different possibilities of coastal reconstructions, and how Zanggers reconstruction relates to the Hellenistic architectural remains. The discussion also brings other comparative studies in light and differences between Zanggers coastal reconstructions and other reconstructions of similar nature are confronted.

The Pitted Ware culture on Gotland presents a multitude of material that allow archeologists to re-construct and visit the socio-economic structure of a middle-neolithic settlement in the Baltic sea. I will be analyzing the archaeological material in accordance to the ocean, and to what we can interpret as ritual and cosmological variables at the site through ritual theory, and with a method of comparative analogy and research. How maritime aspects of divinity manifested itself to the PWC, ontology and belief system could perhaps reveal how the cognitive, collective mind of one culture evolved and made connections to otherworldly entities. Often in the form of ancestral worship, which will be one of the main issues that will be analyzed and discussed throughout, in addition to mortuary ritual. / Den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland demonstrerar ett extensivt material som tillåter arkeologer att rekonstruera och besöka den socioekonomiska strukturen hos en mellanneolitisk kultur i Östersjön. Jag kommer att analysera materialet i relation till havet, och försöka utgöra havets rituella och kosmologiska kopplingar till lokalen genom ritualteori och en analogisk, komparativ metod. Sättet som maritima aspekter av gudomlighet manifesterade sig inom den Gropkeramiska kulturen på Gotland, dess ontologi och trossystem kan möjligtvis avslöja hur det kollektiva, kognitiva sinnet hos en kultur utvecklades och skapade kontakter till utomvärldsliga ting. Ofta i form av förfädersdyrkan, som tillsammans med begravningsritualer kommer vara ett centralt ämne genom hela uppsatsen.