Impacts of new agricultural practices on soil erosion during the Bronze Age in the French Prealps

Jacob, Jérémy; Disnar, Jean-Robert; Arnaud, Fabien; Gauthier, Émilie; Billaud, Yves; Chapron, Emmanuel; Bardoux, Gérard

doi:10.1177/0959683608100568

Cited by 33 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In fact, this could have favored the cultivation of C 4 plants in southern areas of Switzerland. A connection between millet cultivation and climate variation was also observed by Jacob et al (2009). Their study indicated climate deterioration with a decline of agricultural work during the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition in the French Prealps.…”

Section: Consumption Of Millet In Late Iron Age Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 87%

A bioarchaeological approach to the Iron Age in Switzerland: stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human remains

Moghaddam

Müller

Lösch

2016

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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In Switzerland, a large number of Iron Age burial sites were found in the last century. Changes in living conditions and socio-cultural behavior may have occurred over time and space and could be reflected in the dietary habits, social stratigraphy within populations and migration patterns. This study attempts to shed light on these aspects with the application of stable isotope analyses. Human remains from 11 different burial sites (n = 164) in the area of today's Swiss Plateau and Swiss Alpine regions were investigated. Temporal and geographical variations as well as sex and age-related dietary differences were analyzed through isotopic studies (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, and δ 34 S). In total, the data of 129 individuals could be evaluated. Highly significant differences between the burial sites were found, with higher δ 13 C and δ 15 N values in the Alpine regions. Cultural and/or climatic changes as well as the different geological conditions might have led to distinct patterns of crop cultivation and animal husbandry and consequently to significantly different dietary habits in the Plateau and the Alpine regions. The data indicate a higher intake of millet and animal protein including early dairy production in the southern regions, probably influenced by the Mediterranean world.Cultural exchange between geographical regions might have been facilitated by migration during the Iron Age as suggested by the δ 34 S.

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Section: Consumption Of Millet In Late Iron Age Switzerlandmentioning

confidence: 87%

A bioarchaeological approach to the Iron Age in Switzerland: stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human remains

Moghaddam

Müller

Lösch

2016

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…Variations in the values of the rAP/LCF ratio can be used to disentangle the impact of land use and climate during the Holocene on the vegetal cover, soil erosion and sediment load of rivers in Alpine environments (cf. Noël et al, 2001;Arnaud et al, 2005;Dearing, 2006;Dearing et al, 2006;Jacob et al, 2009;Simonneau et al, 2013).…”

Section: Soil and Lacustrine Sediments Organic Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass-movement and flood-induced deposits in Lake Ledro, southern Alps, Italy: implications for Holocene palaeohydrology and natural hazards

Simonneau

Chapron²,

Vannière

et al. 2013

Clim. Past

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High-resolution seismic profiles and sediment cores from Lake Ledro combined with soil and riverbed samples from the lake's catchment area are used to assess the recurrence of natural hazards (earthquakes and flood events) in the southern Italian Alps during the Holocene. Two well-developed deltas and a flat central basin are identified on seismic profiles in Lake Ledro. Lake sediments have been finely laminated in the basin since 9000 cal. yr BP and frequently interrupted by two types of sedimentary events (SEs): light-coloured massive layers and dark-coloured graded beds. Optical analysis (quantitative organic petrography) of the organic matter present in soil, riverbed and lacustrine samples together with lake sediment bulk density and grain-size analysis illustrate that light-coloured layers consist of a mixture of lacustrine sediments and mainly contain algal particles similar to the ones observed in background sediments. Light-coloured layers thicker than 1.5 cm in the main basin of Lake Ledro are synchronous to numerous coeval mass-wasting deposits remoulding the slopes of the basin. They are interpreted as subaquatic mass-movements triggered by historical and pre-historical regional earthquakes dated to AD 2005, AD 1891, AD 1045 and 1260, 2545, 2595, 3350, 3815, 4740, 7190, 9185 and 11 495 cal. yr BP. Dark-coloured SEs develop high-amplitude reflections in front of the deltas and in the deep central basin. These beds are mainly made of terrestrial organic matter (soils and lignocellulosic debris) and are interpreted as resulting from intense hyperpycnal flood event. Mapping and quantifying the amount of soil material accumulated in the Holocene hyperpycnal flood deposits of the sequence allow estimating that the equivalent soil thickness eroded over the catchment area reached up to 5 mm during the largest Holocene flood events. Such significant soil erosion is interpreted as resulting from the combination of heavy rainfall and snowmelt. The recurrence of flash flood events during the Holocene was, however, not high enough to affect pedogenesis processes and highlight several wet regional periods during the Holocene. The Holocene period is divided into four phases of environmental evolution. Over the first half of the Holocene, a progressive stabilization of the soils present through the catchment of Lake Ledro was associated with a progressive reforestation of the area and only interrupted during the wet 8.2 event when the soil destabilization was particularly important. Lower soil erosion was recorded during the mid-Holocene climatic optimum (8000–4200 cal. yr BP) and associated with higher algal production. Between 4200 and 3100 cal. yr BP, both wetter climate and human activities within the drainage basin drastically increased soil erosion rates. Finally, from 3100 cal. yr BP to the present-day, data suggest increasing and changing human land use

