Marie Besse
Université de Genève, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Professor, Director of the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology
Address: Prof. Marie Besse, Head of the Laboratory of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Geneva, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department F.-A. Forel for environmental and acquatic sciences, Uni Carl Vogt, 66 boulevard Carl Vogt - CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
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et Gobelets’ 2021 (Geneva, Switzerland)
dimorphic elements like pelvis or skull are not always assessable. Osteometric analyses have proven useful in sex
estimation, but also to be population specific. The main purpose of this study was to test the validity of
contemporary Greek and Spanish discriminant functions for the talus and the patella, respectively, on a Swiss
skeletal sample and to quantify the utility of the measurements as a novel approach in osteometric sex
assessment.
Four talus and three patella measurements on dry bone were obtained from 234 individuals of the modern
cemetery SIMON Identified Skeletal Collection. The previously derived discriminant functions were applied,
accuracies determined, the utility of the different measurements was assessed and new multivariable equations
constructed.
Accuracies varied between 67% and 86% for talus and 63% and 84% for patella, similar to those reported by
the original studies. Multivariable equations should be preferred over equations based on single measurements
and combining the most significant measurements rather than using several variables obtained the best possible
accuracy. The new discriminant functions did not provide a substantial improvement to the original ones. The
overall utility of talus and patella is limited, allowing sex estimation with sufficient certainty only in a small
proportion of individuals.
Discriminant functions developed in contemporary Greek or Spanish populations are in principle applicable
also to Swiss contemporary populations. We recommend that at present existent studies of this type should be
validated and tested rather than developing new formulas.
et Gobelets’ 2021 (Geneva, Switzerland)
dimorphic elements like pelvis or skull are not always assessable. Osteometric analyses have proven useful in sex
estimation, but also to be population specific. The main purpose of this study was to test the validity of
contemporary Greek and Spanish discriminant functions for the talus and the patella, respectively, on a Swiss
skeletal sample and to quantify the utility of the measurements as a novel approach in osteometric sex
assessment.
Four talus and three patella measurements on dry bone were obtained from 234 individuals of the modern
cemetery SIMON Identified Skeletal Collection. The previously derived discriminant functions were applied,
accuracies determined, the utility of the different measurements was assessed and new multivariable equations
constructed.
Accuracies varied between 67% and 86% for talus and 63% and 84% for patella, similar to those reported by
the original studies. Multivariable equations should be preferred over equations based on single measurements
and combining the most significant measurements rather than using several variables obtained the best possible
accuracy. The new discriminant functions did not provide a substantial improvement to the original ones. The
overall utility of talus and patella is limited, allowing sex estimation with sufficient certainty only in a small
proportion of individuals.
Discriminant functions developed in contemporary Greek or Spanish populations are in principle applicable
also to Swiss contemporary populations. We recommend that at present existent studies of this type should be
validated and tested rather than developing new formulas.
Livret d'exposition pour la présentation des tombes mégalithiques de Menjez. p. 92.
How is it possible to identify the circulation of materials or of finished objects in Neolithic Europe, as well as the social networks involved? Several approaches exist for the researcher, and the present volume provides some examples.
of a prehistoric tomb appeared in a pipe trench at the Avenue
du Petit-Chasseur. While uncovering them, someone exclaimed:
“prehistoric engravings!”.The first funerary stela of
the megalithic site had been discovered. The excavations, first
conducted by Olivier-Jean Bocksberger, high school teacher
at Aigle, then by Alain Gallay of the University of Geneva,
lasted about ten years. Patiently reconstructed by the scientists,
the eventful history of this necropolis made it possible
for the rites, the beliefs and the social structure of these prehistoric communities in Valais to be studied in detail. Later,
between 1987 and 2003, further investigations were carried
out in the area and added to the discoveries.
In order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery
of the site, a scientific committee consisting of the
representatives of the Archéologie cantonale and the Musées
cantonaux du Valais, and of the University of Geneva and the
Association valaisanne d’archéologie organised several events
during autumn 2011.
An international conference at Sion was held from 27 October to 29 October in Sion, at the François-Xavier Bagnoud hall.
The necropolis of Sion still remains a key reference for the
understanding of the Final Neolithic period, not only in the
Alpine countries, but also throughout Europe. The scientific
meeting therefore focused on the end of the Neolithic period
in Valais and in the adjacent regions, on the Bell Beaker phenomenon
(a European culture?) and on the funerary rites of
this period whereas the doctoral course dealt with the end of
the Neolithic period in Valais and with the anthropology of
megalithic societies.
