Application des méthodes géomorphologiques aux recherches archéologiques: l'exemple des sites archéologiques de la région de Salto (Uruguay)

摘要

The geomorphological cartography and the scientific investigation which accompanies it are the methods which the authors have applied to several zones of tropical and subtropical America in order to propose to the archeologists a spatial and temporal reconstruction of the environment of man. When they are carried out together with archaeological surveys, they permit to constitute a stratigraphy as well as an archaeological map ; moreover they give the archaeologists a rapid explanation of specific problems posed by the given natural environment. Examples taken from the instable riverine environment of the valley of the river Uruguay and its surroundings show the evolution of a zone at the moment of human occupation of the site as well as after it has been abandoned. Applied to other contexts besides that of a «salvage», for example in a region unknown archaeologically, these matters permit the placing of sites in a regional context which is statistically representative.