La collecte du bois defeu dans le site mousterien de la Comhette (Bonnieux, Vaucluse, France): implications paleo-economiques et paleo-ecologiques. Approche morphometrique des charbons de bois

摘要

A catalogue of characteristic anatomical features in charcoal has been developed in order to study firewood gathering practices during the Palaeolithic. This method applied to the charcoal of la Combette (Bonnieux, Vaucluse), a Mousterian rockshelter, points to the practically exclusive use of dead wood during all the occupation phases. This practice can be correlated with the site's function, which seems to have been a hunting camp, only sporadically occupied. Already dry, already felled, dead wood perfectly met the needs on a site where the duration of each occupation excluded the possibility of storing fresh wood. Even if several species were used, their respective properties were considerably altered and all finally present identical properties. Thus, the range of fire-related activities was probably little diversified and la Combette could not be a base camp. In a base camp, where a number of different activities took place, almost every type of wood would have been collected. This specialization of hearths supplied with a fuel whose properties are so characteristic could be related to the treatment of skins. Lastly, the definition of firewood gathering methods enables the charcoals' palaeoecological significance to be discussed.