The conference was attended by nearly 200 people, students,
junior and senior scholars from many countries including
Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy,
Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic
and Switzerland. Thirty-eight papers were grouped into
five sessions each preceded by an introductory one-hour
conference: Fifty Years of Discoveries at the site of Sion/
Petit-Chasseur; The Neolithic in Valais and its Neighbouring
Regions presented by Alain Gallay; Is the Bell Beaker Culture
a European? Economy, Culture and Society by Maxence
Bailly; Funerary Rituals during the Final Neolithic and the
Bell Beaker Period by Henri Duday; and Anthropology of
the Megalithic Societies presented by Alain Testart. The present
volume reports on these scientific presentations and the
ensuing lively debates.
The ceramic assemblage of Eremita Cave consists of three thousand sherds from Middle and Late Bronze Age. Sample selection took into account pottery type, relative chronology, surface and core colours, and macroscopic classification of pastes. Petrographic analyses were performed on 28 samples using a Leica Leitz DM-RXP polarizing microscope and aimed at investigating paste composition and raw material choices. Pottery from Eremita Cave mainly contains inclusions of quartz and/or granite-granodiorite family from the Serie dei Laghi Complex and, in minor proportions, volcanic rocks from the Permian Magmatic Complex. These findings allow one to draw preliminary inferences on the Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery production in the Sesia Valley and on the exploitation of available natural resources by human groups.
L’Alta Valle del Rodano presenta un paesaggio caratterizzato da brusche variazioni altitudinali, che vanno dai 400-600 m s.l.m. delle sponde del Rodano ai 4000 m s.l.m. delle vette delle Alpi Bernesi e Alpi Pennine. Una eccezionale varietà di rocce affioranti testimonia quel che resta di diversi domini paleogeografici e dell’esumazione, durante l’orogenesi alpina, di porzioni di crosta oceanica e continentale. Le litologie comprendono diversi tipi di rocce intrusive ed effusive metamorfosate, serie ofiolitiche, rocce metamorfiche di basso, medio ed alto grado, così come rocce sedimentarie (clastiche, chimiche e organogene) e formazioni di tipo flysch. La copertura quaternaria è principalmente costituita da depositi glaciali e da loess, costantemente rilavorati da processi gravitativi favoriti dalle brusche variazioni altitudinali e dai più di cinquanta affluenti del Rodano. Nel complesso, l’abbondanza di rocce metamorfiche, le condizioni climatiche fredde e semi-aride tipiche dell'ambiente alpino, e la prevalenza di processi di degradazione fisica, hanno impedito la formazione di depositi di argilla su vasta scala. Le strategie di approvvigionamento delle materie prime ceramiche messe in campo dalle comunità preistoriche di III-II millennio a.C. vanno dunque lette nel quadro di questa relativa scarsità di sedimenti ricchi in argilla e sembrano essere state influenzate, almeno in parte, dall’ambiente naturale.
The research project “Prehistoric Pottery: Social Organisation in the Upper Rhône Valley during the Final Neolithic, the Bell Beaker Culture and the Early Bronze Age” of the University of Geneva (P.I. Prof. Marie Besse) allowed for the archaeometric characterization of numerous III-II millennium BC ceramic assemblages of the Upper Rhône Valley (Valais, Switzerland). The application of petrographic, mineralogical, and chemical techniques (OM, XRD, QEMSCAN®, SEM-EDS, ICP-MS/LA-ICP-MS) enabled the reconstruction of the raw material procurement strategies employed by local Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age communities. Acquired data provide interesting insights into the influence of the natural alpine environment on the ceramic traditions, in a region that is particularly complex from both a geographical and geological point of view.
