Rotten posts and selected fuel: Charcoal analysis of the first Middle Neolithic village identified in Provence (Cazan-Le Clos du Moulin, Vernègues, Bouches-du-Rhône, South of France)

Abstract

Cazan-Le clos du Moulin" is an open-air Middle Neolithic site located in the South of France near the village of Vern egues. The excavation of this site has, for the first time in the area, allowed us to reconstruct up to a dozen domestic buildings from the late Chassey culture (4100-3800 BCE), arranged around an area occupied by heated stone combustion structures. Because of the partial erosion of the archaeological horizons, artefacts and ecofacts related to the Neolithic occupation were only found in the fills of structures. Charcoal analysis was carried out on samples from the postholes, the heated-stone hearths and a well. The anthracological results show a selection of natural resources depending on the use of the wood: timber or fuel. The size required for the posts can restrict the scope of the species suitable for timber: oak seems to be preferred for that purpose. On the contrary, the choice of fuel wood seems to be less constrained by technical limitations. Nevertheless, one particular species, Arbutus unedo, accounts for the bulk of the wood gathered for fuel supply, however it was certainly not the only woody resource available during the Middle Neolithic. Overall, charcoal analysis at Cazan-Le Clos du Moulin shows that wood harvesting-as recorded in the fills of structures-is selective. This selection could be imposed by purely technical requirements that we can only partly perceive or by cultural necessity which remains beyond our understanding, but, beyond this, the choices are probably guided by land and vegetation resource management in order to permit the coexistence of various wood-consuming activities in a single territory and to favor the exploitation of easily accessible fuel.

Is the Strawberry Tree, Arbutus unedo (Ericaceae), native to Ireland, or was it brought by the first copper miners?

“…Potential uses of A. unedo in the past A. unedo has been found as charcoal in Chalcolithic and Bronze Age sites in Portugal where it is known for its calorific value and as good kindling (Queiroz, 2009; and is thought to have been selectively used for this as early as the Neolithic in Provence, France (Delhon et al, 2017). Though A. unedo is slow growing, producing good charcoal, there is no evidence for its use in the mining and smelting process at Ross Island, rather its occurrence was in charcoal found away from these activities (Van Rijn, 2004).…”

Is Choice Acceptable? How the Anthracological Paradigm May Hinder the Consideration of Fuel Gathering as a Cultural Behaviour

“…The selected feature may not be primarily the species but the vegetal association, the size and the accessibility of the branches or other phenotypic or phenological characteristics. For example, in Cazan-Le Clos-du-Moulin it is possible that Arbutus was not selected per se but as a pervasive species in pasturelands, and/ or as an alternative to the use of oak, which was preferred for timber (Delhon et al 2017). While some criteria will always remain incomprehensible to us, many kinds of selection may impact upon the floristic list and may thus be accessible to our knowledge, as we are easily able to identify the species through wood anatomy.…”

“…The results of the charcoal analysis show that a single species, Arbutus sp., represents more than 90% of the charcoal fragments from the fire-places (Figure 1). The same species also dominates the spectrum from the well, but to a lesser extent with 46% of the fragments (Delhon et al 2017). Arbutus grows in Mediterranean scrublands.…”

“…As a random harvest of wood among the available species in the scrublands would have provided a more exhaustive sampling of the vegetation, we assumed that the selection of Arbutus for fuel supply is the simplest and most obvious explanation for its abundance in the hearths, throughout the occupation of the site (Delhon et al 2017). This hypothesis did not gain unanimous support when initially presented to other anthracologists.…”

Charcoal analysis at Limon-Raspail (Vaucluse, Southeastern France): new data concerning the vegetation and its management in Provence at the end of the Neolithic (2880-2580 cal. B.C.)

“…The hypothesis of the presence of timber among the charcoal assemblage is impossible to confirm because of the absence of burnt architecture remains in a primary position, which would have enabled a comparison between firewood and timber spectra. Nevertheless, the selection of deciduous oak for timber has been evidenced for the Neolithic of southern France, at Les Vautes (Chabal, 2003a, b), Cazan (Delhon et al, 2017) and probably Puech Haut (Fabre, 2005). The possibility that timber could end up in hearths together with wood especially gathered to be used as fuel has already been raised in particular for the Early Neolithic settlements in Belgium and for the Late Neolithic pile dwellings in Jura (North-western France) (Dufraisse, 2008;Salavert & Dufraisse, 2014.…”