Neolithic shepherds and sheepfold caves in Southern France and adjacent areas: An overview from 40 years of bioarchaeological analyses

Delhon, Claire; Martin, Lucie; Thièbault, Stéphanie

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2023.03.004

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 105 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Another disadvantage is the difficulty in identifying plant sources, which are a key component of stabling deposits and may include fodder remains, digested plants within the dung pellets, bedding, and fuel. Multiproxy studies using phytoliths, pollen, calcium oxalates, ash pseudomorphs, charcoal, and other plant macroremains analyses have provided valuable information on plant sources and possible livestock diets (Allué et al, 2009; Alonso‐Eguíluz, 2012; Cabanes et al, 2009; Delhon et al, 2008; Expósito & Burjachs, 2016; Rodríguez et al, 2016; see also Delhon et al, 2023 and references therein), many of them following or combining these proxies with micromorphological analysis (Alonso‐Eguíluz et al, 2016; Burguet‐Coca et al, 2020; Euba et al, 2016; Lancelotti et al, 2014; Polo‐Díaz et al, 2016). Alternatively, micromorphology could be combined with lipid biomarker analysis, with certain types of lipids serving as proxies for plant sources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing formation processes at the Canary Islands indigenous site of Belmaco Cave (La Palma, Spain) through a multiproxy geoarchaeological approach

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The indigenous populations of La Palma (Canary Islands), who arrived on the island from Northwest Africa ca. 2000 years B.P., were predominantly pastoralists. Yet, many aspects of their subsistence economy such as the procurement, management, and use of wild plant resources remain largely unknown. To explore this, we studied the 600–1100‐year‐old archaeological site of Belmaco Cave, which comprises a stratified sedimentary deposit representative of a fumier. Here, we present a high‐resolution, multiproxy geoarchaeological study combining soil micromorphology, lipid biomarker analysis, X‐ray diffraction, μ‐X‐ray diffraction, μ‐X‐ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and μ‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, to characterize formation processes and explore plant sources. Recurrent goat/sheep habitation and maintenance activities are represented by interstratified layers of unburned dung, charcoal‐rich sediment, and dung ash. Lipid biomarker data show a herd diet mainly composed of herbaceous plants, which is key to understanding the mobility of indigenous shepherds. Our results also revealed an unusual suite of authigenic minerals including hazenite, aragonite, and sylvite, possibly formed through diagenetic processes involving interaction between ash, dung, urine, volcanogenic components, and bacterial activity, coupled with arid and alkaline conditions. Our study shows the potential of a multiproxy approach to a fumier deposit in a volcanogenic sedimentary context.

show abstract