The landscape of the Upper Rhône Valley is featured by abrupt changes in altitudinal gradient, ranged from 400-600 m a.s.l. of the Rhône River banks to the 4000 m a.s.l. of the summits of the Bernese and Pennine Alps. An exceptional variety of rock types testifies the presence of various palaeogeographic domains and the exhumation, during the alpine orogeny, of oceanic and continental crust. Lithology accounts for different kind of metamorphosed intrusive and effusive rocks, ophiolitic sequences, low-, medium-, and high-grade metamorphic rocks, as well as sedimentary rocks (clastic, chemical, and biochemical rocks) and flysch formations. Quaternary cover is mainly composed of the glacial deposits and loess, repeatedly reworked by the gravitational processes fostered by the steep slopes and the more than 50 Rhône River’s tributary inflows. The large amounts of metamorphic rocks, the cold and semi-arid climatic conditions typical of the alpine environment, and the prevailing physical weathering hampered large-scale formation of clay deposits. The ceramic raw material procurement strategies employed by the III-II millennium BC prehistoric communities have to be read in the framework of the relative paucity of clay-rich sediments and seems to have been, at least partially, influenced by the natural environment.
In this contribution, we present the results of the multi-element chemical analysis of both Petit-Chasseur pottery and geological materials. Sediment samples were collected from different areas of the Upper Rhône valley, putting an accent to the locations in the vicinity of the known settlement sites. Raw geochemical data obtained by means of the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Laser Ablation ICP-MS were subjected to multivariate statistical techniques including the Principal Component Analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis in order to define possible sources of clayey raw materials. The diverse elemental concentration patterns revealed the use of different types of clay sources in the pottery production taking into account not only a diachronic point of view but also a synchronic one. The conclusion thus emerges pointing out the idea of people coming from different parts of the Upper Rhône valley to gather at the site of Petit-Chasseur, which suggests its role as a political and ceremonial center in addition to the burial function it had as a megalithic cemetery. An in-depth ceramic study is therefore proven to be necessary to thoroughly reconstruct the history of the Petit-Chasseur site adding to our understanding of its significance for prehistoric communities.
The analyses were conducted on 41 individuals from 3 cemeteries in western Switzerland (Collombey-Muraz/Barmaz, Vufflens-la-Ville/En Sency, Tolochenaz/Le Boiron et La Caroline), dated from Early to Final Bronze Age (2200-800 cal. BCE). We performed multielement/multi-tissue stable isotope analysis (C, N, S on bone and dentine collagen; C on apatite enamel of M2) to infer the human diet from childhood to adult life, excluding weaning signal. In addition, 22 bone and teeth remains from terrestrial and aquatic animal species and 30 charred grains of cultivated plants were analysed to reconstruct the local isotopic baseline of the potential food resources.
Results indicate diachronic changes in food habits during the Bronze Age, possibly due to the introduction of new cereals like C4 plants (millets) beginning from the Final Bronze Age, i.e. at a later time when compared to other southern European countries (e.g. Italy). Additionally, apatite data suggest the direct consumption of C4 plants. The diet during childhood and adult life was generally similar, albeit with some exceptions, whatever the chronological period considered. This study suggests that C4 plants became a staple food during Final Bronze Age, rapidly after the introduction of this new crop in Lemanic basin.
L'étude présentée porte sur les groupes humains des deux cimetières du site de Barmaz (Collombey-Muraz, Valais). Ce dernier, fouillé par M.-R. Sauter dans les années 50 puis par M. Honegger dans les années 90, a permis de mettre au jour deux nécropoles contemporaines de type Chamblandes du Néolithique moyen I (4500-4000 BC), distantes de 200 mètres.
L'analyse des ratios isotopiques (δ13C, δ15N) du collagène de l'os et de la dentine a pu être réalisée sur 32 individus de la nécropole de Barmaz I et sur 17 individus de la nécropole de Barmaz II. L'analyse de six échantillons de faune a permis d'établir le référentiel local.
Les premiers résultats indiquent (1) que les ressources en protéines proviennent majoritairement des animaux terrestres, malgré la proximité du Rhône et du lac Léman et (2) que les individus inhumés dans la nécropole de Barmaz II ont consommé plus de protéines animales que ceux de Barmaz I, cela sans distinction liée au sexe ou à l'âge. L'accès aux ressources d'eau douce, ainsi que la mobilité différentielle des individus, seront plus amplement discutés ultérieurement à partir des ratios isotopiques du soufre et du strontium, dont les analyses sont en cours.
The first test trenches immediately revealed the importance of this archaeological site, with the uncovering of a pin and spiralled pearls in bronze in the middle of the cave. Further excavations began in 2013 and a Middle and Late Bronze Age level was identified at the back of the cave. It delivered a great amount of animal remains, mostly burned, in association with potsherds. The chronological relation between the bronze finery, the animal remains and pottery elements is yet to be evidenced.
