Les dynamiques agropastorales pendant le Haut-Empire sur les Hautes-Chaumes des Monts du Forez (Puy-de-Dôme, Loire, France). Architecture saisonnière, occupation du sol et gestion du territoire au cours des premiers siècles de l’époque romaine

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1990s, archaeological and paleoenvironmental investigations have been carried out both in high and middle mountains in order to understand how these territories have been enhanced by human societies over the past centuries. The same objectives have led geoarchaeological research in the Mont du Forez. Since 2016, archaeological surveys and paleoenvironmental studies have begun and have been multiplied, especially in the upper part of the mountain named “Hautes-Chaumes”. A total of 24 sites have been referenced thanks to pedestrian prospections. Field studies have provided valuable information on the Gallo-roman occupation and its architecture during the early roman period. Archaeological excavations were carried out on five sites from that period in order to highlight architectural processes and their evolution over time. These changes are probably linked to the socio-economic dynamics that appear in the neighboring plains of the Dore and the Loire. In the Hautes-Chaumes window, the dynamics of land use that appeared at the beginning of the roman period actively participated in the management of the environment through the development of agro-sylvo-pastoral activities that increased during this period.

Keywords

• Early Empire
• land use
• mountain
• seasonnal settlement
• rural settlement
• pastoralism