Deux nouveaux horizons pour l’archéoentomologie

Abstract

Even though it has been established that in temperate climates the preservation of insect remains primarily depends on anoxia in waterlogged sediments, other preservation mechanisms exist which open up new development perspectives for archaeoentomology, outside its usual grounds. This contribution examines two of them. First, metal corrosion, which in the case of bronze and in certain micro-environmental conditions, allows perfect conservation of the most fragile organic remains, such as the exuviae left by a mite after moulting. Second, the horizons of mountain soils which, even in oxygenated contexts, are more favourable than previously thought to the conservation of insect remains over periods of up to two millennia.