Archaeozoology
Archaeozoology studies hard animal remains (bones, teeth, antlers—sometimes even horns, if preserved) and identifies them using comparative anatomy, reference osteological collections, metric and morphological methods (bivariate and multivariate analyses and geometric morphometrics), statistical analysis methods, and CT scan imaging (CT scan).
These approaches make it possible to construct faunal spectra that indicate the presence of taxa at a site and profiles of animal mortality or slaughter, which can be used to reconstruct, for example, the objectives and strategies for exploiting domestic herds implemented by agro-pastoralists.
In the AGROCHRONO project, this information enables us to identify the wild and domesticated resources exploited for food at various archaeological sites.
Archaeobotany : Anthracology, Carpology & Palynology
Archaeobotany is based on the study of plant remains that can be preserved in various forms at archaeological sites or in natural sedimentary deposits. Anthracology focuses more specifically on charred wood, carpology on seeds and fruits, and palynology on pollen and spores.
At archaeological sites, anthracology and carpology will be studied in particular. The flora spectra obtained will make it possible to identify wild and cultivated plants exploited and used by past populations. They provide information not only on the diet of these populations, but also on the vegetation naturally present in the environment.
Palynology studies pollen, spores and non-pollen palynomorphs. Found fossilised in lake sediments, their study provides information about past vegetation and how it changed over time. In AGROCHRONO, pollen and spores contained in lake cores from regions of interest covering the study period from 7 to 4 millennia BC will be studied to reconstruct past vegetation