Crags, caves and cows. Tracing biographies of stones in the Puy-de-Dome (Auvergne, France).
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2018-11-03

Stone materials can be studied as proxies for human-environment interaction, by analyzing artefacts, technology, raw materials and sources, we can follow the track entangling human societies and landscapes. Humans and stone materials are mutually constituted by their interactions and transformations through time. The spatial and temporal dimensions of artefacts are fundamental parameters to understand their network of interplay and these variables can be recorded through chemical and digital tools.
We present a case study in the Puy-de-Dome (Auvergne, France), a region characterized by the volcanic range of the Chaine-des-Puys. The attestation of human settlement in this mid-mountain region covers a wide chronology, from Neolithic to our days, marked by a local economy principally based on pastoralism and agriculture. Our research concerns the districts of Murol and Saint Nectaire and the human-environment interaction read through the dynamics of use of geologic resources. In this area various types of stones are available and easy to collect, a diverse range of extraction strategies can be observed from systematic open air quarries to selection of materials from moraines deposits and landslides. A systematic survey and mapping of outcrops and quarries has been carried out, together with a geochemical characterization through close range remote sensing techniques (such as portable Near Infrared Spectrometer and Hyperspectral Imaging) and organized in a GIS database. Mapping the movement and interaction of humans and stone materials in the landscape we can draw the outlines of the socio-economic regional network and describe different intertwined stories. The project is conducted as international collaboration between the University of Umeå, Sweden, the University of Rennes 2, France, and the geologist-volcanologist Pierre Lavina.

Author: Sciuto, Claudia - Umea University (Presenting author)
Co-Author: Dr Allios, Dominique - University of Rennes 2