The origins of a Nardus stricta grassland through soil charcoal analyses: Reconstructing the history of a mountain cultural landscape (Mont Lozère, France) since the Neolithic

Bal, Marie-Claude; Allée, Philippe; Liard, Morgane

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.054

Cited by 18 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The yew, which has since disappeared (see chapter 2.3, Table 6 and Fig. 6), has broad ecological amplitude and it could have constituted the undergrowth of an Atlantic fir-beech forest with holly, hazel, ash and ericaceous shrubs (Bergmeier et al, 2010). Throughout southwestern Europe, the yew reduction and its gradually disappearance from middle altitudes since ca.…”

Section: Late Holocene Woodland Cover Changes and Wood Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the 80e90s, several studies carried out in the Eastern Pyrenees (southwestern France) and focused on charcoal making activity showed the importance of this phenomenon (Bonhôte and Vernet, 1988;M etaili e et al, 1988;Bonhôte and Fruhauf, 1990;Izard, 1993;Davasse and Galop, 1994;Davasse, 2000;Bonhôte et al, 2002). However, with some exceptions (Dubois and M etaili e, 2001), the data obtained for several valleys remained partial and disparate, particularly for periods prior to the 17th c. The most efficient way to understand the different anthropogenic factors affecting an ancient mining territory is to utilise a global and integrated approach as it was successfully done in the Basque Country (Galop et al, 2001;Monna et al, 2004b), Mont-Loz ere (Servera Vives et al, 2014;Bal et al, 2015;Paradis-Grenouillet et al, 2015) and Harz Mountains (Knapp et al, 2013). Our present study is a continuation of the research conducted in the Eastern Pyrenees in the goal of deepening our knowledge of two areas with fragile mountainous ecosystems, which are particularly vulnerable to the effects of global change: the Upper Vicdessos and Couserans (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Holocene history of woodland dynamics and wood use in an ancient mining area of the Pyrenees (Ariège, France)

Py-Saragaglia

Artigas

Métailié

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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This paper focuses on past woodland changes and land uses in an ancient mining area of the Eastern Pyrenees (Ari ege, France). The area discussed is located at the western entrance of the Vicdessos, a valley with significant steel production, and it is crossed by the road used from the 14th c. to the end of the 18th c. for the iron-charcoal exchange with the forest Province of Couserans. The introduction of this singular exchange and the silver ore mining history of this border area raise the question of their impact on forest cover changes and changes in human practices and their link with anthropisation processes. To deal with this issue, we put in place an interdisciplinary approach involving archaeology, charcoal analysis, ecological history and geochemistry. The archaeological investigations and fourteen radiocarbon ages allowed characterising and dating of mining and charcoal-making remains. They situate the emergence of metal ore mining during the Second Iron Age and charcoal making activity between the 15th and 17th c. The geochemical analysis of 9 galena samples showed some different isotopic signatures between ores extracted in ancient times and those mined during the modern period. The charcoal analysis of (i) 2442 charcoals from 31 charcoal kilns (ii) 500 from one pedoarchaeological pit excavated in a waste heap related to firesetting, and (iii) 250 from two pedoanthracological sampling points carried out in the charcoal burning forest, permits a detailed reconstruction of the woodland cover changes from the Second Iron Age to the 19th c. Furthermore, the combination of data from different disciplines allows for a long-term reconstruction of human practices history and woodland management for different uses. In particular, the results show the transformation of the fir-beech forest, still dominated by fir around the turn of the Roman era, into pure beech wood managed on northern slopes for human daily needs, occasionally mining, lumber and mainly charcoal production until the 19th c. The elimination of fir dates back to the 17th c. This assumes the end of lumber activities in that period. Pedoanthracological and palynological data suggest that southern slopes, progressively deforested since the Bronze Age, were entirely devoted to permanent agropastoral activities probably at least since the end of the medieval period.

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Section: Late Holocene Woodland Cover Changes and Wood Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Holocene history of woodland dynamics and wood use in an ancient mining area of the Pyrenees (Ariège, France)

Py-Saragaglia

Artigas

Métailié

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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“…2. Mont Lozère (Bal et al, 2014): This study site is situ-ated in South-Central France, in the southern part of the mountainous area of the Massif Central. Mont Lozère is a 30-km-long mountain range, oriented northwest-southeast, ranging from 900 to 1700 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A total of 127 single charcoal pieces from the six study sites were radiocarbon dated (Bal et al, 2014;Dutoit et al, 2009;Goepp, 2007; Henry et al, 2010; Poschlod and Baumann, 2010; Figure 2. Age distribution of the dated charcoal pieces from the six compared nutrient-poor grasslands in Western Europe, related to the chrono-cultural phases with which the dated charcoal pieces are contemporaneous.…”

