Matières premières, biens de prestige et céramiques: marqueurs de contacts néolithiques dans les Alpes Occidentales (original) (raw)
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Identités céramiques et groupes néolithiques dans les Alpes occidentales
Borrello M. A. (ed), Les hommes préhistoriques et les Alpes, BAR Int. Ser. 2476, 2013
Les céramiques découvertes dans la région alpine occidentale (Valais, Suisse ; Piémont et Lombardie, Italie) suggèrent l'existence de contacts avec les communautés agro-pastorales du Midi de la France, du sud de l'Allemagne, du Plateau suisse et de la Plaine du Pô. L'importance d'une composante directement rattachée au Chasséen est discutée ici à la lumière d'une série de recherches récentes. Une brève présentation des groupes Saint-Léonard (Valais, Suisse) et Breno (Lombardie orientale, Italie) permet d'illustrer un aspect particulier de la préhistoire récente du massif alpin, marquée par l'apparition d'éléments identitaires spécifiques à cette région.
From the Alps to central Italy The study of Alpine axeheads in central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, parts of Latium, the Marches and Abruzzi) is based on a sample of 200 polished axeheads, selected from the large Bellucci collection in the National Museum of the Archaeology of Umbria in Perugia and from the collections of the Pigorini Museum in Rome. Based on an initial study of this material (D’Amico and De Angelis 2009), it was already clear that this region of the Italian peninsula had plentiful Alpine jade axeheads, although it was not possible to pinpoint their source. In the absence of information about the stratigraphic context of most of these 19th century discoveries – the exception being several tombs that are late in the chronological sequence – the authors undertook a fine-grained typological study, attempting to discern a plausible origin for each axehead, either in the Mont Viso massif or in that of Mont Beigua. These identifications were based on the macroscopic observation of petrographic characteristics that were deemed to be diagnostic. This approach was complemented by spectroradiometric analysis of a series of axeheads in the Pigorini Museum. Assuming that our studied sample is not completely biased by the old finds, we were able to conclude that Alpine jade axeheads constituted a significant proportion of all axeheads in every region except Abruzzi, where up to 25% of all axeheads were made from igneous rocks. The evidence gives the impression that central Italy participated fully in the exchange of axeheads made in the Piedmont production region from the end of the 6th millennium. Among the Alpine examples, the jadeitites, omphacitites and fine-grained eclogites from the Viso massif consistently predominate, while axeheads made from rocks from the Beigua massif (which include some very beautiful jadeitites) do not exceed 18% of all specimens. That figure is typical of western Europe as a whole. However, in the Bellucci collection, the proportion of polished axeheads of jadeitite appears to be incredibly high: some 40% of the studied examples are of this rock type. Several biasing factors could account for this unusually high proportion when one compares the statistics with those for northern Italy: the collectors may have been preferentially retaining jadeitite examples from among the axeheads found in the countryside, and in selecting samples for investigation our own study may also have focused preferentially on such axeheads. Whatever the reason, it nevertheless appears that during the Neolithic, in this part of Italy, there was a preference for jades of high aesthetic value. The regularity, symmetry and the quality of the polish of the jade axeheads in central Italy is also noteworthy. These tools, made from exceptionally tough rocks, were used for a very long time and they were used carefully, to avoid breakage. The surface finish on these axeheads is also notably smoother than on those found in northern Italy, and this is evidently a sign of the high social and ideological value accorded to them. Further south in the Italian peninsula, where jade axeheads are rarer and amount to only a very small percentage of all axeheads (the rest being of local rocks), local outcrops of nephrite were exploited to produce examples that superficially resemble Alpine jades. Several examples of these nephrite axeheads from Lucania and Calabria were identified in the Bellucci collection, and they are well-represented among the finds from the site of La Marmotta. A detailed mapping of the distribution of these axeheads of nephrite and of Alpine jades would allow us to discern whether there is a concurrence in the use of these two precious rocks, or a complementarity in the funerary and ritual uses, as seen in Malta. In central Italy, the presence