Neolithic wood use at the Scheldt river banks in Bouchain (France)
Leroy, G.; Jaouen, G.; Tegel, W.; Salvador, P.-G.; Boulen, M.; Salavert, A.; Le Digol, Y. (2023). Neolithic wood use at the Scheldt river banks in Bouchain (France). Quaternary International 659: 11-23. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2023.02.016
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| Authors | | Top |
- Leroy, G.
- Jaouen, G.
- Tegel, W.
- Salvador, P.-G.
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- Boulen, M.
- Salavert, A.
- Le Digol, Y.
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| Abstract |
Archaeological sites in wetlands or under waterlogged conditions provide excellent preservation conditions for organic material, particularly wood, and therefore constitute one of the most important prehistoric sources for dendroarchaeological studies available.The site of Bouchain in the North of France, is located on the bank of a palaeochannel close to the Scheldt River, a North Sea tributaty. Regular floods of varying intensity led to formation of peat and waterlogged site conditions, providing vast amounts of wooden artefacts sampled for dendroarchaeological analyses within an interdisciplinary research effort, further involving palynological, malacological and anthracological studies. Here we present a study on a total of 1858 individual wood objects, including architectural elements (posts, stakes and planks), tools and hunting weapons (axe handles, arrow shafts and bows, throwing sticks, slingshot balls), tableware, production waste from woodworking (chips) and finally two log boats. In addition, natural wood residues from peat and alluvial layers have been collected and analysed to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the Neolithic forest vegetation on-site. After an early occupation of the site during the Mesolithic period, the archaeological sequence is placed between the Middle Neolithic and the end of the Late Neolithic (∼4200–2700 BCE). However, the main occupation is in the Late Neolithic, broadly between 3400 BCE and 2950 BCE.The interdisciplinary approach allows to specify the nature of the forest stands on the periphery of the site as riparian forest of alder type, associated with a mixed forest and heliophilous vegetation.The dendroarchaeological investigations enabled precise tree-ring dating and provides important insights into the selection and processing of wood in Neolithic times in the context of weaponry production, shipbuilding and food consumption. |
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