A CASE STUDY OF ARTHROPODS PRESERVED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL BRONZES—MICRO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION HELPS RECONSTRUCTING PAST ENVIRONMENTS

摘要

This paper offers new perspectives for improving our knowledge of arthropods in wet and aerobic archaeological contexts. The very-near environment of uncleaned buried bronze artefacts, two ronde-bosse ornaments of a Celtic grave from the Iron Age (275 to 250 bc, La Fosse-Cotheret, Roissy-en-France), was studied by means of optical and scanning electron microscopies. Taking into account recent knowledge on bronze corrosion (decuprification), this micro-investigation (micro-archaeology) allowed identification of two fossilized arthropods—Cryptophagus sp. (Insecta, Coleoptera, Cryptophagidae) and Coccotydaeolus sp. (Acari, Tydaeoidea, Iolinidae)—which sheds some light upon the complex taphonomic process that occurred after the burial of a Celtic chariot. These first results support the idea that the local corroded metal/soil system has to be investigated for a better understanding of archaeological microenvironments. Efficient minute investigation of soiled bronzes could be performed prior to systematic cleaning of artefacts.