of very long polished axeheads in contexts other than settlements and graves leads us to suspect that we are dealing with hoards and individually-deposited objects that were consecrated – according to the same set of beliefs adopted by almost the whole of north-west Europe during the 5th millennium. Moreover, several axeheads in the Bellucci collection (including one of Altenstadt type and another of Bernon type, both with a glassy polish) suggest that there had been some complicated exchanges between this region of Italy and trans-Alpine regions, perhaps even as far away as the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany. While the question of when Alpine axeheads first arrived in central Italy remains unanswered, the peak period for such importations may lie at the end of the 6th millennium and during the 5th. Importation continued after this, in the form of specific axehead types (Remedello and Vihiers) that were buried as grave goods from 3500 BC, in assemblages dominated by quiverfuls of flint arrowheads that mark the rise of the ideology of the warrior. It is to this period that also belong the small axeheads of Alpine jades that have traces of an incomplete perforation on one face, close to the butt. The presence of this ‘pseudo-axehead-pendant’ sign is well known in the hypogea of Malta, where such ‘object-signs’ were used in the subterranean cults and were deposited with the dead. Finally, the early exploitation of copper in the metalliferous mountains of Tuscany – whose earliest products date as far back as the mid-5th millennium – is perhaps connected to the admixture of influences from the north and the south that is seen in central Italy over the course of the 4th millennium. Unfortunately, our study is limited by the absence of stratified sites and of closed assemblages, and by the fact that the finds from recent excavations such as that at La Marmotta are virtually inaccessible.
LA CONQUÊTE DE LA MONTAGNE : DES PREMIÈRES OCCUPATIONS HUMAINES À L’ANTHROPISATION DU MILIEU, 2019
Research conducted for over twenty years in the Southern French Alps has highlighted the presence and intensity of human mobility in the core of this region since prehistoric times. Surveyed and excavated sites are numerous in the sub-alpine zone (1,500 – 2,300 m). The study of lithic and ceramic material allows us to consider connections with other territories and infer exchange and circulation networks over a range of distances. The same is true for certain types of ritual sites. The study of rock art, based on the assessment of the similar forms and techniques apparent at a number of sites, allows us to consider the question of the mobility of ideas at the European scale from the Neolithic onwards. Three emblematic sites have been chosen to illustrate this subject: the Faravel rock shelter (Freissinières, Hautes-Alpes, 2,133 m) in Les Écrins National Park, the Oullas shelter (Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye, Alpes-de-Haute- Provence, 2,390 m) and the Sagnes burnt-mound (Jausiers, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, 1,900 m) in the Upper Ubaye
The Neolithic site of Alba has produced over a thousand tools made from Alpine jades, collected as unstratified finds during clay extraction. The abundance of these artefacts (which are dispersed among three museums, namely the Pigorini Museum in Rome, the Federico Eusebio Museum in Alba and the Museum of Antiquities and Piedmont Region Archaeological Department, Turin) and their excellent condition makes this collection indispensable for helping us to understand the production and circulation of roughouts from the Massifs of Mont Viso and Mont Beigua. Alba occupies a strategic position, roughly equidistant between these raw material sources. Even though most of these artefacts (roughouts, hammerstones, polished axe- and adze-blades and chisels) had been collected in the past without attention being paid to their stratigraphic context, the stylistic and chrono-cultural study of the pottery from Alba shows that the main period of occupation spans the second half of the 6th millennium and the whole of the 5th millennium BC. Later episodes of occupation are comparatively minor. Typological study of the axe- and adze-heads from Alba leads one to the same conclusion: the communities who lived here were engaged in the production of objects of Alpine jades, and their circulation around western Europe, at the beginning and during the floruit of this phenomenon. From the thousand artefacts made of Alpine jades that make up the assemblage from Alba, some 454 were selected in order to address several key questions: what role had the inhabitants of Alba played in the networks over which roughouts from Viso or Beigua circulated? Did they have direct access to the raw material sources? Had they