Milieux humides pré- et protohistoriques dans le bassin parisien : l'étude des diaspores
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Paris 10Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
On archaeological sites, it is often difficult to distinguish, among all the potentially edible wild seeds and fruits available, those effectively consumed. Our work proposes a procedure permitting this differentiation for a specific environment. From former channels of the seine and oise rivers, seeds were extracted. On the banks of these rivers, settlements were established during middle neolithic at paris-bercy, recent neolithic at la croix-saint-ouen, bronze and iron ages at champagne-sur-oise. The seeds originated from the vegetation near the channels (aquatic and amphibian plants, reed belt, riverside woodlands, moist meadows) as well as from others further away (dry grasslands, arable fields, forests and their margins). This implies that either seeds fell directly into the water or that they were transported to the channels. In contrast to cultural layers (especially those of lake-shore settlements) where seeds are predominantly introduced by men, channels form a more favourable context for a natural deposition of seeds. Nevertheless, the studied channels yielded, in addition to seeds, remains demonstrating clearly that they had functioned as dumps. In order to differentiate the seeds of anthropic origin from those deposited by natural agents (wind, water, animals), the utilisation of several criteria, namely the ecology of taxa, the quantitative distribution, the manner of fossilisation, the fragmentation coefficient and the spatial distribution of the seeds, is proposed and their discriminating potentiality discussed. The application of this set of criteria to the studied sites demonstrates that only a few wild fruits were regularly or massively consumed. Most of the taxa are those frequently found on neolithic european sites ; however certain seem characteristic of the paris basin. The decrease in the proportion of gathered fruits with time results either from the decline of gathering activities or from a lessening in the use of the channels as dumps.
Abstract FR:
Dans les sites archeologiques, il est souvent difficile de distinguer, parmi les graines et fruits sauvages comestibles disponibles, ceux que l'homme a effectivement consommes. Ce travail propose une grille de lecture permettant de le faire dans un environnement donne. Les diaspores etudiees proviennent d'anciens chenaux de la seine et de l'oise sur les rives desquels se trouvent des habitats du neolithique moyen a paris-bercy, du neolithique recent a la croix-saint-ouen, des ages des metaux a champagne-sur-oise. La representation conjointe de milieux proches des chenaux (milieu aquatique, greves alluviales, roseliere, ripisylve, prairies humides) et de milieux plus eloignes (prairies maigres seches, champs cultives, forets et leurs lisieres) implique soit que les diaspores sont tombees directement dans les chenaux, soit qu'elles y ont ete transportees. Contrairement aux couches d'habitats, notamment lacustres, dans lesquelles les diaspores d'origine anthropique sont majoritaires, les chenaux sont un contexte davantage favorable aux diaspores deposees naturellement. Neanmoins, les chenaux etudies livrent, en plus des diaspores, des vestiges temoignant de leur utilisation comme depotoirs. Pour differencier les diaspores d'origine anthropique de celles deposees par des agents naturels (vent, eau, animaux), plusieurs criteres, a savoir l'ecologie des taxons, la representation relative, le mode de fossilisation, le taux de fragmentation et la distribution spatiale de leurs diaspores, sont proposes et leur pouvoir discriminant discute. L'application de tous ces criteres aux assemblages etudies revele que seuls quelques fruits sauvages etaient regulierement et/ou massivement consommes. La plupart sont ceux que livrent souvent les sites neolithiques europeens, quelques-uns semblent propres au bassin parisien. La diminution de la proportion de fruits cueillis au fil du temps resulte soit d'un declin de la cueillette, soit d'une moindre utilisation des chenaux comme depotoirs.