Isabelle Jouffroy et un échantillon de sphaignes
L’article “7000 years of vegetation history and land-use changes in the Morvan Mountains (France): a regional synthesis.” par Jouffroy-Bapicot, I., Vannière, B., Gauthier, E., Richard, H., Monna, F., Petit, C. publié dans la revue The Holocene, 23, 1888-1902 [pdf].
Isabelle Jouffroy-Bapicot, Université de Franche-Comté (Isabelle.Jouffroy@univ-fcomte.fr) vient de réaliser une synthèse régionale (à l’échelle du Morvan) de l’évolution du couvert végétal depuis 7000 ans. Ce travail se base sur l’analyse de dix séquences de tourbe dans lesquelles pollens et spores ont été identifiés et comptés. Leurs représentations respectives permet de retracer les grandes phases de déforestation, la mise en place de l’agropastoralisme, ou l’augmentation des besoins en énergie pour faire face aux opérations métallurgiques qui ont pris place dans le Morvan. La succession de ces pratiques a fini par produire l’actuel paysage culturel du Morvan.
Abstract: This paper aims to reconstruct the vegetation history of a middle mountain – the Morvan (Burgundy-France) – since the Neolithic (i.e., 7000 years). The results of palynological and Non-Pollen Palynomorphs (NPPs) analysis performed on ten peat cores, document the main phases of human agropastoral practices and natural resources management which drove the formation of the cultural landscape of the Morvan massif over time. To document the history of human activities at a regional scale, particular attention was given to the determination, the characterization and the graphical depiction of phrases of human impact. Both the quantification of the impact of human pressure and the chronological uncertainty of the different phases identified by pollen and NPP analysis were taken into account. This study reveals a clear human presence during periods that were formerly poorly documented, such as the onset of the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages. It also sheds new light over periods for which there is better archaeological and historical knowledge, such as the widespread occupation of the massif in the Late Iron Age, the cultivation of chestnut from the 11th to the 16th century, and the impact of modern firewood exploitation on the forest.