Culturally speaking, the shape and decors of the pin show affinities with the Middle Bronze Age of the North of the Alps, while the pottery shapes display similarities with the common cultural ground of the alpine region, mostly Valais and Piedmont.
We are currently aiming at determining the function of the cave, mainly by studying the location of the archaeological structures and remains but also by linking the spatial distribution of potsherds to the pottery reassembling. The typological and technological analysis of the pottery assemblage should allow us to establish the cultural affiliation of the site. Our poster will focus on these questions.
The importance of the Eremita cave is amplified by its strategic localisation on the southern alpine foothills, making it a possible stopover for the people transitioning through the Alps. Moreover, several other caves have been documented on the Monte Fenera, chronologically spanning from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages.
En attendant la réouverture de la salle, prévue pour le 1 er septembre, nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à découvrir cette exposition dans un format virtuel accessible par ce lien : http://www.unige.ch/expositions-virtuelles/megalithes/
This study reports on raw material choices and paste preparation recipes inferred for the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC pottery production in the Upper Rhône Valley. The geological setting of this Alpine valley is rather complex since the outcrops of metamorphic, (meta)sedimentary, and intrusive rocks are found throughout the region and Quaternary glaciation and semi-arid climatic conditions hampered a largescale formation of clay deposits. The Final Neolithic, Bell Beaker period, and Early Bronze Age (3300-1600 BC) settlement sites are widely distributed across the valley, which forces one to consider the distinct local geological setting while investigating the implications of compositional variations. In addition, certain sites have been widely excavated over several years while others were made known through the test trench only. This leaves us with major differences in the amount and quality of information on stratigraphy, human-related structures, and chronological attributions of the findings. Complexity caused by non-uniform geology and site documentation makes an illustrative example of the difficulties encountered by archaeologists when reconstructing the past manufacturing traditions and reflecting on the underlying long-term historical and cultural dynamics from a regional, synchronic, and diachronic perspective.
Over the past twenty years, the scientific community developed and tested several methods that integrate image analysis applications and automated mineral analysis systems in order to make data acquisition quick and automated, and to obtain fully quantitative mineralogical data easy to treat. The commercial solutions such as QEMSCAN® technology offers this opportunity. The system combines the back-scattered electron brightness values, the low-count energy-dispersive X-ray spectra and the X-ray count rate (Gottlieb et al., 2000). Spectra acquisition moves forward along predetermined fields resulting in a mineralogical map of sample entirely based on a fully quantitative data. The resulting image does not only provide the mineral characterization of the ceramic paste but it also allows exploring its textural features. An in-depth study of ceramic fabric is thus possible by means of matrix mineralogy characterization, porosity estimation, automated grain size distribution analysis, and modal mineralogy.
The QEMSCAN® analysis was recently applied to the study of archaeological ceramics (e.g. Knappett et al., 2011; Šegvić et al., 2016) offering valuable visual insights into a range of ceramic features reported by SEM-EDS observations. In this paper we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this technique to investigate the provenance and technological aspects of pottery production in the past.
Fig.
References
Gottlieb P., Wilkie G., Sutherland D., Ho-Tun E., Suthers S., Perera K., Jenkins B., Spencer S., Butcher A., Rayner J., Using quantitative electron microscopy for process mineralogy applications, Jom, 52 (2000), 24-25.
Knappett C., Pirrie D., Power M.R., Nikolakopoulou I., Hilditch J., Rollinson G.K., Mineralogical analysis and provenancing of ancient ceramics using automated SEM-EDS analysis (QEMSCAN®): a pilot study on LB I pottery from Akrotiri, Thera. J. Archaeol. Sci., 38 (2011), 219-232.
Šegvić B., Ugarković M., Süssenberger A., Ferreiro Mählmann R., Moscariello A., Compositional properties and provenance of Hellenistic pottery from the necropolis of Issa with evidences on the cross-Adriatic and the Mediterranean-scale trade. Mediterr. Archaeol. Ar., 16 (2016), 23-52.
Our aim is to combine the new data collected on ceramic pastes on the one hand, and on pottery technology on the other hand, in order to reconstruct the Bell Beaker chaines opératoires for this major Swiss archaeological site.The ceramic paste analysis was carried out by a range of spectroscopic and microscopic analytical techniques: optical microscopy (OM), crystallography (XRD), phase chemistry (QEMSCAN® and SEM-EDS), and whole-rock geochemistry (LA-ICP-MS). These techniques provided valuable information allowing to discuss the raw material selection, procurement, and use.
