Sessions > Session 6

Session 6: Societies and Coastal and continental environments during the Quaternary

Coordination: Brice Ephrem (CReAAH), Vincent Bernard (CReAAH), David Aoustin (CReAAH), Cécile Le Carlier (CReAAH)

Keywords: biological and mineral ressources, human impact, population mobilities, source of materials, ancient pollutions

This session proposes a global and long-term approach to societies and their environment (coastal and continental) in the broad sense. It is based on two themes: on the one hand, the characterisation of the ways in which biological and mineral resources are acquired, managed and transformed and, on the other, the consequences of these activities on the environment in a broad spatio-temporal dynamic.

Human societies, in particular sedentary or semi-sedentary societies, emit abundant signals (food production including crops, livestock and collections from the natural environment, industries) whose impact on ecosystems can be measured. In this way, the more or less lasting, or even still current, effects of human activities on the environment will be analysed. These include the phenomena of overexploitation of biological and mineral resources, genetic selection(s), the introduction of new species, industries (mining, metallurgy, tanning, textiles, etc.) and their impacts on landscapes, soil and water. In contrast, nomadic and semi-nomadic populations, leading to the movement(s) of human populations, their animals and their materials, have led to other forms of landscape transformation. Using isotopic composition analyses, it is possible to explore the geographical origin of people and animals, to reconstruct supply chains and agro-sylvo-pastoral practices.

This session is open to all disciplines that study these processes. These may include geoarchaeology, chemistry, bioarchaeology, cultural archaeology and history. In order to encourage and enhance the sharing of sources, methods and approaches, communications are welcomed from any period (from the paleolithic onwards) and any geographical area or region.