Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a 'marginal' Alpine landscape - the integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high-altitude landscape in the French Alps

Kevin Walsh; Susan Richer; J. -L. de Beaulieu

doi:10.1080/00438240600813392

Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a 'marginal' Alpine landscape - the integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high-altitude landscape in the French Alps

Kevin Walsh, Susan Richer, J. -L. de Beaulieu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Research into Alpine archaeology in France has concentrated on the lower altitudes and has emphasized economic and chrono-typological approaches. Notions of Alpine landscapes as marginal, defined via discourses imbued with environmental determinism, have informed this type of archaeology. A multidisciplinary project has studied the history of the presence and absence of people in two adjacent study areas in the Ecrins National Park. Some 240 new sites have been discovered, of which nearly forty have been securely dated through excavation. This paper presents the results from one of these areas. We consider how our evidence can be used not only to reconstruct past economic activities, but also to assess how pre- and proto-historic peoples may have engaged with this enigmatic and supposedly risky milieu.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	436-454
Journal	World Archaeology
Volume	38
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240600813392
Publication status	Published - Sept 2006

Keywords

Alps
France
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Bronze Age
palaeoecology
perception
marginality

Access to Document

10.1080/00438240600813392

Cite this

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title = "Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a 'marginal' Alpine landscape - the integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high-altitude landscape in the French Alps",

abstract = "Research into Alpine archaeology in France has concentrated on the lower altitudes and has emphasized economic and chrono-typological approaches. Notions of Alpine landscapes as marginal, defined via discourses imbued with environmental determinism, have informed this type of archaeology. A multidisciplinary project has studied the history of the presence and absence of people in two adjacent study areas in the Ecrins National Park. Some 240 new sites have been discovered, of which nearly forty have been securely dated through excavation. This paper presents the results from one of these areas. We consider how our evidence can be used not only to reconstruct past economic activities, but also to assess how pre- and proto-historic peoples may have engaged with this enigmatic and supposedly risky milieu.",

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Attitudes to altitude: changing meanings and perceptions within a 'marginal' Alpine landscape - the integration of palaeoecological and archaeological data in a high-altitude landscape in the French Alps. / Walsh, Kevin ; Richer, Susan; de Beaulieu, J. -L.
In: World Archaeology , Vol. 38, No. 3, 09.2006, p. 436-454.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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KW - France

KW - Mesolithic

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KW - Bronze Age

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