A history of long-term human-environment interactions in the French Pyrenees inferred from the pollen data

Didier Galop (1) , Damien Rius (2) , Carole Cugny (1) , Florence Mazier (1)

1 GEODE - Géographie de l'environnement
2 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)

Over the last decade, several research programs have been involved in studying the socioecological history of the Pyrenean Mountains using sedimentary records preserved in lakes and bogs. Their main focus was on understanding human exploitation of natural resources and its environmental consequences. Recovering these “memories” buried for thousands of years in sediments requires interdisciplinary efforts dealing with the analysis of a large number of bio-indicators. The study of those bio-indicators has become a multi-proxy process which combines the classical study of fossil pollen and spores with macro-charcoal (size >150 m m) and nonpollen palynomorphs (algae, fungal spores, etc.) data.

Mots clés: Pollen data; sedimentary records; French Pyrenees

Domaines: Géographie

Didier Galop, Damien Rius, Carole Cugny, Florence Mazier. A history of long-term human-environment interactions in the French Pyrenees inferred from the pollen data. Continuity and change in cultural adaptation to mountain environments. From prehistory to contemporary threats, pp.19-30, 2013. ⟨hal-01236311⟩