Mobility in the Mountains: Late Third and Second Millennia Alpine Societies’ Engagements with the High-Altitude Zones in the Southern French Alps

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mobility in the Mountains

T2 - Late Third and Second Millennia Alpine Societies’ Engagements with the High-Altitude Zones in the Southern French Alps

AU - Walsh, Kevin James

PY - 2011/9/1

Y1 - 2011/9/1

N2 - The assessment of the important changes that occurred in late third and second millennia societies across Europeoften emphasizes changes in technology and the emergence of associated objects and art forms, changes in burialrites, and developments in economic practices. Notions relating to the evolution of homo economicus dominatemany of the discourses, and the evidence for increased long-distance trade / contact across Europe is used to bolsterthis assessment. These themes are underpinned by an obsession with ever-refined chrono-typological phases. Inan attempt to present a more socially embedded perspective, this paper considers the changes that occurred in theuses of the high-altitude, sub-alpine, and alpine zones in the southern French Alps during the third and secondmillennia BC. From c. 2500 BC onwards, there was a fundamental change in the use of and engagement withthis landscape. The first substantial stone-built pastoral structures at high altitude (2000 m and above), appearat this time. This departure in the use and structuring of the alpine space would have included concomitantchanges in the nature of mobility, notions of territory, and memories associated with this area.

AB - The assessment of the important changes that occurred in late third and second millennia societies across Europeoften emphasizes changes in technology and the emergence of associated objects and art forms, changes in burialrites, and developments in economic practices. Notions relating to the evolution of homo economicus dominatemany of the discourses, and the evidence for increased long-distance trade / contact across Europe is used to bolsterthis assessment. These themes are underpinned by an obsession with ever-refined chrono-typological phases. Inan attempt to present a more socially embedded perspective, this paper considers the changes that occurred in theuses of the high-altitude, sub-alpine, and alpine zones in the southern French Alps during the third and secondmillennia BC. From c. 2500 BC onwards, there was a fundamental change in the use of and engagement withthis landscape. The first substantial stone-built pastoral structures at high altitude (2000 m and above), appearat this time. This departure in the use and structuring of the alpine space would have included concomitantchanges in the nature of mobility, notions of territory, and memories associated with this area.

KW - Alps, archaeology, France, Bronze Age

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864806619&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1179/146195711798369427

DO - 10.1179/146195711798369427

M3 - Article

SN - 1461-9571

VL - 14

SP - 88

EP - 115

JO - European Journal of Archaeology

JF - European Journal of Archaeology

IS - 1 - 2

ER -