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“…The hypothesis was supported by δ 13 C measurements demonstrating that, although miliacin can be produced by C 4 and C 3 plants, the compound in Lake le Bourget sediments was exclusively of C 4 origin (Jacob et al, 2008b) and P. miliaceum is the only C4 plant likely to have produced that isotopic signal. Because miliacin is resistant to degradation, changes in its content in sediments were then used to infer when millet cultivation began and subsequent fluctuation in its production in the catchment (Jacob et al, 2009). Since these pioneering studies, miliacin has also been detected in the sediments from other lakes (Simonneau et al, 2013) and in paleosols (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al, 2013) where it was interpreted as a tracer of former millet cultivation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether) and related compounds in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and other reputed sources: Implications for the use of sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of millet

Bossard

Jacob

Milbeau

et al. 2013

Organic Geochemistry

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bution of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether) and related compounds in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and other reputed sources: Implications for the use of sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of millet. Organic Geochemistry, Elsevier, 2013Elsevier, , 63, pp.48-55. <10.1016Elsevier, /j.orggeochem.2013 Miliacin biosynthesis has been proposed for other Panicum species, Setaria italica (Italian or foxtail millet), Pennisetum sp., and Chaetomium olivaceum (an olive green mold). We found miliacin concentrations in seeds of different varieties of P. miliaceum to be similarly high (with trace amounts of β-and α-amyrin methyl ethers). It was absent from hulls and roots, and nominally present in leaves and stems. The transfer of miliacin from plant to sediments is therefore mostly from seeds. Miliacin was abundant (often with larger amounts of β-and α-amyrin methyl ethers) in all other Panicum species studied but only in some species of the genus Pennisetum and absent in * Corresponding author e-mail address: jeremy.jacob@univ-orleans.fr 2 Setaria italica. Neither C. olivaceum nor its growth medium (rice) showed any trace of miliacin.Our results of no miliacin from S. italica and C. olivaceum , high miliacin concentrations in seed of P. miliaceum relative to other PTMEs and to other grasses, and considering the high biomass that cultivated broomcorn millet has relative to other potential plant sources, support the use of sedimentary records of miliacin in some contexts, to track past millet agricultural dynamics.

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Impacts of new agricultural practices on soil erosion during the Bronze Age in the French Prealps

Cited by 33 publications

References 32 publications

A bioarchaeological approach to the Iron Age in Switzerland: stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human remains

A bioarchaeological approach to the Iron Age in Switzerland: stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) of human remains

Mass-movement and flood-induced deposits in Lake Ledro, southern Alps, Italy: implications for Holocene palaeohydrology and natural hazards

Distribution of miliacin (olean-18-en-3β-ol methyl ether) and related compounds in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and other reputed sources: Implications for the use of sedimentary miliacin as a tracer of millet

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