Abstract

The stratigraphic sequence of Montou (Eastern Pyrenees, France) covers a period from the middle Neolithic to the late Bronze Age. Environmental changes are noticed since the middle Neolithic, when the decline of the deciduous oak favours, in the long term, the evergreen oaks. The Chalcolithic period witnesses the arrival and spread of mesomediterranean and thermomediterranean plant formations. This evolution may result from increasing anthropogenic pressure as shown by the maintenance of a garrigue vegetation during the Bronze Age. The association charcoal analysis/quantitative anatomy offers new perspectives concerning vegetation changes. Both approaches record the existence of mesomediterranean bioclimatic conditions during the middle Neolithic; thermomediterranean affinities are recorded first, by charcoal analysis, during the early Bronze Age, and by eco-anatomy during the transition from the middle to the late Bronze Age. Quantitative anatomy also pinpoints (1) the existence of two humid phases, (2) an increase in mean annual temperature, and (3) the exploitation and management of the olive tree since the early Bronze Age.

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