Section: Soil Charcoal Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative review of soil charcoal data: Spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics of Western European nutrient-poor grasslands

et al. 2018

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The nutrient-poor grasslands of Western Europe are of major conservation concern because land use changes threaten their high biodiversity. Studies assessing their characteristics show that their past and ongoing dynamics are strongly related to human activities. Yet, the initial development patterns of this specific ecosystem remain unclear. Here, we examine findings from previous paleoecological investigations performed at local level on European grassland areas ranging from several hundred square meters to several square kilometers. Comparing data from these locally relevant studies at a regional scale, we investigate these grasslands' spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics. The study is based on taxonomic identification and radiocarbon AMS dating of charcoal pieces from soil/soil sediment archives of nutrient-poor grasslands in Mediterranean and temperate Western Europe (La Crau plain, Mont Lozère, Grands Causses, Vosges Mountains, Franconian Alb, and Upper-Normandy region). We address the following questions: (1) What are the key determinants of the establishment of these nutrient-poor grasslands? (2) What temporal synchronicities might there be? and (3) What is the spatial scale of these grasslands' past dynamics? The nutrient-poor grasslands in temperate Western Europe are found to result from the first anthropogenic woodland clearings during the late Neolithic, revealed by fire events in mesophilious mature forests. In contrast, the sites with Mediterranean affinities appear to have developed at earlier plant successional stages (pine forest, matorral), established before the first human impacts in the same period. However, no general pattern of establishment and dynamics of the nutrient-poor grasslands could be identified. Local mechanisms appear to be the key determinants of the dynamics of these ecosystems. Nevertheless, this paleoecological synthesis provides insights into past climate or human impacts on present-day vegetation.

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“…Agropastoralism is the primary means by which humans modified European mountain landscapes over the course of the Holocene (Bal et al 2015;Cunill et al 2013;Ejarque et al 2011; Moe et al 2007), but the geomorphic, topographic, climatic, and vegetative heterogeneity of these landscapes means that results obtained in one region may not be valid for interpreting mountain landscapes elsewhere (Ejarque et al 2011;Mazier et al 2009;Brun 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colluvial legacies of millennial landscape change on individual hillsides, place-based investigation in the western Pyrenees Mountains

Leigh

Gragson

Coughlan

2016

Quaternary International

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We detect transition to agropastoral land use in a mountain landscape by radiocarbon dating physical signatures (sedimentation rates, charcoal concentrations, magnetic susceptibility) of conversion from native forest to pasture contained within colluvial stratigraphic sections. Focus is on two study sites located on toeslopes directly beneath zero-order hollows draining several hectares in the commune of Larrau (Pyrénées Atlantiques, France) along the international drainage divide of the western Pyrenees. Sample sites maximize likelihood of spatially and temporally uniform slopewash sedimentation. This constitutes a place-based approach to decipher the chronology of agropastoral activities within individual fields, which is applicable to other mountain ranges of the world. Stratigraphic columns were augured in contiguous 10 cm sample levels, which produced temporal resolution of decades to several centuries. We interpret relatively high concentrations of charcoal, rapid sedimentation, and magnetic susceptibility patterns as evidence of the intentional use of fire to transform forests into pastures. Results indicate that intentional burning and clearing probably were initiated by the Late Neolithic (ca. 5000-6000 cal. BP). However, intense burning, extensive forest clearance, and erosional degradation occurred later during the Bronze Age at one site, and during the Iron Age at the other site. This non-synchronous pattern of charcoal abundance and sedimentation rates is consistent with human agency of land clearance driving the chronology rather than paleoclimatic drivers. Stratigraphic zones of rapid sedimentation at both sites constitute-legacy‖ sediment of great antiquity. Our results are consistent with similar shifts in fire regimes and vegetation assemblages derived from direct association with anthropogenic proxies (e.g. pastoral pollen taxa, fungal spores of sheep dung, and archaeological sites) elsewhere in the Pyrenees and other

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The origins of a Nardus stricta grassland through soil charcoal analyses: Reconstructing the history of a mountain cultural landscape (Mont Lozère, France) since the Neolithic

Cited by 18 publications

References 41 publications

Late Holocene history of woodland dynamics and wood use in an ancient mining area of the Pyrenees (Ariège, France)

Late Holocene history of woodland dynamics and wood use in an ancient mining area of the Pyrenees (Ariège, France)

A comparative review of soil charcoal data: Spatiotemporal patterns of origin and long-term dynamics of Western European nutrient-poor grasslands

Colluvial legacies of millennial landscape change on individual hillsides, place-based investigation in the western Pyrenees Mountains

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