Perceptions et représentations de l'espace Á travers les analyses archéobotaniques

Abstract

Claire Delhon, Fanny Moutarde, Margareta Tengberg and Stéphanie Thiébault, Perceptions and Conceptions of Space through Archeobotanical Analyses Four examples serve to show how a list of plants obtained by identifying macroremains can be interpreted in terms of places of exploitation and modes of management, depending on whether they come from archeological sites in- or outside caves, or on natural sequences. In the first and last cases, a vertical vision of space prevails, with plant forms on terraces from the most hygrophilous in valleys up to highland areas. In the case of sites outside caves, space can be seen as concentric provisioning zones. Plant groups are thus situated in physical space as a function not just of their ecological requirements but also of preestablished mental schemata. This conception is, however, biased by our lack of knowledge about the sociocultural systems that govern harvesting (resource management, redistribution of yields, taboos, territoriality). © éditions de l'EHESS.