developed a specialisation in the production of Alpine jade artefacts? How did they manage their own use of jade tools? Having undertaken spectroradiometric analyses and macroscopic examination of these objects, comparing them with the Projet JADE reference collection of raw material samples, the authors have concluded that most are made from high-quality jades originating on Mont Viso. Those made of jades from Mont Beigua are in the minority, and they give the impression that this material was used in a complementary manner, to tide the inhabitants over when they had difficulty in securing a regular supply of roughouts from Viso. The technical study of the jade artefacts – in particular, of roughouts and hammerstones – allows us to recognise that the inhabitants of Alba had a definite specialisation: they obtained roughouts from other communities that were closer to Mont Viso, with direct access to high-altitude extraction sites (the valleys of Bulè and Porco), and also from the moraine of Paesana in the high valley of the Po, and they hammered them into their final shape. The amount of roughouts that had broken during this stage of production, and of large polished axe- and adze-blades that had broken during use, leave no doubt that the scale of production exceeded the immediate needs of the communities living at Alba. The undeniable fact that Alba played an intermediary role in the spatially-extensive production process – a process that involved extraction and initial roughing-out by flaking at the source areas, then a first-stage reduction of the roughouts by light hammering at temporary camps on the edges of the Mont Viso massif, followed by final hammering at permanent settlements in the valley – does not mean, however, that the supply of roughouts and the circulation of semi-finished products was regular or smooth. Difficulties in obtaining supplies and discontinuities in the circulation process are indicated at Alba (70km from Viso as the crow flies) by the careful way in which polished tools were used, maintained and recycled when they broke. This ‘economical’ husbanding of the resource was not so very different from that practised by communities several hundreds of kilometres from Mont Viso who were importing Alpine jade objects (Sammardenchia). Thus, Alba represents a secondary production centre – one among others that are known (e.g. Rivanazzano) or suspected to have existed – where roughouts were given their final transformation and the finished items were released into circulation. This took place within complex networks extending over several hundred kilometres from west to east across the Piedmontais production area. The geographical extent of this zone of secondary production implies that several hundred men were engaged in the task of hammering roughouts into shape. This, in turn, suggests that primary producers, who had direct access to the high-altitude source areas, could focus their efforts on extracting the jades and on the initial roughing-out process by flaking. These people would have organised the risky, short-term expeditions up the mountain that would only have been possible during the summer. This technical complementarity in the production process at a regional level, and the implied involvement of a very large number of producers (both primary and secondary), will have provided the necessary – albeit not sufficient – conditions for the circulation of jade objects on the European scale.
La fin du Paléolithique supérieur dans les Alpes du nord françaises et le Jura méridional. Approches culturelles et environnementales, (G. Pion, L. Mevel), pp. 195-198, Société Préhistorique Française, Paris, 2009
Le volet culturel de ce volume s’est particulièrement concentré sur les industries lithiques de la région. Cette démarche se justifie d’abord par l’important travail réalisé en amont sur la caractérisation des matières premières siliceuses. Ce court article se propose de revenir sur les principaux acquis des travaux déjà réalisés, tant du point de vue de la pétrographie que des analyses plus techniques des industries lithiques de la région. Quelques pistes de recherches concluront cette présentation en proposant quelques perspectives au prolongement de ce vaste programme de recherche initié à la fin des années 1990. The cultural component of this volume is particularly focused on the lithic industries. This approach is justified by the important work done on the characterization of siliceous raw materials. This short paper proposes to review the main results of previous work, both in terms of petrograghy and more technical analyses of the lithic industries of the region studied. Several suggested research topics will conclude this presentation by offering perspectives for the extension of this vast research program initiated in the late 1990s.
