Pastoral activities in the northeastern Pyrenees increased substantially during the Bronze Age, raising the question of the modalities of occupations in zones where the snow cover limited access to grasslands for a significant part of the year. The present study explores how stable isotope analysis may characterize the adaptation of husbandry to mountain environments through herding strategies, including the vertical mobility of livestock. It also addresses the broader issue of the occupation of territories by Bronze Age communities in the Western Mediterranean area, focusing on possible links between coastal plains and mountainous areas. For this purpose, sequential stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses were conducted on caprines' teeth from the mountain site of Llo (Pyr en ees-Orientales, 1630 m asl, Middle Bronze Age) and the permanent coastal site of Portal-Vielh (H erault, 0 m asl, Late Bronze Age). An exploratory analysis was also conducted on modern sedentary and transhumant ewes to investigate the effect of altitudinal mobility on enamel oxygen isotope values. The range of d 18 O values measured in modern and archaeological caprines raised in mountain zones was lower than the one measured in the lowland caprines, while no significant difference could be observed in the range of d 13 C values. Co-variations between d 13 C and d 18 O sequences reveal the most information. The positive correlation observed in all instances at low elevation sites was not the leading pattern at Llo, where a variety of schemes could be observed, including opposite d 13 C and d 18 O sequences. This opposition could not be explained by a reversal of the d 18 O cycle due to vertical mobility. Other causes could involve changes in the pattern of variation of d 13 C values, potentially linked to human responses to the local constraints, including vertical mobility and/or foddering. Portal-Vielh delivered a fully lowland signal. At Llo, although a full adaptation to a mountain environment seems clear, the question of the vertical mobility of the livestock cannot be resolved at the moment. Most importantly, Llo was characterized by a high inter-individual variability in the co-variation of d 13 C and d 18 O profiles, reflecting great plasticity of the husbandry practices on the inter-annual scale. This could have been a key to the adaptation to these marginal environments. The apparent disjunction between the coastal and mountain settlements, as far as herd trajectory is concerned, must be reaffirmed by further investigations in a larger number of sites.

Abstract. The archaeological cave « Les Fraux » (Saint-Martin-de-Fressengeas, Dordogne) forms a great network of galleries, characterized by the exceptional richness of its archaeological Bronze Age remains such as domestic fireplaces, ceramic and metal deposits, fingerings incised in the clayey-walls. The cave has been closed according to the collapse of its entrance, at the end of the Bronze Age. The study in progress takes place in a new kind of tool founded by the Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE): sites dedicated to the study of global ecology. In that framework, we develop new methods of data acquiring based on 3D contact-free measurement techniques, according to an interdisciplinary way. A partnership among archaeologists and surveyors from INSA allow the 3D recording and modeling of the global volume cave. In the same time, we implement the high resolution recording of parietal representations (engravings and fingerings). The aim of this paper is focusing on the complementarity of data which are produced by the different scales of 3D recording used in the cave. Another purpose is to issue a statement of the different 3D technologies tested in "Les Fraux". Finally, we propose to start a discussion about the way we try to produce an accurate 3D documentation and adapted to the researchers needs.

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International audienceA novel approach to the intensity of archaeological fires is proposed, based on a combination of archaeological observations and analyses of sedimentary hearths with relevant proxies obtained from using experimental combustion structures. In this work, two different structures were built and monitored. They aimed at reproducing two types of archaeological hearth morphology encountered at the Bronze Age site of the cave of Les Fraux (Saint Martin de Fressengeas, Dordogne, France). A series of fires was constructed and a large amount of data was collected: temperature curves, wood consumption and observations on substratum evolution. A numerical code for heat transfer was developed to model heat propagation from the surface to the underlying sedimentary layers, the input parameters of which were adapted to fit the thermal evolution observed with the experimental fires. We found that two archaeological parameters are fundamental to characterise the intensity of the fire: the paleotemperature reached at the surface of the burnt sediment (which in our case was determined by thermoluminescence analyses) and the depth of the rubefaction front as an indicator of a 250 °C isothermal surface. We then estimated the duration of an equivalent single fire that would correspond to one of the archaeological hearths investigated. Finally, with the wood consumption recorded during the fire experiments, and the estimated firing duration, the energy involved was evaluated. When generalised to the study of archaeological hearths, this approach could be of great interest in firing intensity evaluation (temperature/time/energy)

International audienceNumerous sorts of evidence of fires were observed in the cave of Les Fraux (Dordogne, France) and in particular the effects of fire on sediment were studied for a better understanding of their use centuries ago. Our present objective is the evaluation of the firing intensity by determining the past temperature (paleotemperature) attained by the topmost sediment of the archaeological fires. The principle of paleotemperature determination is based on the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of quartz and the magnetic susceptibility of the sediment. By comparing the TL signal of anciently heated quartz to the TL signal of thermal references made in the laboratory, we were able to obtain a maximal equivalent temperature attained for each sample extracted from ancient fires. The magnetic susceptibility (previously measured on the hearth surface) could thus be estimated as a function of temperature. The main result of this study is the temperature mapping of the hearth which can be used as meaningful information about the ancient firing intensity