Search results for "Geoarchaeology"
showing 8 items of 18 documents
Querns and mills during Roman times at the northern frontier of the Roman Empire (Belgium, Northern France, Southern Netherlands, Western Germany): U…
2016
International audience; This paper presents the results of a multi-disciplinary provenance study of querns and millstones during the Roman period (1st-4th century CE) in the northern part of the Roman Empire (provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior). Comparative petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical analysis allowed an international team of archaeologists and geologists to identify the different raw materials used for the manufacturing of querns and millstones. As a result, (litho-) stratigraphic assignments as well as geological-geographical provenances are suggested or corroborated for the broad spectrum of these natural geo-materials. We give evidence for the exploitati…
Geoarchaeology or the contribution of geosciences for studying past human societies
2021
International audience
A Taphonomic Perspective on Neolithic Beginnings: Theory, Interpretation, and Empirical Data in the Western Mediterranean
2001
The fills of caves and rockshelters generally comprise complex depositional palimpsests, making fine scale chronological resolution extremely difficult. Nevertheless, these settings remain very important in archaeology because they often preserve long records of cultural change. This is true for the initial appearance of food producing economies in the western Mediterranean. The chronologically ambiguous nature of cave and shelter deposits is one of the reasons for the continued debate over the processes responsible for the beginning of the Neolithic in this region. We employ taphonomic studies of the archeofaunal record from Mesolithic and early Neolithic cave and shelter sites in Mediterr…
Anthropogenic travertine between History, Archaeology and Environment: a geoarchaeological study of the Roman site of Jebel Oust, Tunisia.
2013
Travertine, known as lapis tiburtinus during Roman times, are continental limestones precipitated in calcareous environments from thermal waters of hot springs (travertine) or cool waters of karstic springs (calcareous tufa). This phenomenon is well-known during Classical Antiquity and had been described by several ancient authors (Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius) who depicted a stone that forms extremely rapidly, a stone that outlines the landscape and which is largely used for construction (e.g. The Colosseum in Roma, the Greek temple at Segesta in Sicily). These deposits are widespread on Earth’s surface showing various morphologies and are great sedimentary records of climatic and hy…
ÉTUDE GÉOARCHÉOLOGIQUE D'UN LIEU DE CULTE ROMAIN IMPLANTÉ SUR UNE SOURCE THERMALE : LE SANCTUAIRE DE JEBEL OUST, TUNISIE
2015
The ancient site of Jebel Oust (Tunisia) grew up around a hot spring, which was a focus for worship at the start of the first millennium AD, until it dried up in Late Antiquity. A geoarchaeological study of the hydrological functioning of the spring, catchment mechanisms for hot water and associated anthropic infrastructure makes it possible to trace the environmental history of the sanctuary/hot spring complex and draws on the example of Jebel Oust to provide new evidence supporting the identification of a water cult in the Roman era.
Late Holocene erosion of the Canopic promontory (Nile Delta, Egypt)
2017
International audience; The mouths of the Nile Delta are sensitive coastal areas, their geomorphology primarily being mediated by relative sea-level rise and sediment supply. To further document the Holocene evolution of the Nile's Canopic mouth, a core was taken from the southern shores of Abu Qir Bay, close to the ancient Canopic channel. Core bio-sedimentology and chronostratigraphy highlight four stages of marine incursion which are juxtaposed upon the general progradation trend of the Nile coast in this area. Compiled age-depth points from sediment cores taken in Abu Qir Bay underscore two phases of negative sediment budget at the Canopic mouth: (1) a first period, between 3.5 and 2 ka…
Le Clos de Vougeot (Côte-d’Or) : nouvelles observations sur les matériaux de construction et la chronologie du bâti médiéval
2009
Mithilfe sehr unterschiedlicherMethoden hat es sich diese Arbeit vor allem zur Aufgabe gemacht, bestimmte Phasen der Baugeschichte des Clos de Vougeot zu verstehen, um die Organisation und die Entwicklungen eines Zisterzienserhofsin Hinsicht auf diesozialen und historischen Wandlungen besser zu verstehen. Diese Studie bot ebenfalls Gelegenheit, die geologischen Eigenschaften der im Clos de Vougeot eingebrachten Baumaterialien genauestens zu untersuchen und neue Erkenntnisse zum Bau dieser Gebäude zu gewinnen und zu präzisieren.
Geoarchaeological evidence for the abandonment of the Roman baths at Thermae Himerae
2020
Fondata alla fine del V sec. a.C. dai Cartaginesi, Thermae Himeraeae divenne colonia romana alla fine del I sec. a.C. e fu dotata degli edifici tipici di una città romana: foro, anfiteatro, acquedotto e bagni. Questi ultimi furono costruiti ai piedi della collina su cui sorge la città, sfruttando due sorgenti termali. Note fin dal XVI secolo, le terme furono studiate da Houel e Palmeri, ma solo nel 1817 il Gargotta condusse uno scavo nella piazza antistante, affermando che l’area centrale dell’edificio antico era occupata da una vasca circolare di ampie dimensioni. Solo alla fine del XIX secolo, durante la costruzione del nuovo Grand Hotel delle Terme, venne messa in luce la maggior parte d…