in M. Langlais, N. Naudinot, M. Peresani (dir.), Les sociétés de l’Allerød et du Dryas récent entre Atlantique et méditéranée, Séance de la Société préhistorique française
Over the last ten years, several academic studies (Pion, 2004; Mevel, 2010; Béreiziat, 2011; Fornage-Bontemps, in progress) combined with more extensive collaborative research projects (Cupillard dir., 2008; Pion and Mevel, 2009) have considerably improved our perception of the “post-Magdalenian” in the French Jura and Northern Alps. Despite occupations from the Allerød and Younger Dryas having been known for some time in this large area, detailed analyses remain rare with previous studies focusing almost exclusively on typology. This article presents a techno-economic analysis alongside an archaeo-stratigraphic re-evaluation of several different litho-stratigraphic assemblages dated to between the Allerød and the Younger Dryas. The results presented here shed light on the homogeneity of Azilian lithic technology. Furthermore, the appearance of new projectile elements puts into perspective the coherence of the various cultural identities known from the Pleistocene-Holocene transition within a geographic context open to influences from both the north and south. Our analysis focuses on lithic industries from three major sites in Eastern France: Rochedane (Villars-sous-Dampjoux, Doubs), Abri Gay (Poncin, Ain) and La Fru (Saint- Christophe-la-Grotte, Savoie). The stratigraphic and taphonomic context of each site was first carefully reassessed. At Rochedane, layer A4, which is particularly interesting having been attributed to the Younger Dryas, has been affected by only minimal inter-layer contamination (Fornage-Bontemps, in progress). The archeo-stratigraphic analysis of litho-stratigraphic layer F2b at Abri Gay, initially attributed to the Early Azilian, has revealed the presence of a technical component contemporary with the Allerød interstadial (Béreiziat, 2011). Finally, at La Fru, these approaches have highlighted post-depositional disturbances within each of the twelve litho-stratigraphic units from the three different sequences allowing the archaeological assemblages to be reassigned to different assemblages (Mevel and Bressy, 2009 ; Mevel, 2010, accepted). Lithic assemblages assigned to the Allerød are relatively numerous in the Alps and Jura with some fifteen sites having produced at least one layer contemporary with this climatic oscillation. Based on current data, it is still difficult to propose a chronological seriation of the archaeological assemblages as the different dates currently available for Eastern France mainly belong to the Upper Magdalenian and Early Azilian (Oberlin and Pion, 2009). However, analysis of the lithic assemblages can provide some relevant observations concerning the relative chronology and techno-economic organisation of lithic technologies characteristic of this period. A certain degree of variability is evident in the lithic industries associated with the Allerød interstadial. The expedient nature of the lithic technology seems to gradually increase, leading to a radical transformation in techno-economic behaviours typical of the Early Azilian. Although this proposal still requires further support by more dates, the most expedient lithic elements seem to be contemporary with the most recent Azilian assemblages. At least one assemblage from La Fru (layer 5 of area 3) which is more recent based on available radiocarbon dates, differs from this trend both typologically and technologically. New forms of microliths appear in the Alps and Jura during the Younger Dryas in parallel with a profound transformation in the technical behaviour of these human groups. While the literature suggests a possible diversity of cultural trends in these areas (presence of the Laborian: Bintz dir., 1995; Monin, 2000), several sites very clearly share the same lithic component characterised by a single microlithic concept – points with backing on their right edge – and common technical traditions evident in the production of bladelets from very narrow cores using a soft-stone hammer. Taken together, this information suggests these industries can be aligned with the Epigravettian, particularly its most recent phase. Suspected for some time, this hypothesis is now supported by technological observations and comparisons with other well-known Recent Epigravettian assemblages. During the Late Azilian we also note an important circulation of raw materials and ornaments from the Mediterranean to the Northern Alps, perhaps reflecting the path by which technical ideas, hitherto confined to Southern Europe, diffused into the region. The results presented here certainly require further development, making it more necessary than ever to improve the archaeological record of these periods. Nearly all the available lithic assemblages have now been reassessed and only new fieldwork will provide insights concerning the adaptations and circulation of technical ideas at the extreme end of the Palaeolithic.