The foundation of the technology analysis revolved around macroscopic observations with low-angled light to detect diagnostic traces of techniques on surfaces and sections, and through the orientation of fracture networks. The observations made on surface treatments were then verified with an optical microscope. Finally, two complementary analyses were led: the examination of petrographic maps of thin sections analyzed with QEMSCAN®, and the scanning of two sherds using micro-computed tomography. This data collection made possible the identification of fashioning, finishing, and decoration techniques.
When combined, these approaches bring new insights into the Bell Beaker material culture of Switzerland, helping us examine its relationship with local preceding pottery traditions, and on a larger scale, discuss the insertion of the Bell Beaker Culture into the context of the Upper Rhône valley, where the Petit-Chasseur necropolis is located.
Current research on the pottery from the Petit-Chasseur site allowed one to address the problematics of cultural identity of prehistoric societies that had erected the megalithic funerary monuments during the 3rd millennium BC. The cemetery is located in the middle of the Upper Rhône valley that was formed by the glacial and riverine erosion in the Western Alps. To some extent, the Rhône river separates the Helvetic and Penninic nappes dividing the valley in two. Peculiar lithology typical for the above-mentioned tectonic units has likely generated clay-rich sediments whose mineral composition may significantly differ.
In this contribution we present a variety of ceramic compositions of the pottery from the Petit-Chasseur site, putting an accent to the make-up of clayey matrix. Its characterization, performed by X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy, revealed the use of different clay-rich sources to produce vessels which, in a way, have analogue typological and stylistic features. Moreover, the pottery that belongs to particular material culture and that was recovered from the same collective grave was shown to have been manufactured using various clay raw-materials. In brief, the evidences from the Petit-Chasseur cemetery permit a question to be posed on whether the utilization of diverse plastic materials was a deliberate economic and/or social choice or is rather related to the raw-material availability in the Upper Rhône valley. The study of ceramic grave goods from the Petit-Chasseur site revealed its potential in identifying and defining the cultural identity of prehistoric communities that dwelled in this part of Switzerland during the 3rd millennium BC.
Beyond material culture, this conference aims to examine the diversity of lifestyles in Bell Beaker societies and the nature of the ties that bind them together. The ways of being in the world can be questioned and put into perspective on the basis of material culture, ecofacts, the nature and organisation of sites and their setting in the landscape to better understand the lives of Bell Beaker populations. How did they live on a daily basis, at the level of the settlement, the territory or the region? Were there differences between the coast, the plains and the more mountainous areas? These questions about lifestyles are essential in order to understand the relationships forged between the communities living in these different environments, whether or not they were carriers of the Bell Beaker culture: what was the purpose of these networks? how did people move? and why? In recent years, the focus has been on genetic flows and migrations, and these data prompt to examine the link between culture and biology, as well as models for the spread of the Bell Beaker culture.
Two thematic sessions will be devoted, one to lifestyles and settlement patterns, the other to networks and spreading models, with an emphasis on summary presentations and exemplary case studies.
A third session will be dedicated to recent discoveries and current research.
Session organised by François Giligny and Marie Besse
This research demonstrates that units 20 and 18 reflect differences in species acquisition. The humans of unit 18 targeted red deer specifically, whilst the Mousterian are less speciality and hunted red deer, horses, and bovines (auroch or bison). Level 18 shows a specialisation in deer acquisition, but it is worth noting that it is also the most important animal in level 20. Its prevalence in level 20 only appears lower because other species are present in greater proportions (horse, Bos/Bison).
The strontium results show that only a few individuals buried in Barmaz I show non-local values, whereas all individuals buried in Barmaz II have values similar to the environment in which they were buried. Whether in
terms of diet, access to resources or mobility, no differences were observed between male and female individuals, neither in their isotopic values nor in the variability of these values. Taken all together, the results suggest the existence of a possible reserved area in the burial zone, even if coming from ’elsewhere’ did not seem to have any influence on access to food resources. However, if being male or female did not seem to play an important social role in this population, it seems that it is the location of their burial that gives more information about their status. Finally, these new data, combined with previous knowledge, raise the question of whether the individuals buried at Barmaz II belonged to a group that was socially distinct from the rest of the Barmaz population.