Anthracology in Southern Africa : methods, vegetation dynamics and wood management. Contribution of the charcoal study from Later Stone Age occupations at Bushman Rock Shelter (AFS) during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition

Résumé

In southern Africa, questions related to combustion activities are intrinsically linked to archaeological investigations. Charcoal fragments are usually among the most abundant and best-preserved organic remains at Middle and Later Stone Age sites. Charcoal studies, oranthracology, have already demonstrated their potential for palaeoecological reconstructions and interpretations of past wood management in the region. However, the presence of a high diversity of both woody species and vegetation types, characteristic of southern Africa, poses a considerable challenge during taxonomic identification of charcoal fragments. This thesis addresses several key methodological aspects of the discipline with the aim to firstly test and, when necessary, to adapt them to the archaeological, geographical and climatic contexts of southern Africa. The rich assemblage of ca. 15-9 thousand years old charcoal preserved at the Bushman Rock Shelter (BRS) site, located in the highveld of South Africa, at the border of the Great Escarpment, and at the ecotone of the Savanna and Grassland biomes, offered the perfect opportunity for assessing the various methods developed in this research. The aim of the first study was to propose a subsampling strategy, tested on the large and taxonomically rich charcoal assemblage of BRS, to assess both stratigraphic and ecological representativity. A second study provided the first interactive identification key for the region,limited to 68 different taxa sampled on the studied region. In the third study, an original method of charcoal identification based on anatomical wood features combined with machine learning was explored for the first time in this region and dedicated to anthracological research. Finally, the resulting, but still preliminary, anthracological analysis documents local changes in woody vegetation at BRS during the Late Glacial-Interglacial Transition, as well as anthropological aspects related to fuelwood management and potential uses. Interpretations and comparisons with other local and regional records confirm the general trend observed in the region, from cold conditions at the end of the Pleistocene to progressively warmer and drier conditions in the early Holocene. A comprehensive review of the literature was provided to establish robust foundations for each methodological topic addressed. This methodological effort, which has been central to this doctoral work, highlights the potential of both the tools and methods adopted. Identification of the limitations and prospects are the prerequisite for a rigorous approach and allowing improvement in future applications in southern Africa, with the aim of documenting accurately climate change and the human practices that anthracology aims to describe.

Citer ce document

Accès au document

Ce document est hébergé sur son dépôt institutionnel d'origine.

Auteur(s)

Statistiques

Consultations : 3

Téléchargements : 0